Page 104 of Liberating Bells
I nod fervently, and then follow him as he heads down the hall. I peek in the first bathroom, then the two extra bedrooms. One has a queen-size bed in it, and the other is set up as anoffice. I stare at the office space and feel a smile play on my lips as I imagine it set up as a playroom or a child’s bedroom.
My head spins as plans start running through my mind. We won’t live here full time; it’s much too far from both our jobs. But as I look around, I can picture long weekends, summers, holidays. I let myself dream for a moment, and I feel a bubble of happiness settle in my stomach.
“Want to see our room?” Ryan asks, coming up behind me. He presses a kiss into my neck and wraps his hands around my waist. I nod, and he takes my hand, leading me to the farthest bedroom.
I cover my mouth when we cross the threshold of the master bedroom. Its rustic design makes it feel warm and welcoming. A large king bed with a wooden frame sits against the wall. The pillows on top of the bed are an off-white canvas and have the words“They Lived Happily Ever After”inked on them.
I turn to Ryan with an eyebrow raised, and he chuckles. “Josie did most of the decorating for us. Turns out, she’s just as good at designing the insides as she is at designing actual buildings.” He’s still holding my hand as he drags me across the room towards the far wall. “Except this was my idea,” he says proudly, pointing to a wall hanging.
My jaw goes slack again as I take in the piece. It’s a black shadow box with a familiar silver dog tag mounted inside. On it are the engraved words that ran through my head countless times in the earlier days of our relationship,“Distance means so little when someone means so much.” A heart is punched out of the right corner.
My chest tightens, and I bite my lower lip. As much as I love the sentiment, guilt laces through me, knowing that I lost my piece of the necklace. I don’t look at him as I take a deep breath and prepare to admit my fault. “Ryan, I’m so sorry, but I lost?—”
He cuts me off by clearing his throat. My eyes dart to his, and he’s grinning mischievously. Ryan holds up his hand at my eye level and doesn’t say a thing.
“Mine,” I gasp. My silver engraved heart hangs over his hand, dangling off his fingers. I reach up for it and place it in my palm. “Where did you find this? I thought it was lost.”
“Mark had stashed it in his safe at his house,” Ryan tells me carefully. “I found it when I was going through, gathering the rest of your stuff.”
“That bastard,” I mutter as I run my thumb over the little heart. “I was so worried it was lost forever.”
“I’m glad I found it. We were always meant to be together, and I think part of Mark knew that. He was doing everything he could to erase me from your life.”
My eyes meet his, and I feel them sting with emotion. Ryan doesn’t make it a habit to speak this candidly about the situation. His primary goal is to help us move forward, not be stuck in the past. But his words stir something in me that makes me so grateful. “Thank you, Ryan. For finding my necklace, and for building me a cabin, and for loving me in a way I never knew I could be loved,” I say with a tearful chuckle. “You altered my life again. But I couldn’t be happier.”
Ryan brushes a few strands of hair off my face and gives me a content look. “I’d do anything for you, Bells.” He presses a kiss to my forehead and then leans away. “Now, do you want to keep exploring a little? I need to run to the grocery store to get some food for the weekend. You can stay here and look around or come with me.”
“There’s no food here?” I ask him.
He chuckles. “Why don’t you go look for yourself?”
I narrow my eyes at him but wander back out to the kitchen. Opening the fridge, I am met with absolutely nothing in there, not even ketchup. Then I turn to the cabinets, and all of them areempty too, except for one. I snort a laugh when I see a few stacks of canned peaches.
I turn around and glare at Ryan, who barks out a laugh at my expression. “You’re hilarious.”
“Couldn’t resist, gorgeous,” Ryan says as he wraps his arm around my shoulders. “So as you can see, we’re going to starve if I don’t make a grocery run. And while it was fun the first time, I really don’t feel like reliving our past to that extreme.”
I roll my eyes and shove him off of me. “Okay, fine. You go ahead to the store, and I’ll stay here.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, Ry, I’ll be fine. I don’t feel like having to sit through those awful gravel roads again. I’ll find a book or something to read,” I tell him.
“Okay,” he says. Then he presses a kiss to my cheek and tells me he’s going to head out. I wave at him as he walks out the door, hearing him lock the deadbolt behind him before driving off.
Maybe it’s because we’re so far away from everything, or because I’m so used to being by myself these days, but I have no qualms about being here alone. This cabin is in the middle of nowhere. The only people who even know it’s here are me, Ryan, and Josie, since she helped design it.
Besides, Mark’s still out of the picture, and we haven’t heard anything from him. I do my best to try to pretend that he’s gone for good. At some point, I’m sure I’ll get asked to testify whenever he gets scheduled for his hearing, but until then, I try to keep him as far from my thoughts as possible.
I do fine with that notion during the day, but still, at night, Mark often lurks. They’re getting better. I only have them a few times a week versus every night. The medication I got from my new doctor helps, but I hate using it because it makes me groggy in the mornings.
Ryan is still as understanding as ever. He doesn’t hesitate when I’m in the throes of a nightmare. He wraps me up in his arms, gently coaxing me back into consciousness, whispering soothing words. He’ll hold me until the tremors subside, and my heart rate is back to normal, then he’ll stay as close to me as possible throughout the remainder of the night so that I know he’s there.
I honestly couldn’t be any luckier than I am with him.
With that thought in mind, I look around the cabin, and that warm fuzzy feeling settles in my heart again. I can’t believe Ryan did all this. I never thought I’d see this place again, but now it’s ours. It feels like a part of us that was missing.
This is where it all started for the two of us. It makes sense that it would continue to be a part of our future. I imagine our kids being here, our friends, and family. There are years of memories that we’ll make here that I can already picture.
