Page 37

37

JACOB

Two months later

“I’ve found us the perfect house. C’mon,” I say, running into the hall, and grab my keys from the sideboard.

“You have?” Skye asks. “I looked again this morning and there was nothing online. Are you sure?” Frowning with confusion, she picks up her phone to check the houses for sale app.

Sitting on the edge of her parents’ couch, she looks up at me, where I lean against the doorjamb. Her big blue eyes are full of confusion. “There’s nothing new on here.” She shows me the screen of her phone.

“It’s not on there. C’mon…” I clap my hands twice. “Let’s go.”

She pushes herself off the couch. “Okay, let me put my boots on. What’s it like? Where is it? Is it nice?”

“It’s perfect.”

My eyes travel across the room, following her every move. Stopping in front of the mirror, she checks her lipstick, then rearranges her short bangs.

A month ago, Skye decided to cut her long hair off into a short pixie cut. I thought it was a rash decision, however, her razor-sharp, short around the back and sides, with longer bangs at the front hairstyle makes her look even more beautiful now. Edgier too. She pulls off fun and glam, and I love how it highlights her bone structure and big blue eyes.

The best part is, she loves it too. She said it was a way to start again and I couldn’t agree more.

I love her whatever, however, forever.

Looking cute today in her black dungaree shorts, thick black tights, and white tee, she moves into the hall and pushes her feet into her black winter moon boots.

I pass her the long white puffy jacket I bought her for Christmas to put on.

“Is it far, the house?”

“The only thing I will say is that it’s five minutes away from here.” I make for the front door.

“Give me three guesses.”

“No.”

She giggles. “Why not?”

“Because it’s more exciting this way. C’mon, shoo.” I hold the door open and beckon her to step out the door.

“Okay, big guy.” She rolls her eyes, pulling the collar of her jacket around her neck.

It snowed overnight. Not much, but enough for it to leave a blanket over the ground. It’s chilly today, but the sun is shining and it’s already started to melt the snowfall.

Pulling into the entrance of Dubock Castle, I drive slowly down the orange gravel driveway.

“Oh, do we have wedding things to do?” From the passenger seat, she turns to look at me with a wrinkled brow.

“Not today, no.” I pull up outside the arched entrance.

“You can’t park here; you need to park in the visitors’ spots around the back.” She hooks her finger, instructing me to park around the corner.

I ignore her, click open the door and get out of my car.

She ducks down, looking at me through the gap of the open driver’s door. “Jacob?”

I smile, close the door, and walk around to her side to usher her out of the car.

“What are we doing here? Why are you acting weird?” She takes my hand when I hold it out for her to take.

She mutters something under her breath I don’t quite catch.

“Sorry, what was that?”

Sounding exasperated, she says, “You got me all excited. I thought we were going to look at a house first. To make a new fresh start together.” She lets go of my hand and stands in front of the car.

“You’re adorable when you’re annoyed. Do you know that?”

She rolls her eyes at me again. “Whatever. Right, let’s meet the wedding planner and do what we need to do, then view the property you want me to see.”

I point at the castle, standing like a sandstone giant to my side. “This is it.”

“What?” She cranes her neck to look up at the ancient structure.

“This is our new home.”

“What?” she shrieks, snapping her head around to look at me.

“I bought Dubock Castle.”

Her mouth falls open. She looks at the castle, then me, then back at the castle.

She shuts her mouth, but it falls open again. “Oh, my God, you’re insane.” She holds her hands over her heart. “You bought a castle for us to live in?” Her eyes pool with tears.

“Yes.” I nod enthusiastically.

“But we have our wedding booked here? Was it for sale? What will we do now?”

I close the space between us and pull her into my arms. “Now, we have the wedding in our house. The owner decided it was time to sell. They don’t want to do events anymore, and he can’t afford to maintain or upgrade it without doing events. Our wedding was the last one he planned to fulfill and then he was putting it up for sale. I just happened to ask at the right time. It needs a little renovation to modernize it, but this is where we will live forever, together, married, in a castle and we’re gonna have lots of babies.”

“Just two. Not lots.”

“Okay, just two. Girls? Little princesses?”

“Boys. Princes.”

“Okay.” I plant a soft kiss on her lips.

“Could you be any more romantic?” She grabs my face.

“I didn’t know I was until I met you.” I slide her hand off my face and kiss the top of her aquamarine solitaire engagement ring. The one the two of us picked out together. It’s understated and smaller than I had planned, but Skye didn’t want anything too big or too flashy.

She looks away, arching her neck back to take in our new home.

“Wow.”

“Want to view your new home?”

“Do I ever? I’ve never been up the tower,” she gasps, getting excited.

For the next hour, the two of us explore every nook and cranny of the five-bedroom, twelfth-century castle. Having been renovated in the nineteenth century, it’s in need of a little tender love and care, which I am certain Skye will give it lots of.

While we explored the castle, she reeled off dozens of facts about its history. How it used to be a safe haven for monarchs and archbishops of the past and rendezvous for secret meetings between lords and their mistresses.

Buzzing with excitement, she went into detail about what she planned to do with the vaulted wooden ceilings, draping them in cloud-printed canopies to drop the ceilings in the bedrooms in an effort to make them cozier.

She has so many wonderful ideas.

“I have one more room to show you.” I push open the door that leads to the towered corner on the farthest side of the castle.

She sucks in a breath as she steps into the magical space. “It’s a library.”

“Big enough?”

“It’s enormous.” In the center of the wall-to-wall book-filled space, she spins around with her arms in the air, making her long jacket look like a flared flamenco dress.

She comes to a standstill and skips across to one of the shelves. Running her finger along the spines, she hooks her finger into the top of one and pulls it out, flicks through it, and pushes it back in.

I watch on, fascinated by her fascination as she pulls another, and then another, from the shelves.

“The books are included in the sale.” I interrupt her browsing.

“Some of these are first editions and look.” She points up to the rolling library ladders that move back and forth along wrought-iron tracks. “I’ve always wanted those.”

I know she has.

Moving over to the turret area, Skye reaches up and rests the palm of her hand against the crisscross leaded windows.

“This is really ours?”

“The sale went through at midday today.” At one point I didn’t think it would happen when the deed for the castle went missing. But like some kind of magical miracle, the owner found it.

“It’s beautiful,” she whispers, gazing out of the window.

Nothing makes me happier than seeing her happy.

I look up and down the shelves at the thousands of books we now own as I make my way over to her. I know if she ever goes missing in the house, this is where I’ll find her.

“Look,” she squeals, pointing at the window. “A family of deer. There’s even a baby one.”

“You might kill me with all of this cuteness.” The weight of my stare makes her turn around.

Her face, now serious, falls into place as she looks back at the library in the circular turret we’re both now standing in. “Do you ever get anything wrong? This is so…” Her eyes become glazed, and she looks overwhelmed.

“The only thing I ever got wrong was not asking you out on a date the same night I kissed you after that game of truth or dare.”

“I don’t think it was wrong.”

“No?”

“I think it was perfect timing. We weren’t in alignment with one another then, but now? It’s perfect. This is perfect.” She spreads her arms wide. “We needed more chapters added to our story to get our happy ending. Perfect things happen in perfect ways. If we weren’t getting married, would you have known the owner was selling? Or had I not worked that Saturday night all those months ago, would we have gotten together? Or if Frankie went in my place for your meetings in London and not me, would you have opened up to me and told me you loved me if your cousin Joanna hadn’t told you to when you met up in London? It’s all been down to timing.” She drifts off thinking before she says, “Even after everything… the bad stuff… we’re still here, together…”

“Forever.”

“Yeah.” She smiles as I cradle her face in my hands. “I love you, Jacob.”

“I loved you when I was sixteen, and every year thereafter, now, always.”

I slant my mouth over hers, and we kiss and kiss, tasting each other, connecting us in intimate ways I once never believed were possible.

Our kiss becomes rough and she bites my bottom lip. “Let’s go home,” she mumbles.

“We are home.”

She lets out a sigh of contentment. “We’re home.”

Yes we are.