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“I think I owe you a walk on the beach,” I said.
I thought she would chuckle, or smile. But neither. Instead, she asked, “I mean here at my parents. Why are you here?”
“I wanted to meet your parents. Let them get to know me,” I said.
“Great. Now you’re all buddy buddy with them. From the look on my mother's face, you didn’t just show up here today either. How long have you been in the States?” she questioned.
She wasn’t going to like the answer. “Can you get in the limo, and we talk on the way?” She crossed her arms and shook her head. “Two weeks.”
“Two weeks?” she said loudly.
I looked at her parents who were still on the porch watching us. I gave them a smile as though this was going well. It wasn’t.
“Yes. Two weeks. There was a lot I needed to do before I saw you,” I said.
“Obviously,” she said sarcastically. “Do you even have a clue as to what I’ve been going through? This has been so difficult, and you didn’t even call or text. Nothing. Just one day I turn around and find out you were here all along. I needed you, Mayson. Your mother needed you.”
So, she wasn’t as happy to see me as I had thought. But I wasn’t giving up. I’d come here to fight for her forgiveness and her love, and that’s exactly what I was going to do.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what you’ve been going through. I can only speak on my own behalf. It’s been pure hell. But I would truly apricate it if you come with me and let me explain,” I pleaded.
She once again turned to her parents, who nodded and gestured for her to go with me. It had been a wise choice to spend time with them. Best to have them on my side instead of calling law enforcement to have me removed.
“Fine. I will go. But for the record, you weren’t the only one hurting you know,” she said.
I nodded. “And for that, I’m very sorry. I’d like the chance to make up for that.”
Holding the door open, I waited for her to slip inside. Once we were both seated, the driver pulled away from the curb. He knew where he was taking us. It was a place that her parents told me she would ask to go to every day she could during the summer. A beach not that far from where they lived now. Just about forty-five minutes. That was perfect. It would give me plenty of time to talk.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“To the beach as I said. But until we get there, I thought I could talk. There is a lot I need to say. Things that I should’ve said that day you left, but I didn’t know how.”
“Mayson, I understand why you didn’t see me off. I lied to you, and you were angry. I would’ve been angry too if you had lied to me. Well, I guess you’re being her for two weeks and not saying anything could be considered a lie. But I don’t want to get into a pattern of keeping secrets. If we learned anything from that day on the cliff it is that all they do is ruin things. Destroy what was once so...special.”
“Is it destroyed? I mean, do you really believe that we can’t get passed this?” I asked.
She looked up at me and said, “That will take forgiveness. Are you ready to forgive me?”
“I already have. Even that night, I had. I just couldn’t get out of my own way and accept that just because the universe didn’t get it right the first time, that didn’t mean we weren’t meant to be together.” I reached across the seat and took her hand in mine. Thankfully she didn’t pull away, but she wasn’t holding mine in return. Not yet at least. “You said that you believed in soulmates. Do you still do?” She nodded. “I do as well. And I know who mine is. That is, you. Crystal you and I are meant to be together. All I need is a second chance to show you that. Please, let me show you how much I love you, and maybe you will be able to love me back again,” I said, honestly.
Her fingers now entwined with mine. “You love me?” I nodded. “How? I broke your trust.”
“Not really. When I thought back to it all, what you were trying to do was something beautiful for me and my family. It took Zoey to explain it all to me so that I fully understood. The same thing that makes you an excellent nurse is what brought you to Tabiq. Trying to heal what was hurt. The only problem was I was in denial about being hurt. I buried those feelings. It’s how I survived all those years without my mother. And when I went to the resort that morning to see you before you left, I couldn’t do it. It opened all the wounds from my past. I loved my mother, and she left. Now I found myself in love with you and you were leaving too. But the universe wasn’t going to allow me to hide this time. Even the secret cave was not the same without you.” Looking into her eyes, I said, “I wasn’t the same without you. I don’t care about what happened in the past. Baby, you are my future. That is if you can forgive me for waiting so long to tell you,” I said.
Her eyes glistened. “Mayson, I would wait a lifetime if I had too. But I think a few weeks is much better because I don’t know if I could have held out much longer. I love you so much that it hurt not seeing you. I just didn’t want to bring you any more pain than I already had. How can I ever make it up to you?”
“You’re a nurse. Don't they tell you in medical school that all you need to do is kiss it an make it better?” I grinned.
“What hurts?” she smiled.
All of me.
I pulled her close and said, “Let’s start here.” I claimed her lips and all the fears and worries I had, vanished. She melted into my arms. She told me she loved me. She forgave me. From here we can move forward. Together.
When we broke our embrace, she stayed against me, her head on my shoulder. “Mayson, what about your mother?”
“I will go see her. Not today. Today is about us. Tomorrow I will go and see her.”
