Cal was strangely nervous. He fidgeted with the tie at his neck again. It felt a little tight. A black bow tie. It was probably just because he was anxious. And he was in a full tuxedo, dark cummerbund and shiny shoes and all. He was starting to feel a little claustrophobic in all the get up but as popular advice had dictated/out voted him, this was what he should be wearing. He never wore a tuxedo and wearing one on this occasion would add massive impact to the moment; he was aware of that. And he was happy to listen to the advice of others too. Because this was his twenty year wedding anniversary and he really wanted to make it special. Really, really special. So his kids had ganged up on him and insisted he wear the tux. They had also debated over other events planned for the evening before talking Cal into believing they were the best options. He wanted special, special was what he was getting. Not flashy and false. Meaningful and magical.
"Dad would you leave it?" Lewis reprimanded him. He used 'leave' and 'behind'. "It's fine."
"You'll make it be funny," Grace piped up from the couch.
Cal dropped his hands to his sides, resigned to obey. Were they trembling? He fought the urge to put them in his pockets. His kids, all three of them, might have helped him plan out this evening but the words, they were his. And he had gone over them a gazillion times to make sure they were exactly what he wanted to say. Even then he wasn't sure he had it perfect. God yes he was nervous.
"You look great Dad," Emily added up. Cal looked over at her. She was on the loveseat reading a book to her four year old daughter. His daughter with her daughter. He gave them both a smile. Ethan was now eight, Owen had just turned thirteen and Lewis was going away to college in just a few months. And Cal had been married to Gillian for twenty years now. Twenty years. It warranted the tuxedo.
They were all hanging around, waiting for Gillian to get home from work. Ajay was down in Lewis's bedroom in the front of the house, with Ethan and Owen, acting as lookouts, and Lewis was making one last adjustment to the decorations over by the windows. Cal had finished early that day and everyone had converged on the house after school to help Cal get ready. They were also there for support. They had transformed the living room while Cal showered and dressed. Cal's marriage wouldn't entirely be what it was without all of them there either, so it was fitting that they were witness.
Owen suddenly came pounding down the hall, Ethan close behind. "She's here!" He called excitedly, Ethan echoing him a second later.
"Gramma's here!"
Cal felt a fist of nerves as he stood from his perch on the bigger couch's arm. "Are you sure?" He asked cautiously.
Ethan nodded vigorously. "We saw her car."
"Are we sure it was Gramma's car?" Cal asked, deadly serious. There had already been two false alarms. Which is why Ajay had gone down to also keep an eye out on the third watch. He came into the room next and Cal looked over at him and his son-in-law gave a nod of confirmation. The room went quiet and they heard the sound of the garage door suddenly going up.
"Ooooh!" Grace cried out, pushing forward on the cushion to climb down. "Gramma's here now!"
"All right," Emily spoke calmly. "Put the book back."
They started to gather behind Cal, where he had moved to stand by the deep step from the kitchen down to the lounge. Lewis went to turn the lights out, even though Cal was practically standing next to the switches himself, and landed his hand on his father's shoulder in a slight, brief squeeze, as he went to take his place in the group. The room went dim, lit now by thousands of small white lights Lewis had set up around the room. Some of them were in strings, like the ones they used at Christmas, while others were just miniature lights affixed to just about everything. Cal wasn't entirely sure how he'd done it, but Lewis had shown him where'd got the idea from: a movie with something similar; lights were actually attached to miniature magnets with electrical tape. He had them all over the ceiling and furniture, like a starry landscape.
"This is so exciting!" Ethan noted.
Ajay put his hand on his son's shoulder. "Be quiet Ethan. You don't want to spoil it for Pop."
Ethan nodded but fidgeted where he stood. He was, interestingly, quite like Owen. Unable to keep still. At least Owen was like that when he was younger.
The sound of an engine could be heard faintly on the other side of the house, then the garage door going down again, and Cal felt his stomach quiver. How could he be so nervous? It was Gillian. He'd known Gillian a really long time. It was probably because he was turning this into a big deal. It was a big deal. Twenty years of marriage. Twenty. And he had known Gillian for half her life now, not half of his, not quite yet, but certainly half of hers, and that was amazing to him. Amazing. He liked that.
Then it went quiet and the anticipation in the air thickened. They had, technically, already celebrated their wedding anniversary, as well as mother's day, on the weekend. The boys took care of the mother's day aspect, and made a special anniversary dinner for their parents. It was nice. Really nice. But this was the icing on the already incredible cake. Twenty years warranted icing.
The garage door went down again and that must have muffled the sound of Gillian's car door closing because the next thing Cal knew, he could see the shadow of her approaching down the hallway. One of the kitchen doors was closed, the one on the right, which would block off the view of most of the room, forcing Gillian to go through the left side, and hopefully, the first thing she would then see would be Cal. The room was dim but not so dark that all of them standing there would not be noticed. Emily and Grace had added candles to Lewis's light so there was more than enough to be seen by. Gillian approached after her shadow closely and Cal felt a flare of butterflies.
Gillian came into the room, a hand on the closed kitchen door, her face a little confused, her mouth open to probably ask what was with the door (a door they never had closed) and then she saw them all, standing there, waiting for her, and stopped still, surprised. Cal stepped forward, pulling the jewellery box from his pocket and got down on one knee on the step (because his knee probably wouldn't handle the hard tiled floor of the kitchen) in front of the semi-circle of their family, in front of his wife. He popped open the box to reveal a round solitaire diamond ring against a platinum band; he had made sure it would match her wedding band. He watched Gillian's jaw fell open in surprise and her purse dropped heavily from her hand to the ground. Cal managed a smile, wobbly, because good lord he was so nervous. He should have done it like this the first time around.
"Gillian. Will you?" Cal hesitated. Ok, so this part he hadn't planned, the opening bit that was. The rest he fully had planned. "Accept my ring?"
Gillian came closer, stared down at it and then up at his face. The stunned shock was so evident on her face but there was also confusion. "What?" She started.
"Should have got you one ages ago luv," he told her gently.
Gillian looked down at the ring again.
"If you don't like it," Cal began. He was expecting some surprise but now he was starting to worry he had done wrong.
"I like it," Gillian cut him off simply and her face changed into softer lines.
Cal gave her a smile as she met his eye again. "Do you want it?" He dared to tease.
"Yes," Gillian nodded.
The little crowd behind Cal's back started to applaud and called out their approval. Gillian looked up at them, surprised again, but Cal hoped in a good way, because it looked like she had tears in her eyes. Cal took the ring out of the box carefully, his hands were slippery but they weren't shaking anymore. Not that the hard part was over. Not at all. He reached for her hand and slipped the ring over her knuckle to nestle against her wedding band. Perfect match. Of course it was. Also, perfect fit, Cal thought smugly.
"Cal," Gillian just about whispered. "You're not going to tell me our wedding wasn't actually legal are you?"
Cal laughed. "No it was legit."
"Ok. Then why?"
"Because I love you," he answered. As the clapping behind them died down again Cal kept talking while he kept kneeling, holding on to her hand, looking up at her. "I love you," he repeated. "And the last twenty years have been the best of my life. But it's more than that. It's not just that we've been married for twenty years. It's the beautiful kids we raised togetha." He hoped she understood he was talking about Emily as well. "And it's the life we built. The man you made me want to be and the people I've come to love as a result of that." And here he meant Ria and Andrew (sort of Andrew, he was still new. But if Ria loved him then he was all right in Cal's books), Loker and Faye, Kent and Simon, Kiera, her partner, and yes, even his son-in-law Ajay. "You're such a beautiful person and the way you tie this family togetha." Because she did, of course she did, she was the matriarch. She was the one who told Cal to cut Ajay a break, she was the one who overcame years of grief to have hope, and she was the one who had brought Cal back from the brink so many times, it was a miracle.
Cal told her all of that. He knew all the things he wanted to cover and how to slide between subjects easily. "You're everythin' to me. Everythin'. Twenty years married to you have been nothin' short of amazin' and I really can't wait for twenty more."
"Cal," Gillian tried and she was crying steady tears. She tugged on his hand, encouraging him to stand again and there was more clapping from behind Cal's back. Gillian pulled him into a fierce hug, spluttering into his neck a little as she pressed her face into him and then a kiss and then she whispered in his ear.
Cal pulled back to give her a grin but before he could respond, or tell her about the next stage of their evening, everyone descended on them. Owen, who had already seen the ring half a dozen times, wanted to see it again. And then so did Grace. So Gillian's hand was pulled one way while the ring was inspected, and her body in the other direction while Lewis hugged her. Then Owen, then Ethan, then Grace and finally Emily and Ajay all got their hugs too.
"What did Gramma say?" Ethan asked Cal once his hug was over.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Cal retorted.
"Oh my god, look at this place!" Gillian exclaimed like she had just noticed the room.
"Lewis," Cal indicated. Lewis smiled.
"It's beautiful," Gillian noted with enthusiasm, moving her hand around her face in a circular motion. She looked around and up, at the lights everywhere, while Owen and Ethan piped up that they had helped. Lewis put his arms around his younger brother roughly and Owen squirmed away from him. It didn't even take a glare from their father for them to quit monkeying around.
"We put the flowers over there," Grace spoke up, pointing to her contribution, which was to assist her mother in rearranging the mother's day bunches of flowers into vases so they would sit on the breakfast bar, which had been completely cleared of its usual clutter, as sentinels; one at each end.
"That's so great, thank you," Gillian told the little girl. "All of this," Gillian indicated the room and the people in it and she had tears in her eyes again. "Is so wonderful." She pushed open hands into the air slightly like she was double high-fiving the room.
"Anyway, you have to go," Emily prompted.
"Oh yeah," Cal remembered. He was having far too much fun stepping back and watching how everyone fussed around his wife. "We've got dinna resavations."
"I'll get changed," she used 'clothes' and she suddenly seemed to notice what Cal was actually wearing because she stared steadily for a second, then met his eye. "Into something nice," she added. She appraised him again, a little question in her eyebrows and Cal gave her nothing but a pleasant smile.
"Bye Gramma have a good time," Ethan called out.
"Thanks Ethan," Gillian responded warmly. "I won't be long," she added as she turned to go upstairs. "Thank you guys," she said again from the doorway after stooping to retrieve her bag from the tiles. "This was really nice." And she disappeared.
Cal held a finger to his lips until they could hear the door close overhead and then they all went into motion again. And noise. They all talked at once about Gillian's surprise, how they had totally fooled her and how she was so crying even though she tried not to. Ajay went to get his kids' coats and he and Emily started to force them onto their children as the three youngest gushed about how cool it all was and Grace went on about how pretty the ring was. When she grew up she wanted pretty diamonds too. Cal put the empty jewellery box on the breakfast bar, now that he didn't need it. Owen and Lewis had gone into the hall to get their own coats, being careful to be quiet and not alert their mother upstairs.
"You sure you ok with all the lights Dad?" Lewis asked, using a one handed 'light' sign.
"Yeah buddy thanks," Cal told him. The candles he was going to put out before they went for dinner. The lights that were plugged into the wall could be turned off easily enough. The ones running on small batteries would eventually just wear themselves out. Cal didn't want to turn them off (which would involve taking each and everyone down and taking the batteries out) and he had paid for the batteries after all. He had one more idea for the little fairy lights once Gillian was ready and before they would leave the house. "They're fantastic," Cal added, using a variation of 'wonderful'.
Lewis practically beamed brighter than the glow of lights in the room. "Ready to go Wen?" He asked his little brother, moving 'R' hands from right to left. Owen zipped up his jacket all the way to his chin and gave a nod. "Have a good time," Lewis told his father, giving him a quick hug.
"Love you Dad," Owen added as he hugged his father goodnight.
Cal told his sons he loved them too. He walked with them down to the front door. Emily carried Grace and Ethan walked with his father and they were all incredibly quiet as they snuck out the front door and to waiting cars. Ethan had gloriously informed his grandfather that they had parked around the corner so Gillian wouldn't see their car, like it had been his idea. Lewis was parked out the front in his usual place. Owen gave a wave as the car turned and headed in the other direction. Cal closed the front door carefully, made sure it was locked, and headed into the house quietly. He listened and could hear the rushing water in pipes that meant Gillian was in the shower. So he had time to wait again.
PJ
Cal was waiting for Gillian when she came downstairs. It had taken her forty-seven minutes to get ready and Cal was not only impressed she had kept it to under an hour, considering she had showered and done her hair and make-up, but also by what she was wearing. He had literally had to twiddle his thumbs while waiting for her, and resisted the urge to go up to spy about three times. He wanted her to surprise him, just like she would want to, and she did not disappoint. The dress she was wearing was a dark, rich purple, floor length with a deep neck line. It wasn't exactly plunging, but there was a serious amount of cleavage Gillian had every right to flaunt, but tastefully. The dress was halter neck, which meant her shoulders and back were bare and Cal could already imagine running his fingers along her soft skin, making her shiver under his touch. Even though she didn't turn around, Cal knew the dress was low in the back and the lining around the edges was decorated with a pattern of interlocking flower-work.
Gillian had swept her hair up into a roll at the back of her head but as Cal got closer, he could see there were already strands falling around her neck. So kissable. Her eyes were dark and her skin flawless, and really, for sixty-two, she looked fantastic; at least ten years younger. She was holding heels in her hands and her skin had a slight flush to it. "Are we going to be late?" She asked as if she were hurried. She stopped by the breakfast bar to put her shoes on her feet.
"No rush luv," Cal told her softly, still taking in the sight of her. She had a tiny silver chain around her neck and a small pendant. Cal knew that pendant. And of course, on her hand, the new diamond ring, which he wasn't used to seeing yet, so it constantly drew his eye. It caught the light easily from Lewis's glow-worm creation.
Gillian leaned one hand against the breakfast bar to slip the second heel onto her right foot and looked up at him. From that angle, Cal could see all the way down the front of her dress. Especially now that he had gotten closer to her. "Good view?" She deadpanned.
"Incredible," Cal noted.
"Well you set a high standard," Gillian straightened up again. She was so much taller than him, in the heels, but also because she was standing on the step. Cal reached out his hand and she took it and he guided her towards him carefully. He pulled her closer against his chest, taking her right hand in his and raising it up to the side. He placed his other hand into the small of her back. Gillian slid a finger along the lapel of Cal's tuxedo and then gave him an appreciative expression. "You're wearing a tux just for me?"
But she already knew the answer so Cal just gave a slight smile, still in awe at how stunning she looked, marvelling again that she had made herself so beautiful in less than an hour. Cal swayed them to an imaginary tempo and Gillian obediently hooked her chin onto his shoulder. She moved her body closer against his, so their legs brushed as they moved in a slow shuffle. Cal felt her head move and she noted again how amazing the lights were. Cal agreed. It really was magical standing beneath them. Lewis had outdone himself.
"Where's everyone else?" Gillian murmured.
"Gone."
"Gone where?" Gillian prompted when Cal did not elaborate.
"Away."
Gillian pulled back to give him an unimpressed expression so he explained. "Lew and Wen are gonna sleep ova with their big sista tonight," Cal told her softly.
"Oh," Gillian noted.
"So we can have the house to ourselves," Cal added.
Gillian gave him a slight smirk. "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah," Cal gave her a lazy smile. Then he leaned forward to press his lips against hers, realising he hadn't kissed her yet. Gillian shifted her lips to fit his in a soft and sweet but warm kiss. Gillian gave a slight 'mmm' and when she pulled away she immediately wrapped her arm around his back in an embrace, resting her head against his.
"This is so nice," she sighed.
Yeah she was right. This was nice. She was warm in his arms and she smelt so good... vanilla because she knew how much he liked it. And she wore one of his favourite dresses, with his favourite shoes and god she looked so good. She was his wife, his everything. And this evening was by no means over.
"Ready for dinna?"
"Oh yeah," she agreed pulling back with a smile.
"You look amazin'," Cal told her sincerely.
"So do you," Gillian responded with a smile.
PJ
Cal had had many thoughts about the evening and how it should go. He thought about taking Gillian out of town. He thought about booking a hotel room for the night. He even though about a second honeymoon. But what he went with was a really nice dinner out, at one of the most popular and raved about fine dining restaurants in the district; a three course table de hote. And then it would be home again to... just be. Because really, neither of them did flashy very well, the ring was enough, and what they preferred was just being with each other, talking, reminiscing, being. That was as far as Cal got with plans; dinner and then home again. He had organised for the boys to go and stay at Emily's so he and Gillian could at least have the house to themselves; with two teenagers sometimes that was a way to create the most special evening. Time alone. Peace and quiet.
Dinner was incredible. Basil and sweet onion stuffed vine tomatoes on a bed of rice pilaf with a pepita pumpkin sauce. Lemon poached chicken inside red pepper raviolis with a feta and baby broccoli cream sauce. Dessert, oh dear god, was sticky chocolate cake, layered with caramel fudge and raspberry coulis, with a quenelle of orange flavoured crème and flowing white chocolate ganache. Cal made it about half way through his dessert before he felt sick but Gillian went on with relish. She didn't finish his though, because even as she scraped her plate clean, she complained how full she was. Cal ordered a coffee, mostly to kill time to let the wine in his system process enough for him to feel completely safe to drive home. And so he didn't get up and attempt walking too soon after all that sugar...
"That was so good," Gillian enthused, finally putting her spoon down.
A waiter came to clear their plates and Gillian gave him a bright smile of thanks. Cal sipped at his coffee, watching her. She fidgeted with the diamond engagement ring absently. "Is it all right?" Cal asked her guardedly.
"I love it," Gillian answered, glancing down to see what he was talking about, before looking up at him again with another warm smile.
"Are you sure, cos if you don't like it, we can take it back, get somethin' you'd ratha..."
"I love it," Gillian told him with firm feeling, reaching out with her hand to grip his on his side of the table. Cal shifted his hand from the curl of his saucer to the curl of her hand and returned her smile. He gave a nod, said 'good'. He did actually feel relieved and her face wasn't telling him anything differently.
"How did you hide it?" Gillian asked.
"It was in my undawear drawer for a while but then I got really paranoid so put it unda the bed."
Gillian turned up her nose.
"Well I wasn't gonna leave it in the car. Someone could have nicked it."
"And someone could have snooped under the bed."
"No one goes unda there anymore," Cal pointed out. "Not since Owen was too big to fit."
Gillian gave a little amused smile. She must have been remembering when Owen did fit under the bed and how he'd like to hide there to surprise one of them. After three shocks they wised up and went looking for him first before walking by the bed, with a bucket of iced water. He quit hiding under there after that. But what Cal really meant was that Gillian wasn't going to look under the bed, because the boys didn't even know there was something to go snooping for; not like Christmas presents.
"And I wrapped it up in a plastic bag and put it right up by the wall so even if some little monsta felt the need to squirm around unda there, there was still a good chance they wouldn't find it." He had only shown the ring to Lewis and Owen that afternoon, when they were decorating. Emily had gone shopping with him.
"Hhmm very sneaky. Now I know where Owen gets it."
Cal returned her amused smile. He raised his cup to sip his coffee.
"Excuse me?" A male voice made them both turn. Tall, dark blonde hair, brown eyes. Cal assessed him quickly and easily; no threat, earnest expression, a little nervous, not a familiar face. Gillian looked over at the man a little startled. "Are you... Gillian?"
"Yes," she answered, making it sound like an unsure question.
"You were the resident psychologist at a Cloverfield Boy's Home, oh, uh, about two thousand and three?"
"Yes," Gillian said again, but this time she said it with more familiarity. The puzzle was starting to come together. Cal watched on with interest.
"My name's Seth," the man went on. Behind him a beautiful dark haired woman stood and waited. Cal quickly assessed her face too, but she was just politely listening, watching the man. He figured they were together.
"Seth!" Gillian suddenly clicked. She got to her feet. "Yes. I do remember you." She gave him a polite hug.
Seth beamed. "I saw you having dinner and just wanted to say hello before we left." He turned slightly behind him. "This is my wife, Isabella," he pronounced it with a soft 's' not a 'z'. The woman came forward and politely shook Gillian's hand.
"It's nice to meet you," she added, her accent Italian.
Gillian returned the sentiment and turned to introduce Cal too. He stood and shook hands with the both of them. He caught Gillian giving him one of those looks but he wasn't sure what she meant for him to pick up on. He was being polite wasn't he? He even stayed standing until they finished talking. Seth said he wanted Gillian to know everything had worked out for him and that he remembered her from the boys' home, how she had helped him and looked after him.
Gillian smiled warmly, "I'm so glad."
Seth gave her another smile and turned to take his wife's hand. "We'll leave you to it. Enjoy the rest of your evening."
Cal murmured a 'thank you' and Gillian told Seth it was so nice to see him again, and to meet Isabella, and then they were walking away and Cal and Gillian sat again. The delight was still in Gillian's eyes and Cal was starting to realise he didn't know what Seth was talking about. A boy's home? Gillian worked in a boy's home?
"Who was that?" Cal asked, leaning forward slightly. "I'm drawin' a blank."
Gillian looked over at him and the small flicker of disappointment was not unnoticed. "You met Seth before. When I worked at the boys' home. Do you?" She stopped, hesitated, she had almost asked him if he remembered.
"I'm gettin' senile," Cal told her, trying to play down the lapse of memory. Any lapse of memory unfortunately had a lot of negative connotations for them. But Cal also realised the date and that this particular incident occurred outside the time frame of his amnesia. And suddenly it was there. "This was when we met the first time."
"Yes," Gillian's face relaxed.
"Right yes. You were the in-house shrink."
"And you were basically a jerk," Gillian shot back.
Cal smirked. "I believe I was just doin' my job."
"Whatever," Gillian responded dryly.
"And so Seth was...?" Cal prompted.
"The first boy you interviewed that day," Gillian finished.
The last of it came back to Cal. "Right. Of course." He gave a nod. "I rememba."
PJ
When they got home, the glow from Lewis's lights was dim but still visible. With the Christmas fairy lights off and the candles all blown out, an even sweeter, intimate atmosphere was created. Gillian wanted to enjoy the ambience and Cal agreed; what wouldn't he give her? So she went upstairs for a minute and came back with the thin mattress from beneath Owen's bed, the one used for slumber party guests, and a blanket from the hall cupboard. Cal caught on and they made a make-shift bed in the middle of their living room floor. Cal was so full he was more worried about breaking out of his pants getting down on the ground, more than his joints protesting the descent. Getting up again was also going to be difficult, but would it be worth it to snuggle up with his wife underneath the faux sky? Yes.
It reminded him of so many other times, their date at the outdoor movie theatre ten years ago on their anniversary, curled up in the lounger in their own yard a handful of times, for sunrises and sunsets. Their bed. So many moments in bed; the most heartbreaking and the most wonderful. Gillian lay against him now, a leg hooked over his at the thigh, her arm over his chest, her head on his shoulder, close, because it was a single mattress, because there was nowhere else in the world she would be. Nowhere else in the world Cal would be.
Gillian's fingers petted at Cal's collarbone. "It's so beautiful," Gillian spoke softly.
Cal wondered if she meant the ring or the... When he turned his head he could see she was looking up at the lights. Some of the batteries were already dying and as he also glanced up one suddenly went out, like a wink. Gillian had hammed up her appreciation of the ring once they left the restaurant. Which Cal appreciated because he saw nothing but truth on her face as she went on about how sweet he was, how beautiful the jewellery was, how good his taste was, how perfect his timing had been.
Yeah he did like it when she stroked his ego.
Cal shifted his hand resting in the small of his wife's back. The material of her dress was thin, but there was a lining of satin beneath it and his fingers shifted relatively friction free. "You looked amazin' tonight," Cal told her because he wasn't sure he had voiced that enough either. It was never a good idea to start just taking things for granted.
"Thank you," Gillian murmured, her head shifting again. "So did you," and her hand smoothed over his chest, around his ribs and she pressed herself against him a little more tightly. "They've been amazing twenty years Cal."
"Mh hmm," he agreed, though his mind often drifted to the negative memories, the time they were apart, the heartbreak of IVF, Mitchell, Lily, cancer, the head injury, Owen's premature birth. And then of course, if he thought about Owen he had to smile. Thinking about Owen was actually a positive thing; a miracle, as Gillian claimed. The accident had been tough, but also fused them together in a way that spoke of exactly what they knew they could lose if they didn't try, consciously try. Cal could work his way back through all the things he had just listed and put a more positive spin on them. Or at least find some positive aspect. IVF had, of course, led them to Lewis. Cancer had led Cal straight to Kent. Without miracles and hope they probably wouldn't have gotten through twenty years together. But god it was so worth it. That was exactly what life was about, hope and the occasional brilliant miracle to just give more hope.
Cal shifted suddenly, dislodging Gillian against him, unsettling the blanket covering their bodies. He turned onto his side and flicked the blanket back into place expertly, then drawing his wife in close against him, so they were in mirror image. Gillian looked a little startled but when Cal stayed up, leaning on his elbow, so he could look at her face, she relaxed again. She brought up a hand to his cheek, smoothing over the roughness and around his ear, into his hair, stopping him, mouth open, before he could say a word. "I know," she said simply. "I love you too."
PJ
AN: Today, while editing this chapter, I reached one million words for the saga (all eight parts). Quite a phenomenal feat considering I only ever intended to write the first one. I hope you've all enjoyed the journey. I have. I've enjoyed getting to know you and really appreciate the time you spent reviewing. Yes it's rather odd to finish on 149 when 150 would have been a nice even number, but I wrote this chapter about a month ago and couldn't bring myself to write any more after it. My muse has left the building.
I hope that I have left the story in a place of peace and closure for everyone. I feel that way personally. I've tried to add in chapters here and there that were suggested or requested (which took the story from about 100 chapters to 149... I also got inspired to write a few more...) and I feel that I've given the Lightman's lives good and even coverage.
So thank you for reading and reviewing. No, I don't plan on taking my stories down anytime soon. They will be here for your reading pleasure (though I will be going through periodically to check for typos so there might be small changes here and there). I hope to read some of you around sometime... Until then, take care, and thank you again.
PJ
xx