Crossing Boundaries (Cape Falls) (15 page)

“Work? She should be back in college.”

“She dropped out, Dean. She’s been living with me and trying to save money to be ready for the baby’s arrival. It’s funny. I warned you that she’d be the brunt of all the gossip with you in town. Now with you away, she’s the brunt of gossip for being pregnant.”

Dean stared at the table. Laura was pregnant with his baby and she was in the hospital.

“I’ll step aside. Laura needs you and I didn’t see it before. I loved her and thought I could do the better loving. I was a fool,” Peter admitted.

Dean grabbed his coat and followed the younger man out of his apartment. He hadn’t moved far from Cape Falls because the thought of not being a quick drive away from Laura had frightened him.

Peter drove and was probably breaking every speed limit. An hour later they pulled up at the hospital. Peter quickly found a parking space and together they walked inside the hospital. Dean followed Peter to the maternity wing.

“She doesn’t know you’re here. Just give me a minute,” Peter told him and went ahead into a room.

Dean watched the room.
Laura’s in there, the woman you love and who you gave up like the asshole you are. She's laying in the bed, scared and alone.

He knew then that when he entered that room he would have to make a decision. He glanced down at his finger where Carla’s wedding ring still sat.

“I’m sorry, baby. I’ve got to move on,” he said quietly. He removed the ring and fisted it in his hand. Peter came to the door and nodded for him to come in.

“I brought someone for you to see,” Peter said to Laura.

Dean walked round the door and his world collapsed. Laura was sitting up in bed. She looked terrible and beautiful at the same time. She gasped and they stared at one another.

“You said you didn’t want me,” she whispered.

“I’ve got something to tell you, Laura. I was the one who told him to leave. I thought I could love you more and give you everything that he couldn’t,” Peter admitted.

Laura remained silent and Dean nodded for Peter to leave. The door closed and Laura and Dean stared at each other.

“You’re here,” she said.

“I’m here and I’m not going anywhere,” he told her as he moved to the bed. “I’ve been an idiot. I made a promise to my wife that I would never love another woman they way I loved her.”

“And you do?”

“Fuck me, Laura. I’m so fucking in love with you it scares me,” he admitted and suddenly felt as if a great weight had been eased from his shoulders.

“But...”

“Don’t talk. Peter came to me after I took Kimmy to that dinner. I want to tell you that Kimmy was Carla’s friend. She came to see the woman I’d fallen in love with. Can you imagine how I felt? I’m a man of forty, successful, and my gut and heart was being twisted and pulled by a woman twenty years my junior.”

“You love me?”

“With all of my heart,” he told her and handed her the wedding band. “I don’t need this anymore and this is the only proof I can give you that I’m ready to move on.”

She took the ring from him. “This is the one you wear all the time.”

“I know. But I don’t need it because while I’ve been away I found this.” He pulled the necklace out that he’d taken to wearing since leaving Cape Falls. Hanging from the centre of the necklace was a diamond ring.

“Miss Laura Cox, would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”

* * * *

Laura couldn’t believe what was happening. It didn’t feel that long ago she’d been watching him leave. Now he stood before her asking her the question she’d wanted to hear so many times in the last three months.

“I’ve got to tell you something first,” she said. Laura didn’t know how he’d take to learning she was pregnant with his child.

“What do you need to tell me?” he asked, sitting down on the bed beside and taking her hand in his.

She knew she should be angry with him. But how could she be angry? He was back and for the first time in a long time she could smile again. She loved him and wanted him to be near her.

“Do I look like the type of guy who cares what someone else thinks? I left because I was worried about you. I don’t want you to be gossiped about. I love you, Laura,” he told her. He cupped her cheek and leaned down to kiss her lips.

Laura knew how she felt about him. The past and the hurt was forgotten at the thought of being with him for the rest of her life. Her happiest times had been with him.

“You’ll never get rid of me. I didn’t put the house up for sale, Laura. I still own it. I want you to be my wife and live with me there” Dean wrapped his arms around her.

She smiled as his scent surrounded her, comforting her.

“You’ve got to start eating though. I don’t like seeing you this thin. I want my Laura back.”

Epilogue

Dear Diary,

You may think I’m mad, but I took him back. No arguments and no fear. I’d missed him since he’d been away and having him back meant more to me than sending him off and making him work at being with me. We were married at Christmas. It was a simple ceremony. My parents refused to attend and some of the town folk don’t like us being a couple. Peter gave me away and signed as a witness. He’s my friend and I hope to see him happy with a woman of his own soon.

I didn’t lose the baby and I’m seven months along. Dean is nothing but attentive.

I’ve had a book dedicated to me, and a title named after me. Can you believe that?

Dean wrote about our encounters and how much I meant to him in a book titled, "To My Saviour, Laura Cox." At first I thought it would be insane and a stupid idea. When he wrote the blurb he explained that he’d combined a story based around characters in our lives. He and I and everyone else were made up, apart from Peter. He’s in it, of course.

My writing is back on track, but I’ve not returned to college. I don’t want to return, but Dean has put his foot down. I’ll be returning in a year or two. I hope I can keep him distracted so I don’t have to return to college. I love being his wife and I don’t need anything else.

Who would have thought I’d be married and happy in the few months of getting to know Dean? He means more to me than anything. We’ve crossed so many boundaries to be together. I love him with my whole heart.

* * * *

A note from Dean,

Thank you for giving me a second chance, even though I don’t deserve it. I love you and will cherish you always. Being with you and crossing the boundaries from being friends to lovers and from lovers into a married couple has been the best decision I’ve ever made.

I’m pleased you turned up that night and forced me to recognize my feelings for you.

I love you, my Laura.

The End

www.samcrescent.wordpress.com

Other Books by Sam Crescent:

Blackmailed by the Beast

Contract of Shame

Evernight Publishing

www.evernightpublishing.com