There"s a knock on the door. I can make out a platinum blonde ponytail through the circular window. Billie"s face peeps in and she throws her hand over her mouth. She tiptoes inside like she"s trying to hide something but lets out a lowly squeal at me. I embrace her carefully and she lets my nose fill with her overwhelming vanilla perfume.
"My baby," she whispers. "Jesus Christ."
Landon climbs from the bed, out into the corridor and leaves us in private.
"W-What are you doing here?" I say, shocked to see her, and maybe a bit more shocked that she"s not already at Landon"s throat...
"Landon called me... But for now, don"t worry about any of that. I brought someone to say h.e.l.lo."
From her large beach bag she pulls a fluffy feline, a much welcomed face today.
"Babeen, my beautiful boy." I smush his fur and press my head to his.
Meoooow.
"Shh, Babeen, you have to keep quiet," Billie whispers.
I laugh as I take the silly boy into my arms and inhale him while he nudges at my face. It"s a comfort I"ve missed. Then I take Billie back into my arms and start crying again.
"I"ve missed you guys."
"We"ve missed you too, baby girl. My G.o.d. I"m so glad to see you safe."
"Billie, I"m so so..."
"Hush. Hush your d.a.m.n mouth. We"re here to get you better. The past is the past. You are alive. Love makes us do some d.a.m.n foolish things and best be believing there"ll be some words. But for now, let"s celebrate breathing, shall we?"
I nod and laugh, pulling her into my arms again.
"I have so much to tell you..."
"Well, we"ll get to that. You just rest up first."
She pulls away and I notice something shiny on Billie"s hand.
"What is this?" I say, taking a modest ring between my fingers.
"Oh, don"t get too excited. Me and lazy-eye may have given each other promise rings."
My eyes fill with more tears. I"ve missed so much since I"ve been gone. Of all the things I"d let go about Baddock, Billie was the very last.
"I"m so sorry."
"Ugh, for the last time, less apologizing, more healing."
"No... I owe it to you. I need to tell you everything."
"In that case, you go ahead and start at the beginning... And no lies this time. I"ve been letting you get away with lying to me for too d.a.m.n long..."
"You knew?" I asked quietly.
"Course I did... But I saw good in you, and I thought you might come around sooner or later..."
It"s a few hours of talking Billie and Babeen finally leave me and Landon alone. I cuddle into his shoulder again. He places a kiss on my forehead.
"Lucy," he says quietly.
"Mm..."
"I"ve been thinking about our future lately, about where we go from here."
"What about it?"
"Well, there"s something I"ve been holding in the last few days and I didn"t know the right time to tell you. I didn"t want you stressing out anymore than you have been."
I don"t know if I want him to keep talking or let me live in this Limbo bubble a few days more. But curiosity gets the better of me. "Landon, what are you talking about?"
"Do you see a future with us?"
I shake my head in disbelief.
"Of course I do."
"I just want to be sure you"re ready to live this life with me, all the good, all the bad..."
His fingertips move along my collarbone and I collapse deeper into his touch. "Landon, you"re scaring me."
He lifts my chin up and kisses my mouth. "Do you want this future with me?"
"O-Of course. I want it to be you and me, forever..."
"If that"s what you want... I"m getting back out of the club."
"Doesn"t that mean another fight?"
"Not with Rev in charge... He"ll let me retire. Besides, I can"t keep being the f.u.c.king enforcer if I"m afraid the next fight might take me back to sixth grade english..."
I could see there was more he hadn"t told me yet. Something hidden behind his eyes.
"And... The doctor ran some tests on Wednesday..." he starts.
My stomach lurches. s.h.i.t. It isn"t over, is it? It can never be over for us.
"Are you okay?" I ask quietly.
"They ran the tests on you, Lucy..."
I clam up, my whole body going cold.
"Hey," he says noticing my change in mood. He combs his fingers through my hair and watches my eyes closely. "It"s okay... The doctor says you"re gonna be a mommy."
Epilogue.
10 Months Later...
Rebuilding a life isn"t all that easy.
I open my ranch slider of the cozy one-bedroom house that me, Landon and our sweetheart baby Daisy now call our home. It"s not quite Baddock, but Westminster, California is still a coastal town thirty minutes from Jethrow with plenty of nearby hiking trails, open roads and pre-schools. A place where we can be our real selves.
I"m Lucy Palermo and I"m in love with Landon Ellers, the best man to ever crash into my life.
I rest a big bowl of potato salad on the outdoor table that Post Officer Hernandez made for us. If he was this good around the kitchen, maybe Billie didn"t make such a bad choice after all... I take a second to survey the spread of food ready to feed all the folks arriving for the special one-month birthday of our precious little baby.
"Billie! Can you bring out the punch, please?" I shout inside.
"Sure, baby!"
Billie stumbles behind me and cheekily pats me on the b.u.t.t. "I can"t believe this is the same house you two bought... Landon is one talented handyman. When are you expecting him home?"
"Shouldn"t be too long," I say. "He sometimes gets a little lost in his work."
It was true... Now that he"d left the club, Landon had decided to open up his own workshop. With a loan from Garret and Rev, he bought an old garage five minutes away from Big Sal"s and officially opened Ellers Automotive.
"Come here, baby girl," Billie says, taking Daisy from me.
Hernandez is working the barbecue as Landon appears from the side of the house, muscles glistening, shirt slung over his shoulder and his face dirtied in black smudges. I gawk for a minute while he shakes Hernandez"s hand. Then he walks right up to me and lands a huge kiss on my lips. I swoon in his arms just like I always did.
"You"re all sticky!" I giggle and pretend to push him away. He won"t let me, picking me up.
"Get a room!" Billie shouts.
"Maybe we will."
"Well hurry it up, because everybody"s gonna be here soon," Billie says.
We both move into our brand new bedroom, decorated with a forest green feature wall, black faux fur blanket and a big banana leaf plant. There"s a painting on my wall- One of the many I"ve finished since finding Landon again. It"s the girl. Well, it was the girl. She"s under there somewhere, beneath some layers of paint after I started her all over again.
"She looks good in here," Landon says, moving in behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. "You like her?"
"I love her." I watch the painting"s bright eyes as she floats above a huge ship in a dress that splays out across the canvas in light blues and golds and silvers. She"s full of motion, hope, and inspiration...
My hands search for the comfort of Landon"s neck and I grip him tightly as we nuzzle each other. My shoulders relax slightly when he"s finally in my arms after each day.
He squeezes me even tighter. My fingertips brush at his stubble, building speed and ferocity as we caress each other and grow more l.u.s.tful for one another. Our chemistry is desperate and electric.
"Think we have time?" Landon says with an open smile.
I can read him like a book. I need no further invitation and nod excitedly. My head falls backward so his lips can meet my neck. He picks me up so that I can wrap my legs around his torso. Our tongues encircle one another"s and I"m pressed hard to the back wall. His strong fingers frantically feel underneath my skirt to my panties. I was ready for him the since he picked me up in the yard... He shifts the thin cotton aside with a low, pleasurable growl and guides the tip of his c.o.c.k inside me. A deep moan escapes my own throat and I kiss him harder to stifle the cries.
"Harder," I whisper into his mouth, my body becoming alive with his touch.
He thrusts his thickness deeper and deeper. It"s as beautiful, desperate, pa.s.sionate as every other time we make love. I can"t let this feeling go that if soul mates existed he was mine. I feel more whole with him inside of me, near me, holding me.
My eyes roll up to the ceiling and Landon lets his teeth drag roughly along my neck, tugging my hair back roughly.
"f.u.c.k," I breathe. "Harder, baby, harder!"
He"s filling me so roughly my whole body jolts in staccato rhythm. I collapse into the nook of his neck to take him even deeper, my fingertips penetrating deeper into his flesh so deeply I d.a.m.n near draw blood - but neither of us back down. Landon"s strength, his knowledge of what turns me on, builds me higher and higher pounding me rhythmically toward a height we can"t breach for too much longer.
"Oh, G.o.d! I love you so f.u.c.king much, beautiful," he breaths warmly into my ear.
I crash beneath the feeling.
Waves of my o.r.g.a.s.m pulse around Landon"s length and he releases into me. He fills me, holds me, kisses me, and whispers sweet nothings into my ear. I rag-doll into his arms as he lands us carefully onto the edge of the bed. My cheeks blush to a soft rose as my climax subsides and we laugh nervously at each other. It"s like that with us sometimes- We wonder why we were allowed to find this connection.
"Lucy, I have something to ask," Landon says climbing off the mattress to crouch in front of me and lift his pants up.
"What"s up?"
A gentle caress pushes some sweaty hair from my forehead then he cups my cheek. "You are so d.a.m.n beautiful..."
"If this is about you getting that new TV, I told you we have to wait a few..."
Then he falls to one knee.
"Lucienne Palermo," he starts.
"N-No..." I start crying. Then I look away then back at his most sincere stare on me.
"Lucienne Rose Palermo. You are my strength, my constant, my every good memory. I"d relive all the pain in my life if it meant spending one more second with you by my side."
Then he pulls a green velvet box from his jean pocket. I forget how to breath.
"I want to be there for you, to protect you, to promise you truthfully, from the bottom of my heart that you will always be safe while I exist. It"s my one wish to live out that existence with you by my side, helping each other through the good, the bad, and whatever else we have yet to face. Lucienne Palermo, will you do me the honor of marrying me?"
There"s a long pause as I hold my hand up to stop him for a minute. I inhale. I need to remember this feeling.