Page 149 of Mr. Aster
Epilogue
Sebastian
Four hours later…
Watching Darcy lead the way through the ocean so effortlessly, gliding through the water like a damn mermaid, was magical. Instead of being fascinated by the colorful fish that swam around us, I couldn’t pull my attention from her. Everything about her, from how her hair floated in the water to how vibrant her eyes became when she excitedly turned and pointed out some unique fish to me, made my heart swell.
There was nothing more precious than this moment and being with her again. The silence of the deep water underneath all my scuba gear allowed my mind to absorb the beauty of the woman I’d fallen so deeply in love with and revel in the gratitude that she’d not turned me away like she had every right to do.
I found everything about our love story fascinating, especially that it’d come about despite us wanting nothing to do with each other in the beginning. Perhaps that was what intrigued me about my feelings for her. Initially, they scared me, but not anymore. Now, I did not doubt that Darcy was the woman I’d been looking for my entire life, even when I didn’t realize I was. I’d so foolishly thought I could walk away, telling myself I was sparing her a life of discontent, but what I didn’t know was thatIcould never be content withouther. How was I to know she would be the only glue that could ever hold together the fabric of my heart?
My mistake could’ve meant a permanent end to me ever finding happiness if she’d cast me away when I showed up here, but, thank all the gods, she didn’t. And although I agreed with thefriendshippart of her plan to secure a deeper relationship, I wanted things to move more rapidly than that.
I knew precisely what I wanted with her, a lifetime of loving and supporting each other in everything we did, but the pain our breakup had caused forced me to understand it may take time to get to that point.
I was a patient man, but I wasn’t sure I had the patience to be only friends for an extended time. I wanted her to fall asleep in my arms every night, and I wanted to call or text her whenever I was at work or away on business; however, I wanted to stay true to my word to love and support her in every sense of the word, so abiding by her wish to take things slow and easy would be the way to prove that.
“Okay, my friend will be here any moment,” I smiled at Charlotte’s blank expression. “She had to go home and shower because she took me swimming in the ocean to show me lots of pretty fish.”
“Darcel?” Charlotte answered, not letting go of that damn name no matter what I tried to do to get it out of her head.
“Darcy,” I said.
“Darcy isn’t the name of a monkey, though,” she answered.
“I know, and that’s why we must call her Darcy instead of Darcel because Darcy isn’t a monkey,” I answered with a hopeful smile.
My daughter was as stubborn as she was adorable. She would make a fantastic litigator one day because she could argue with me all day long…and probably would if I let her.
“You will hurt her feelings if you call her Darcel,” I said as Charlotte nibbled on her snack of pineapple chunks.
“I don’t want to do that,” she answered, but I still wasn’t convinced of how she would honestly react once Darcy was here.
Which should be any?—
“Sebastian, Darcy has arrived and is in the living area,” Callie said. “I can stay with Char until you’re ready for introductions.”
I smiled at the elderly nanny. “I will take Char with me. The days of Melissa’s and my mother’s preferred formalities are over but thank you. If you’d like, you can have the hotel security escort you anywhere you’d like to go?”
“Oh, that’s quite all right. I have no plans but to care for Char,” she smiled.
“And you do it better than anyone,” I said, “but I hope you will use this time to relax and enjoy a lovely vacation. There are plenty of shopping centers here at the resort that I know you would love. You do so much for us and deserve time for yourself, Callie. You haven’t had much of it because of my absence since Melissa passed.”
“There is nothing I wouldn’t do for you and Char. You are my family, and I have never felt imposed upon. I want to make that clear,” Callie said before loosening her posture and smoothing her hand over the back of her hair to ensure no stray hairs had escaped her low bun. She was always poised and demure, andnow she looked like a cross between flustered and excited. “I just—well, I think this is very lovely.”
“What’s that? Taking a vacation for the first time since you weremy nanny?” I teased.
“Pretty much,” she chuckled, her cheeks flushing.
“Go enjoy yourself. While you do that, I will book you a private suite and promise to only call upon you if I need you to watch Char if I go out.”
Her eyes widened in disbelief. The poor woman’s only idea of a vacation lately was one spent corralling my daughter. Seeing the excitement in her eyes at the thought of having alone time felt nice.
“Are you sure?” she asked. “Because you know I will?—”
“Go. I’ll not hear another word about it,” I smiled. “I’ll inform you of your new room and have your things brought there once it is prepared for you.”
“I appreciate this, Sebastian. Thank you,” she said.
