Page 47 of While You're There
“Is that something you want to do more of, V? Do you want to travel?”
Her fingers stilled, but she didn’t respond right away. When she finally replied, her voice quivered with uncertainty.
“I honestly never gave it much thought. The only thing I’ve really wanted for the last several years was to get a full-time job with benefits so I could have surgery. I accepted a long time ago that some things were just never going to be an option for me, so I never gave myself permission to dream. It sounds really sad and pathetic to say, but that was my reality.”
Rhett hugged her tighter, trying to absorb the ache in her confession.
“It’s not pathetic, but I don’t want you to think like that anymore, beautiful. I want you to come up with the wildest, craziest ideas and give yourself permission to want them for your life. We can travel. You can paint. We can start a family. We can live on a remote island somewhere. Money isn’t an issue, and it never will be. Now that we have a plan for your surgeries… I want you to dream. And I want you to let me help make those dreams come true.”
She pulled her hand away to wipe an unshed tear before craning her neck back to look in his eyes. “I think I want to get my BFA.” Rhett closed his eyes as her words sunk in. They had talked about this months ago, and Tori had dismissed the idea outright. A Fine Arts degree was more aligned with her passion for painting, but it didn’t seem practical given the vision she had for her future.
“Since I’m going to take a year off school anyways for the surgeries, and since money isn’t an issue, I might as well go for the degree I really want.” She paused then, and he knew she was waiting for his reaction before she’d let herself continue.
“I think that’s an amazing dream, V.”
“And then when I finally graduate with my BFA, I want to go to Europe. I want to travel all over Italy and France. I want to go to every museum and see everything. And I want to do it all with you.”
“We’ll make it happen,” he vowed, hugging her against his chest. There wasn’t a dream she could come up with that he wouldn’t spend the rest of his life working toward for her. She had been his dream for so damn long… and now he had everything. He wanted to spend the rest of his life helping her figure out and pursue dreams of her own.
“Rhett?”
“Yeah, beautiful?”
“I really don’t know if having kids is one of my dreams. I spent so long playing caretaker to my dad. I don’t even know if I’d be any good at it, considering my mom was only around for the first eleven years of my life…”
“That’s okay,” he responded without hesitation. “Really. I’m not opposed to the idea of having kids, but it’s honestly not something I ever dreamed about for myself. I spent so long focused on just one dream,” he squeezed his arms around her for emphasis. “My plan for my own future was always either just me, or you and me. The only thing I ever wanted for myself was you.”
They were both quiet then, soaking in each other’s words, basking in the blending of their dreams for the future. His biggest dream had already been achieved. It was her. It had always been her. Getting to love Tori out loud was all he wanted and all he would ever need.
“Do you want to call Dr. Silko and give her an update? Would it help not to have that hanging over your head while we’re here?
She let out a soft sigh and turned around in his arms. “No. I still want to do the egg retrieval.”
He tilted his head in question. “But you just said…”?
“I know what I said. And I meant what I said. But if the last few months have taught me anything, it’s how quickly the things we want and the things we think we know can change. A few months ago? I thought that right now we’d be broken up for good, and you’d already be gone to Virginia. Then I got that call... I can’t even describe to you what it felt like to hear those words and feel them change me. Everything I thought I knew came unhinged in that moment. It was like my world tipped onto a new axis. I wasn’t even scared. I just knew I needed you. After years of genuinely believing that you were better off without me in your life, suddenly, and with no concern for the consequences, I just wanted and needed you.”
Rhett sucked in a deep breath, letting the inhalation steady him as he processed what she was saying. She was right. Life had a funny way of going sideways sometimes, which they had learned first-hand over the last few months.
“So I’m going to do the egg retrieval like we talked about,” she concluded. “That way we don’t have to make any final decisions now. I have no desire or plans to have kids. But I also recognize that life doesn’t always go how we think it’s going to go. The call proved that to me.”
“I love you,” he said. It was all he could offer as his mind tried to make sense of everything she had just shared. He still wasn’t used to Tori being so open and candid with him. It would take a long time before he got used to her not holding back.
“I love you too,” she replied as she raised the back of her hand to her mouth to stifle a yawn. “I really am excited to head into the city and explore, but I think I’m going to need a nap. Or maybe a big coffee.”
“Let’s take a nap.” He stretched out a hand as he headed back into the villa. She accepted his suggestion and slipped her hand into his, letting him lead her into the massive master bedroom. A cool blast of air conditioning hit them as they escaped the southern humidity. Tori made her way over to the bed, plopping down as another extended yawn escaped her.
Rhett chuckled to himself as he unzipped her suitcase and started to dig through her things. “Why didn’t anyone warn us that weddings are crazy exhausting?” he mused as a huge yawn caught him by surprise. He shuffled around a few items in her suitcase—toiletries, sun hats, some lacy, sexy things that he’d never seen but couldn’t wait for her to model—before he found his target. He pulled out an old Arch lacrosse T-shirt for her and a pair of basketball shorts from his own bag. His body forced out another yawn, as if he needed the reminder that they were both crashing fast.
“Here you go, beautiful.” He handed her the T-shirt while he pulled off his shirt and quickly swapped out his shorts. Tori eyed him up and down as he changed, biting down on her lower lip as she assessed him. He didn’t miss the mischievous glint in her gaze.
“V… We both need sleep,” he chided.
“But I want you,” she declared. Not a second later, another yawn caught her by surprise.
“If my memory serves me right, you’ve already had me several times in the last twenty-four hours.” Rhett smirked. Their wedding night had exceeded every expectation in every way. It was almost unfathomable that they were still so hot for each other, so desperate to satiate the desire that ran between them like an electrical current. But somehow, after last night, he felt more connected and more deeply in love with his wife than ever. “And you can have me again, but not until we both rest,” he insisted with a pointed look. He walked around to the other side of the California king and pulled back the covers. The crisp white sheets were a welcome invitation.
They met in the middle of the bed, their bodies instantly intertwining into a familiar, comfortable position. He wrapped his arms around her, cradling her body against his.
