CHAPTER SIX - Beautiful

"Pete, say something," I pleaded, searching his eyes. "Anything."

"Just talk to him. To Craig," he replied. "You owe yourself that much." Tears were stinging my eyes. I had spat nasty words right in his face and had been so spiteful when he was just looking out for me.

He was still there – he wasn't going to go away. Pete kissed my forehead. "We've gone this far, Cass. He needed to know, and I knew you weren't going to tell him. I was just trying to do the right thing." He wiped my tears away with his hand.

"I'm scared." I whispered.

"Me too," he replied. "But we're in this together." He gave me a small smile and leaned towards me, planting a deep and lingering kiss on my lips.

"Ready?" he asked, clutching both my hands. I looked down at our clasped hands. They seemed to fit perfectly, one in the other. "I'm not going to let go," he whispered in my ear. I closed my eyes tightly and let out a deep breath.

This was it. I couldn't back out. Even though my heart was racing and all my uncertainties were seeping their way through again, I didn't want to back out. Not this time.

We made our way back to our room and I stood in the shadow of the doorway, a last minute hesitation. Craig was now pacing back and forth across the room. He looked up, noticing our presence.

"Hi." I said quietly. I saw Craig's eyes swell up with tears as he asked in a shaky voice,

"Is it really you? My Cassandra?"

"It's me," I breathed as, for the umpteenth time that day, I felt tears come to my eyes. My father ran to me and caught me in his arms. Just when I thought I had no more tears to spare, we both started sobbing uncontrollably. After what seemed like an eternity, we let go of our embrace.

Impulsively, my father pushed my dampened hair away from my face and looked into my eyes. We both looked absolutely awful, but we didn't care.

To us, this moment was beautiful.