Page 27 of When Forever Stays

“No. Absolutely not.” His response is firm without a moment of hesitation. He tugs me forward until I’m pressed against him and he wraps his arms around me. “You are so much more than I deserve. I thought that then, and I know it’s even more true now.”

I look up at him through watery eyes. “I don’t believe that. You were surprisingly unexpected."

His brows scrunch. “How?”

I tug him by his hand to the side of the fountain to let a group of people walk past us. “You’re one of the most gorgeous guys I’ve ever seen.”

“One of?”

I smile, feeling a hint of the tension slowly ebbing away. “The most good looking guy; better?”

He shrugs, then gives me a confident smile. “I guess.”

“But more than your looks, you’re sweet and patient. When you prayed over our food, you were so sincere, as if you meant every word. Before you, I went out with guys who claimed to beChristians, but it was all for show. With each of them, I made it clear that my faith is an important part of my identity. It was easy to see through their deception, but with you…there wasn’t even a drop of a lie.”

“I wanted to be honest and open with you then. And I need to be open and honest with you now. I remember everything. Including the reason I left.” Closing his eyes, he blows out a long breath. “I found out my son needed a transplant.”

A tidal wave of devastation crashes over me. It’s a miracle I remain standing. Rhett never mentioned a son—which means there has to be more to this story. And whatever it is will alter everything I thought I knew about the man standing in front of me.

ELEVEN

RHETT

The last thing I expected was regaining all the misplaced fragments of my memories while standing at the café’s counter. Seeing the look on Dana’s face took me back to the night of our first and only date, and then the tsunami of destruction that immediately followed.

It’s as if the key was uncovered, and immediately unlocked every missing piece of my memory. Including who I was before arriving on Amber Island and why I ran here several years ago. A heavy weight of regret and trepidation lodges itself inside my chest.

“I didn’t know you had a son,” Dana says, her voice cracking at the last word.

Shaking my head, I say, “I didn’t either. Finding out you have a child with someone is shocking enough, but then in the same breath, Ashley—my ex—told me our son, Oscar, was hospitalized with acute liver failure and needed a liver transplant. I went into auto-pilot, knowing I needed to help him however I could.”

Dana gasps and places a hand on her chest. “Was he…is he okay now?”

I swallow. “Yeah. He got part of my liver and, praise God, his body didn’t reject it, and now he’s living his best life.”

I grit my jaw, wishing my memories hadn’t returned so I could continue living in this bubble with Dana where my past hadn’t come back to haunt me and ruin my second chance with this incredible woman. Because Ashley and Oscar are just the tip of the iceberg. Another thing I remember is something I never told her about. Something that could break the sliver of trust she may still have in me.

“Why do you not sound…happy about that? Him living his best life, I mean.” Her tone is cautious.

I blow out a puff of air, trying to figure out the best way to tell her. Once I processed everything Ashley dropped in my lap I wanted to reach out to Dana, but I convinced myself she wouldn’t want anything to do with me once she realized what my lifestyle was like before I came to know the Lord. My son would be a constant reminder of that life. Then the magnitude of everything else fell on me, and I knew having kept my real identity a secret would only distance us more. I made myself believe Dana was better off without me. That what we had–no matter how incredible–was not meant to last forever. A clean break would be best for us before we got too serious. But as I stare into this amazing woman’s eyes, I know my heart never believed those lies. I’ve been hers since the moment she stepped foot on my court in her tennis skirt, polo shirt, and sun visor.

Countless times, I kicked myself for canceling my cell service before boarding the flight to Chicago that changed my life. For not reaching out and telling Dana exactly what was happening.Then I remembered who I once was and that it was time for me to face the consequences of my past actions. Consequences I didn’t want to burden Dana with.

I focused on recovering from my own surgery and trying to connect with my teenage son, yet she still lingered in my thoughts. As much as I wanted to reconnect with Dana, my life was too messy for someone like her.

She’s young, beautiful, and kind, unscarred by life’s sharp edges, while I’m a man who’s walked a jagged line for most of his existence. Someone who earned the marks marring his skin. It wasn’t right to mix the pure with the scarred.

Ashley thought she was acting in Oscar’s best interest by keeping him from me after I ignored her attempts to reach out. Just like I thought keeping my true identity a secret from Dana—and everything associated with it—was what was best for our new relationship. No one on Amber Island knows who I was, so I didn’t think it would be necessary to tell her at first either. But when I finally got the urge to open up and tell her the truth on our date, I chickened out.

“It’s complicated,” I finally answer.

Dana removes her hand from mine and crosses her arms over her chest. Up until now, she’s stood silently, allowing me to work through my thoughts. “Then un-complicate it for me,” she says. It’s almost a demand.

I want to tell her everything andfor her to know who I truly am. But I can’t. Not yet.

She taps her foot and raises one of those sassy eyebrows as if telling me to go on.

I run my hands through my hair and say, “Oscar wants nothing to do with me. I lived less than a mile away from him, but whenever I tried to go see him, he refused to see me. Praise God his body didn’t reject the part of my liver he got. We went to check-ups at the same time, but he refused to go to lunch with me or do anything with me throughout it all. Eventually, I decided it was time to move back and return to a life where I felt at home.” I was only on Amber Island two days before I went surfing and had the accident, yet I feels like I’ve lived a lifetime since coming back.

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