Page 111 of Fade (Fighting Fate)

When we made it back downstairs, Amber demanded presents be opened. Ryan and Noah volunteered to be the hosts, constantly getting up and down, passing gifts, and carefully assembling anything that needed putting together. It was fun.

When we were done, I completed another round of hugs before starting to tidy up. I laughed at Noah staring out the window yet again. Turning to Kaeli, I giggled. “Do you think he wants to go out there and tell them what they’re doing wrong?”

Glancing over at Noah, she stifled a laugh. “Probably. He’s been mumbling all afternoon that they should be alternating or circulating or something.”

We watched Noah lean forward to get a better look outside before he strode for the door and slipped out the front. Kaeli and I burst out laughing.

Shaking my head, I continued picking up pieces of wrapping paper off the floor, while the others tidied up the empty plates. All of a sudden I felt very tired. It had been a good day, but the missing pieces of me were still hurting. I was learning to live with it a little better each day, but it still took its toll on me.

Shoving the last of it into a trash bag, I stilled when the room suddenly fell quiet. Alarmed, I looked to Amber for answers, but her gaze was at the door, her eyes wide with shock.

My body spun, confusion making the room blur. And then my whole world stopped.

Standing in the doorway, his gaze owning me, was a marine.

My marine.

The bag fell from my hand. Every emotion I’d buried over the past nine months burst free from their restraints, surging up from the depths of me, until I could no longer breathe. I desperately tried to make sense of what I was seeing. My mind, trying so hard to protect me, screamed, telling me not to believe it, because if it weren’t true, I would surely not survive.

A sob escape

d. My hands clasped over my mouth.

He was still there. Standing with his gaze like a mirror of my own, pained and heartbroken.

I crumbled, the enormity of it too much for me to bear. My knees hit the carpet the same time arms caught me and pulled me into their embrace. He was here. He was really here. His scent told me it was true.

Throwing my arms around his neck, I clung to him, my fingers digging into his skin, grasping at his hair, my face burying into the warmth of his neck as I cried the tears of the past six months. The worst six months of my life.

His arms tightened around me, and I heard him sob into my hair. I cried harder. “I can’t believe you’re really here.”

Forcing myself to loosen my grip, I pulled back and took his face in my hands, my eyes raking over every inch of it. I needed to see him. I needed to convince myself this wasn’t a dream.

The heartache that stared back at me made me cry yet again. I kissed his lips, his cheeks, his closed eyes, before clutching him to me again. I couldn’t let him go. I didn’t think I was ever going to be able to let him go. The thought actually scared me.

“I love you so much, Amy,” he choked out into my hair.

And again, I cried.

Chapter 60

Daniel

Deep blue eyes, framed by long dark lashes, gazed up at me from the nest of blankets on the bed. Sleepily, she yawned, her perfect little mouth forming a cute O as she stretched.

Gently, I ran my thumb across her plump little cheek, watching her eyes flutter closed before opening again to stare up at me.

I grinned. “I’m not going anywhere, Princess. You can go to sleep. I promise I’ll still be here when you wake up.”

Kissing her forehead, I continued to stroke her cheek until her eyelids fluttered and her mouth fell lax with complete contentment.

“I thought I was your princess.”

I glanced up at the sound of Amy’s voice from the door. She was leaning against the frame, a soft smile on her lips and a cup of coffee clasped in her hands as she watched me.

Inhaling slow and deep, I tried to calm the rising emotions that still swept through me when I saw her. “You’re both my princesses.”

Grinning, she pushed off the frame and started coming toward me. “I can handle that. She’s worthy of sharing the title with.”

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