Page 65 of Redemption

I understand the question and his tone. Moving my hand, I stroke his face gently. “I’m not trying to make up for anything. I’m not trying to earn your forgiveness anymore. I know you love me, Caleb. I finally understand what that means. I just… I love you too. And sometimes that comes out by taking care of you.”

His expression tightens briefly. His body tenses and then relaxes. He lets out a long, textured exhale.

He heard me. Believed me.

“Okay, baby. You’ll never hear me complain. I’ve never had anyone want to take care of me before.”

“You do now.” I return to massaging his head. “So you try to restrain your bossy nature and just lie there and enjoy it.”

His body shakes with silent laughter. “I might go to sleep if you keep it up.”

“Well, that’s okay too. I’ll wake you up when it’s time to go to bed.”

“Okay.” He sighs again. I can feel his body relaxing even more.

I’m starting to think he’s doing exactly as he said and falling asleep when he mumbles groggily, “I don’t need another week.”

“What?” My hands grow still.

“I don’t need another week. I know you love me as much as I love you. I know it’s going to last.”

I shake for a minute with a shudder of intense emotion. A tear slips out.

He opens his eyes to look up at me. “Just wanted you to know.”

I give a little sob and try to hug his head. It’s kind of awkward, but he doesn’t appear to care.

When I’ve recovered, I manage to say in a lilting voice, “I should have given you a head massage a long time ago.”

EPILOGUE

One year later

When I seeCaleb’s mom’s name on the screen of my vibrating phone, I know exactly why she’s calling.

She’s tried to reach Caleb a few times today, and he hasn’t answered.

I connect the call with a little smile. “Hey there, he’s fine. He’s been working all day.” He talks to his mother regularly—at least four or five times a week—but he doesn’t always tell her when he’s traveling because she gets anxious.

“Oh no. I shouldn’t have kept calling then. Poor Caleb will think I’ve lost my mind.”

“No, he won’t. He knows you worry, so he’ll understand. He’s wrapping up a big job today, so he hasn’t had time to call back. But he’s supposed to be flying home this afternoon, so I’m sure he’ll call you as soon as he’s free.”

“Okay. Where is his job this time? Is it still that California boy?”

The “California boy” is not a boy at all. Edmund Worthing—known to most of the world as Worth—is a fully-grown man and another of my cousins. He’s the only one in the family who has ever come close to rivaling my wildness, and his lifestyle is ongoing. He’s never had my issues with substance abuse, but he’s spent his thirty years playing around and never taking anything seriously.

He's recently come into the public eye because of his relationship with a reality TV star, so his security needs have quadrupled. Caleb has been flying to L.A. regularly for the past three months to deal with the situation.

As soon as Caleb and I got together, my family changed his position to security consultant so there wouldn’t be any conflict of interest. He doesn’t do any work for me or my father anymore. He gets assigned intensive projects whenever the Worthings have specific, short-term needs, and he travels to manage them.

It's worked out well for us since I haven’t had to move, and it gives him a lot of downtime in between projects. He still gets to focus on what he’s good at it. He also doesn’t do dangerous close protection work anymore, which makes both me and his mother happy.

“Yes. It’s still Worth. Now he’s bought a new yacht, and he’s planning to set off and cruise for a few months. He’s broken up with that reality star, so we’re hoping things will calm down with him. He’s apparently leaving for his trip today, so Caleb should be heading home any time.”

“Oh that’s good. Caleb never sounds impatient, but he must be getting tired of dealing with the mess. Do you think your cousin will ever grow up?”

I laugh at her earnest question. “I honestly don’t know. It’s definitely time, but he lost both his parents early, so he had a lot of money and absolutely no responsibilities from a very young age. I can hardly judge him. Look at the mess I made of my life.”

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