Happy 4th to all who celebrate Independence Day, and thank you to the men and women who have fought for our freedom.

Thanks to my amazing beta, ginginlee, and my fantastic prereaders, lizzylillyrose, morethanmyself, and sammielynnsmom. Special thanks as well to IllicitWriter who makes picteases for SW every week!

Thank you, sincerely, for all of you who review and rec this little fic. It continues to blow me away.

I posted my Tsunami o/s called Freshmen on my ffnet page if you're interested in checking that out as well. SM still gets Twilight, and Deanna still gets the song.

DISCLAIMER: This chapter contains mentions of child abuse and sensitive subjects including why Bella doesn't have children. If you choose to not read that part, feel free to PM me and I can give you cliff note versions.

…

Chapter 16

2010

Pulling up to Jamie's – or James now, rather – house brought back a lot of memories. If I remembered correctly, it was probably as large, if not larger, than the house he had grown up in. I couldn't remember what Rachel's parents had done for a living, but whatever it was, James certainly continued along their career path, judging by his property alone.

"Question," I voiced to Edward as we pulled up the drive in his truck.

"Yeah?" he responded, shifting the car to park and cutting the engine.

"James…I take it he didn't get cut off from his parents like Rachel did, but they still keep in contact with each other?" I asked, referring to James and Rachel.

Edward shrugged, his elbow coming to rest on the bottom edge of the window-pane while his curled fist supported the weight of his head. "It wasn't immediate. James wasn't happy when he found out about Rach and me, but he came around a few years later. Her dad actually passed away a couple summers ago, and her mom moved out-of-state not six months afterwards. James offered Rachel half the inheritance he got, but she refused, so he has it away for Lana and Patrick."

"Wow," I noted, truly shocked. "He doesn't sound anything like I remembered." The Jamie I had met back then had been cruel, menacing, and someone to stay away from. "He actually sounds like a good guy…"

Edward just groaned again, letting his head against the window. "He's good to my kids, but he's definitely not a saint."

"Is there something I'm missing here?" I wondered out loud, confused as to why Edward couldn't just admit that Jamie had grown up and was a decent man.

"For another time I guess," he replied after a moment, turning his head and smiling at me. "Right now, I have my babies to see."

After his comment, he opened the door and stepped out of the truck as I followed his lead and did the same. "You sure this is okay?" I asked as I jogged a few feet to catch up with him.

"Of course it's okay." That was his only response, and he didn't look at me as he said it, so I wasn't completely sure he even believed it himself.

He knocked loudly on the door, shoving his hands into his pockets as he waited. I could hear running of feet against the floor boards, and not a minute later, the door swung open to a very happy looking Patrick.

"DAD!" he yelled, literally throwing himself at Edward, who caught him readily in his arms.

"Hey, buddy!" His son wrapped his legs around Edward's torso and kept his arms tightly around Edward's neck, burying his face in the space on his shoulder. Stepping inside the threshold, he asked, "How was your trip? Where's your sister?"

Climbing off his body and back to the floor, a barefoot Patrick responded, "Dad! So fun! You'll never believe what we did! I saw a shark! A real one!"

"Oh yeah?" Edward laughed.

I awkwardly shut the door behind me as Edward talked to his son, and a few moments later, Lana came running down the steps.

"DADDY!" Following the same pattern of Patrick, Lana threw her arms around Edward, but he was kneeling on the floor this time, even though he held onto her just as tightly.

"Hey, baby," he said softly, swaying her back-and-forth a bit with his eyes closed.

If I were being honest with myself, it was still going to take me time getting used to Edward being a father. I had always wanted it for him, hell, it was something that I wanted for myself, but wanting and being were two different things. This was a permanent part of his life that I was never going to be able to relate to him with. I had no idea what it was like to be a mom, and by the looks and sounds of it, Edward was an incredible dad.

"So, a shark, huh?" he asked after Lana had taken a step back.

Lana rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically, placing her hands on her hips. "Not in the ocean, Dad," she said as if were the most obvious thing in the world. "Mom and Uncle James took us to the aquarium!"

"I never said it was in the ocean!" Patrick rebutted, glaring at his sister. "I just said it was real; it was real!"

"Okay, Patrick." She rolled her eyes again, and I had to laugh at how so much attitude could fit into such a small person.

My chuckles alerted them to my presence – even though I had been visible this whole time, they were pretty occupied with their reunion with Edward.

"Hi, Bella!" Patrick greeted without hesitation.

"Bella?" Lana addressed, her face falling as she looked between Edward and I. "What are you doing here?"

"Um," Edward started, standing up, "I was spending time with Bella at Uncle Charlie's house, and I invited her along for the ride. I thought you wanted to see Bella again…" He was looking at his daughter as he said this, and I just watched nervously from behind, twirling my fingers together as I waited for the approval from the ten-year-old girl who would always own more of Edward's heart than I ever would.

Was I okay with that? It was his daughter, of course I was.

"Hi, guys!" I decided to add with my voice upbeat when Lana didn't say anything. "Did you have fun at the beach?"

"It was great!" Patrick exclaimed, his arms swaying in the air for emphasis.

"My mom said you were a home-wrecking whore," Lana deadpanned, causing my mouth to go slack and Edward to whip his head towards her.

"LANA!" he admonished.

She just shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. "I'm just saying what Mom said."

"Well, hey, gang!" An overweight shirtless man with thinning hair and a tattoo-sleeved arm came strolling into the room then. "What's going on, Eddie?" He laughed after he said this, scratching his stomach as he came to a stop.

"James," Edward replied curtly, only lifting his gaze away from Lana for a second.

"Is everythin' alright?" he slurred in his thick accent, taking a hint at the tension in the room.

"Lana called Bella a whore," Patrick spoke, causing me to slap my hand to my face, covering my eyes.

"Bella? Well, damn girl, my crazy baby sister wasn't kiddin' after all."

"James," Edward warned, his voice low.

With hands raised innocently in the air, James replied, "Don't get all worked up, Eddie, I didn't say nothin'. Now come here, darlin'; it's been too many years!" He took a few steps forward and motioned for me to embrace him. Was he serious? I got my answer as his sweaty arms wrapped around me. Too close, I thought to myself, my eyes shooting to Edward for a little bit of help. But James didn't hug me long, and when he pulled back, he started laughing again.

"Don't worry, Bella. My sister is two notches crazy from going straight to the loony-bin."

"What's the loony-bin?" Patrick asked, looking at Lana for help.

She just raised her hand and smacked him on the back of the head, and I honestly thought Edward was going to lose his shit completely after he watched it happen. "Okay, Lana, that is enough. Both of you, go get your bags, we're leaving. And you best have apologized to your brother before you get back down here!" he ordered, no room for argument left in his voice.

Both kids ran up the large staircase, Lana mumbling something unrecognizable under her breath.

"Bella, I am so sorry." Edward had turned to face me, his face horror struck.

"Rachy didn't mean it, Eddie. She's just hurtin', you understand that, don't ya?" James tried to placate, but it didn't seem to register much with Edward.

"She needs to watch what she says to our ten-year-old daughter!" he seethed in return, low enough that the kids upstairs wouldn't be able to overhear.

He just sighed and scratched his head. "Yeah, I'll talk to her."

The sound of duffel bags tumbling down the stairs broke our attention away, and a few seconds later the kids were back.

"Ready?" Edward asked, obviously still angry.

"Yes, sir," they both ruefully answered at the same time.

"Lana, you need to apologize to Bella. You know better than to speak that way; I don't care what you heard from your mother. Do you understand?"

Without looking at me, she muttered, "Sorry, Bella."

"Say thank you to your uncle," Edward continued to instruct, this time to both Lana and Patrick.

"Thank you, Uncle James," they chorused.

"Aw, shucks, kids, you're welcome!" James gave each one a hug and a kiss on the cheek before Edward grabbed both bags and walked out of the house. "Bella," he called right as I stepped out. "Don't worry about Rachel. She's harmless as a fly."

Not really knowing what to say at his comment, I just smiled sadly at him before turning back around and walking to the truck.

"Kids in the back," Edward instructed, throwing their bags into the bed.

They were both silent as I climbed in, but luckily Edward's phone broke the thick tension with its loud ring.

"Hey," he answered, holding his phone to his hear by his shoulder so he could use his hands to back the truck out of the drive.

There was a pause before he answered, "You have no idea… Seriously? Is she okay?... Yeah, she's with me now… God, please don't get me started… Yeah, be there in ten."

I looked out the window as Edward spoke to whoever was on the other line, and Lana nor Patrick didn't dare to say a word to interrupt him. As he pressed the end button at the bottom of his screen, he turned to look at me, smiling a bit.

"So, I really hadn't planned on bringing it up like this, but Emmett just called and wants us to come over…" He looked at me knowingly, and I couldn't keep the look of embarrassment off my face. So this was how we were going to have this conversation of how Emmett and I kind of stayed in touch over the years…awesome.

"Okay…" I hedged, not sure if I wanted to say any more than that.

"Is that okay with you? I can take you back to Charlie's when we leave."

"Yeah, that's fine."

"But I'm taking it you've seen him already? This won't be some kind of reunion for you, will it?"

"I only saw him yesterday," I spoke honestly. "And it had been years since I've seen him last. I didn't even know about…" I trailed off sadly, hoping he would catch my train of thought about Rose without forcing me to have to say it.

"Yeah, um, I kind of figured that much, at least."

"Are we going to Uncle Emmy's?" Lana asked enthusiastically, interrupting our conversation, which I was partially grateful for.

"Can you behave yourself?" he asked back, just as sternly as he had spoken to her before.

"Yes, sir," she responded, tucking her head down.

He removed his glare from the rearview mirror and went back to watching the road. "We're only going to be there for a little while. Apparently your cousin Molly brought home a boy from school, and your uncle is trying his best not drown him in the lake out back."

"How violent," I remarked, letting it slip from my lips.

"Hey…boys that age." He glanced over to me with an incriminating smirk, and I had to literally resist the urge to smack his arm.

"You better drive faster then," I voiced back, chuckling after I said it.

We pulled up to an old farmhouse only a couple of minutes later, and Lana and Pat climbed out of the car and ran up to the door without hesitation. They didn't even bother to knock as they barged inside, causing Edward to mumble, "Manners," under his breath as he walked beside me.

Motioning for me to climb up the porch ahead of him, I walked through the door that was left open by the kids, deciding to follow the noise into the back room after an approval nod from Edward. There on the couch as we walked in to the living room was Molly crying, her older sister Anna trying to console her, and Emmett, who sat on the opposite chair with a shot gun in his hand.

"What is it with southern men and shot guns?" I asked Edward, only loud enough for him to hear me.

"It's a father's rite of passage," he responded, bending down low enough to whisper it into my ear, his hot breath running across my neck.

In a moment that happened so quickly that it took me until it was over for me to register, he glided his hand across the lower edge of my back, his fingertips applying pressure as they slid across, before he stepped beside me and further into the room. His hand burned my skin, the heat not at all hindered by the fabric of my shirt.

"Is everything okay?" he asked gravely, looking back and forth between the girls and a scowling Emmett, bringing me out of my haze.

"Oh, Uncle Edward," Molly cried, standing up and throwing her arms around his neck. "Will you please talk some sense into my dad? He clearly overreacted!"

A loud scoff came from Emmett, and he gripped his gun tighter in response. "Overreacted? OVERREACTED?"

"Okay, Em," Edward placated, holding up one of his hands while the other was still wrapped around Molly.

"SHE HAD NO CLOTHES ON!" he screamed.

"THAT IS NOT TRUE!" Molly screamed back.

"Uh, Lana and Pat, do you want to come out back with me? Show me around?" I voiced, having a feeling that this was going to get ugly. The two kids silently stood up from their seated position on the floor and followed me out of the room without a word, obvious to the fact that it was probably best if they didn't talk right then.

"Do you want to see the swing set, Bella?" Patrick asked with wide eyes once we were in the kitchen.

"Sure." I smiled at him, and was pretty surprised when he grabbed a hold of my hand and dragged me through the back door.

"Uncle Emmy and my dad built it when Molly was born. Isn't it so cool?"

Looking up at the fifteen foot wooden swing set, I couldn't help but nod in agreement. "This is amazing!" A rope swing dangled from one end of the structure, and there were four different swings spaced out evenly in between.

"My dad said that he always loved swing sets."

"Oh yeah?" I added to the conversation, looking over at him as he took his seat on a swing as I sat down beside him.

"Hmm-mmm," he hummed, pushing off the ground to gain some air.

Lana slowly made her way to where we were and, to my surprise, sat down on the swing that was on my left.

"Why is Uncle Emmy so mad at Molly?" she asked, her eyes not meeting mine.

"Um," I hesitated, kicking my own feet in the grass for a diversion. "Your Uncle Emmy is just very protective of Molly, and he wants to make sure that she doesn't get hurt."

"Was he going to shoot her?"

I couldn't help the laugh that escaped me, but I quickly reeled it in and straightened out my face. "No, honey. Your uncle would never hurt Molly."

"Dad's going to talk some sense into him, right?"

With a heavy sigh, I responded, "I sure hope so."

It was almost dark now, and Patrick decided to hop off the swing and chase around the lighting bugs that lit up the sky. I sat in silence, not sure what to even talk about with Lana. Should I bring up what her mother had said? I couldn't help but feel like that was between her and Rachel. I honestly didn't know what I would do or think in either of their shoes. Lana was dealing with her parents' divorce, and she was old enough to realize that her mother had shifted blame to me, even though she and Edward's break up happened long before I came back. But to the eyes of a ten-year-old, the lines there were blurred. And Rachel…I wanted to hate her, I really did. I wanted to be angry that she would say such hurtful, untrue things about me, but I couldn't help but think that I would be just as hurt if Edward was leaving me after all those years. Hell, I hated Alice.

I didn't have to like Rachel, but I understood.

"Are you going to take my dad away?" her small voice asked randomly, and I was so shocked with her question that it took me a moment to respond.

"What do you mean 'take him away'?"

"When you leave to go back home, is he going to go with you?" I could tell that she was on the verge of tears, and my heart was breaking for her.

"No, Lana, your dad isn't going to leave you. He would never leave you guys."

"He left my mom."

I sighed heavily. I really wasn't equipped to be having this conversation with her, but I couldn't just blow it off, either.

"That's different. Just because things didn't work out between your parents, doesn't mean that your dad doesn't love you, nor does it mean that he's going to leave you here. He loves you and Patrick more than anything in this world; he would do anything for you!"

"But what if he loves you more than us? Would he leave us then?" I didn't need it to be light outside to know that tears were streaking her face.

I shook my head immediately. "I'm not here to replace you, Lana," I spoke honestly. "Please don't ever think that I would ever take him from you. I would never…he would never." My voice broke at the end, and I willed my own emotions to stay in check.

"Promise?"

"Yes, honey, I promise."

"I'm sorry I said that you were a home-wrecking whore."

I smiled at her then. "It's okay."

"Dad is really mad at me for that."

"Yeah," I agreed. "But he'll get over it."

A door closing stopped our conversation, and I looked back at the house and saw a dark figure headed towards us.

"Hi, ladies," Edward's voice sounded as he got closer. "Where's Pat?"

Lana pointed to her left, and we could vaguely still see Patrick's shadow running around after the bugs. Edward just chuckled and moved around the swing set so he was behind us, and he grabbed onto Lana's swing, beginning to push her lightly.

"Is everything okay in there?" I asked, turning around so I could try and see his face with the minimal help of the moonlight.

"Oh yeah," he dismissed. "Emmett's just… Emmett could really use Rosalie right now, that's all. And this is one of those times that the girls need their mother."

"Rosalie would have known exactly what to do," I agreed sadly.

"HA!" he sounded out. "Rose would have taken that shotgun and killed that boy if she had been the one to find them."

I laughed then too-that would be the Rose I remembered. I was so happy that I got to meet her, come to know her, even if it was just far and in between over the years. She was as strong as they came.

"So were you girls having a fun chat out here?" Edward asked after a minute. I could tell that he tried to be lighthearted about the question, but there was still a residue of anger lying beneath the surface.

Lana didn't say anything, not that I really expected her to, given what we had talked about, so I just hummed in response.

"Can I go play with Sydney?" she asked, referring to Emmett's youngest daughter.

"Sure, baby," Edward allowed, even though his voice hinted at disappointment.

When Lana ran off, Edward sat down in the swing that she had been in, and he automatically started going in circles, twisting the chains that hung above him. His legs were way too long to fit comfortably beneath him, and he looked like a giant taking up this little space.

"So, Bella, Bella, Bella," he sang out, still twisting his swing.

"Edward, Edward, Edward," I repeated, allowing my swing to rock back and forth.

"Aren't you glad you never had kids on days like today?" he joked, chuckling in distress afterwards.

With a deep breath, I responded, "Actually…I would give anything to have moments like those, days like these."

My gaze was focused on the laces of my shoes, but I didn't need to look up at Edward to know he stopped twisting because everything just went silent.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I shouldn't have said that."

I just shrugged my shoulders. "Don't worry about it."

"Will you tell me about it?" he request, however hesitantly.

"Tell you about what?"

"Why you don't have any kids."

I guess we kind of had this conversation before, but I never went into any specifics. Even though this was not a conversation I wanted to have with anybody, it would only be time before he asked again. This was a part of my life, and I guess he deserved to know about it.

I knew I wouldn't be able to say all of this if I looked at him, so I made sure to keep my eyes focused on the ground, willing with all my might for my voice to work and my words to come out right. "I mean…we tried to have kids," I started. "Tried really hard, actually. For a long time, that was all I could focus on. I thought that if I had a baby, I would have someone who loved me unconditionally." My voice cracked. "There would be someone in this world who needed me as much as I needed them." I could feel the tears that stung behind my eyes, threatening to break through, breaking my strength down with each salty drop.

"I wanted to feel what it was like to be pregnant, to have a baby—my baby—kick inside of me. I wanted to decorate a nursery, buy a crib, a rocker. I wanted to hold my baby in my arms and know that I did this, that I did something worthy of creating life.

"God, I just wanted to be a mom," I admitted as the first tear slid down my wrinkled skin. "It's so hard to describe, but because I wanted it so badly, when it wasn't happening, it was all that much harder. We tried for years, every month that went by crushing me even more. And then," I paused, swallowing hard, "it finally happened. I was…I can't even tell you how happy I was. It was like finally things were going right." Talking about this was even more difficult that I could have imagined, and because I was saying it to Edward, it made me, for some reason, feel that much worse. I felt like I was reliving it all over again.

"It was two weeks to the day that I found out I was pregnant that I miscarried. Man, if I felt like a failure before when I couldn't get pregnant, you could just imagine what I felt like when my body couldn't even hold my own baby."

I was full on crying now, continuously wiping the tears from my cheeks as they flowed down readily.

"Bella," Edward croaked, but I shook my head to silence him. I wasn't done yet.

"That happened twice more, and when I went to the doctor for the third one, I was so already close to my second trimester that I didn't want to believe it. I was in shock for a long time, and that was when my husband said it was enough. He wasn't going through that anymore.

"He gave up on me."

"It's not your fault, Bella," he said firmly. "It was out of your control. You're not a failure as a woman because of that. You believe me, right?"

"Anyway," I said, ignoring his question. "I would go to hell and back to have days and moments like these, fighting with my daughter over a boy or a slip of words. But I'm too old now, and my body is too damaged.

"But, you know, what Charlie said today, about how the Lord never gave him his own children so he just went out and made a family of his own…I think about that a lot. It might not be in any way a traditional family, but there's nothing stopping me from having one, being a part of one. I was so focused on having my own children that I lost my husband in the process, when all along I failed to realize that I was only centered on one option when there were so many more out there."

"I think Charlie Swan might be the smartest man I know," he reasoned after a long moment.

I couldn't help but smile in agreement.

"And he has one beautiful, just as smart daughter in you, Bella."

My eyes closed automatically, a fresh pool of tears escaping. Edward was right-to Charlie, I was his daughter.

"I can't leave him," I finally said, the truth of his statement fully sinking in. "I just…can't." I looked over at Edward then, and he was returning my gaze with a quizzical look on his face.

"Bella," he warned, "you can't decide to stay here because of Charlie. That needs to be a decision that you make on your own."

"I am the one making the decision, Edward. But once in my life shouldn't I make a decision that is not so goddamn selfish? Charlie is the best man I know; he would give his arm and leg for a stranger down the street if they so needed one…isn't it about time that I did something for him?"

"Do you want to be here, Bella? Do you want to move here? I think this is something that you still need to really think about."

Sighing heavily, the back of mind couldn't help but agree that Edward was right. This was too big of a decision to be making right then. I needed to think about it more, call my boss, talk to Charlie. My life wasn't all about me anymore, and I needed to start including these other people into my decisions.

O.o

The night with Edward on the swings at Emmett's felt like ages ago as I stood in the kitchen of Charlie's house, even though it had only been a little over a week. When I got home that night, Seth was asleep on the couch, blankets wrapped tightly around him as Charlie sat in his chair.

I didn't need to guess twice when I had seen the bruise on Seth's closed eye, and Charlie had confirmed it with a nod of his head. My skin had boiled with rage as my heart had burned with overwhelming sadness. His parents…if I ever got my hands on them, would feel pain they have never felt before. How could one do this to their own son?

The morning after, I had called Edward, and he came right over with kids, letting them play with the horses out back as he took Seth back to his house to pack up some of his stuff. I had placed a call into social services as soon as I hung up with Edward. That child wasn't going to spend one more night in that home if I could help it. He was just a child. He needed someone to fight for him, and that was exactly what I was going to do.

I had tried to give up my room and sleep on the couch, but Seth would have none of that. He had been adamant, being the stubborn thing he was, that I kept my room and he would take the couch. I just wish we had another room, more space, anything, to make him more comfortable.

The days after that went by in a blur as I met with social services and we had tried to get things settled. It was a whirlwind of activity, confusing laws, and fighting to keep Seth from going back. Unfortunately, things weren't going in our favor when the counselor, Peggy, went to Seth's home. Only his mother was there, but she had played her part of the broken hearted parent well, and Seth was told that he should go home. I wanted to kill his mother, but at the time there was nothing I could do.

So, Seth went back, only to be at Charlie's working during the day, and then he would sneak out whenever his father rolled in at night. I had never seen such a strong kid be so afraid of his own father in my entire life. I figured something was bad at his home, but this was the first time his father used his fist on him. It was only a matter of time, I was sure, that it would happen again. And when it did, it wouldn't be any of the men using the shotgun-it would be me.

I was grateful that Seth could still escape to Charlie's, but it only fueled my anger that neither of his parents even noticed it. It wasn't a good situation we had going on, but it was the best we could do at the moment.

I also ignored the ringing of my cellphone when I saw the familiar name of my ex light up on it again. It was like he was haunting me. He had called twice this week, but finally I was at a point in my life where I knew I had other, more important things, that mattered more than he did.

It was mid-afternoon, though I wasn't sure what day it was since they all seemed to have blended together, and I was busy in the kitchen making lunch for Seth who was working out back and Charlie who was reading on the back porch. I noticed the storm clouds approaching, and I knew it was going to be another big one. After I was done putting the sandwiches together, I headed out back and passed Charlie his and headed to the barn to do the same to Seth. A loud crack of thunder hit as I opened the door, and the rain that fell from the sky started only seconds later.

"Here you go, kid," I sounded, giving him his lunch.

"Thanks, Bells," he said happily, taking an eager bite. The bruise on his eye was almost gone now, only a hint of yellow outlining his skin.

"BELLA!"

I faintly heard my name from outside the barn, but with the thunder and my imagination, I couldn't be sure. I decided to ignore it and busied myself instead with putting the plate and Seth's drink down on a clean surface.

"BELLA!"

I heard it again, and this time I knew it couldn't just be me. Seth lifted his head at the noise too, so I decided to stick my head out of the barn door.

"BELLA!"

When my head turned, I saw Edward running around the house and into the back yard, getting soaked from the rain that had begun to fall from the sky. My heart automatically started to beat faster at the sight of him.

"BELLA!" he continued yelling, this time a smile on his face when he saw me come out of the barn.

I met him halfway, confused at what he was doing as I hesitantly stepped out into the rain, getting drenched myself.

"What are you doing?" I yelled, the rain falling harder now as another clap of thunder roared out, the lighting illuminating the sky in shocking flashes.

"Bella," he repeated, this time not screaming it. "I came right over...after...it's done." His chest was heaving as he slowed down, no longer running but instead taking determined steps toward me. "Bella," he said again, and I was frozen in my spot, looking at his elated expression. His blue eyes held a light in them that I hadn't seen in ages, and the crinkles that appeared around his eyes as he smiled so widely made me smile myself.

My hair was sticking to my wet face, a piece falling in my eyes as the rain continued to come down from the sky. His hair was matted like mine, his shirt clinging to body, his boots splashing in the mud beneath him.

Taking the last step to where I was, his hand rose to my forehead and swiped my hair back, looking into my eyes as the rain dripped from my eyelashes and onto my cheek, disguising themselves as the tears that threatened to fall.

"You are so beautiful," he muttered, the words soft on his lips.

Without another word, he grabbed my face in both of his hands and pressed his body as close to mine as our standing position would allow, and he did something that I had been waiting for for over twenty years.

He breathed in, he smiled, and then he kissed me.

O.o

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