Page 88 of The Revenge Plan

“You’ll know when we get there.”

We drove in silence. And after some time out of the city and towards the beach. I must have slept because he gently shook me awake. The smell of sea and the sound of waves crashing was the first to hit me. I opened my eyes and took in the beach's view that was in front of me. It looked familiar. It couldn’t be. I got out of the car and turned to my left where I knew I would see a blue and white two bedroomed beach house. It looked exactly like it had before, only the paint was a little lighter. I turned to Caiden, “What are we doing here?”

“Don’t you want to go inside?” he nodded to the house, “Come on,” he said and marched to it. I was still too stunned to move. By the time I galvanized myself and ran to catch up with him, he was already on the front porch. He reached for a key under the mat and was about to insert it into the keyhole when he stopped, turned to me and said, “You do the honors.”

I took it with shaking hands, “I thought it was sold? Dad said he sold it.”

“It was. Then I bought it,” I unlocked the door, “And now it’s yours.”

I almost stumbled into the room, “Mine?” He stood there so casually with his hands in his pockets while he said this. Some of the greatest surprises anyone had ever given me, and he was casual about it.

“It’s in your name, so yes, it’s yours,” he said. I kept staring at him. I must have frozen from shock. “We could stand out here, but I’m getting a little chill from the breeze.”

I went in. The house was exactly as mom left it. It had the same light blue and white furniture it had before. Everything was in its place as if it hadn’t been touched. I looked around. Memories of my mother and I filled my head as I took in everything. The small dining table we used to have our food. The couch we would sit on while she told me stories and braided my hair. I heard a tingling sound and my gaze went over to the window where some wind chimes were dancing in the breeze. I had given her those things as a present after I went to the local shopping center when I was a kid. She had accepted them as if she had received the best present ever.

I went upstairs. My room was still as it was, and so was hers. I turned to Caiden, who was walking behind me the entire time. I embraced him. He was startled by my reaction, but he accepted it anyway.

“How did you do it?”

“Can I keep this one secret?”

I guess if he didn’t want to tell me; it was fine. He had done more than I ever expected him to. He had given me the one thing I wanted most in my life. My mother’s home.

58

Iwasn’t expecting to get this much of an emotional response from her. I knew she loved the house. She had spoken about it when we were kids. When I saw it on the market back when Julian put it there, I was so hell-bent on hatred; I thought of buying it and destroying it, then showing her clips of the wreckage. I was that blinded. When I heard a couple had bought it, I went to them and asked them if they could sell it. They knew how much I wanted it; they offered to sell it at double the market value. I was so elated that they had accepted that I didn’t care about the money.

Seeing her reaction now, I knew that was the best decision I had made. But it came with a consequence. She had made it clear before; she didn’t want me. Now that she had a place of her own… I withdrew her from me. Knowing that she could leave me any second and it would all be of my doing was too much for me.

“So you like it?”

“Yes, I like it!”

“Since you have a place of your own now,” I swallowed. I didn’t want to be magnanimous. I wanted to keep her in the penthouse and never let her go, but I had to, “You can stay here of course.”

“What do you mean?”

“Didn’t you say you wanted a divorce? Now that you have a place of your own, and if you still want to go through with it,” she crossed her arms and looked at me like I had two heads, “You can do it comfortably now. I won’t contest it. Doesn’t mean I want the divorce though.”

“You are a fool,” she still had that puzzled look on her face, “Oh my god, you really are a fool.”

“Why would you say that?”

“Has nothing we’ve done so far, gone through together, showed you anything?” I must have had a dumb look on my face because she said, “I love you, you nitwit!” she punched me in the chest, “I love you so much it hurts!”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “You do?”

“Of course I do!” She punched me again, “I’ve always loved you. You’re the one who was slow on the uptake.”

My heart burst open with joy. She loved me. I grabbed her fists and took her into my arms and kissed her. We kissed right there in the hallway of her beach house. The kiss was sweet and full of promise. It made my heart flutter.

A few minutes, and fewer clothes later, we both fell onto her bed and made love. I didn’t know what words expressed my love for her, so I showed her. She came apart in my arms and moments later so did I.

We were lying in each other’s arms when she asked, “So do you love me?” She was looking at her nails like she was asking what time it was.

“Didn’t I say I do?”

“No,” she said, still focused on her nails. Her wedding band glittered in the sunlight streaming in. It gave me pause. Our wedding had been terrible. It was a sham wedding. “We should get married,” I blurt out.

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