Independence (35 page)

I soaked that in. "How did you know that Haddock was…" I trailed off and had no intention of finishing it.

"He was strange when he was here waiting for you. He was looking at all the pictures and things in the house. He was fixated on this one photo of you when you were little. I was teaching you to ice skate.
And then when you got her
e
, he had this look on this face. The final nail in the coffin was when he said he owned the flower shop." He smiled without any real humor. "Your mom always got fresh flowers for the house, and the day
s
she got them were
the days he came over. Thinking back
,
I thought they were gifts from him, and they were, but it was because that was his business. It was his job." He nodded. "That was when I knew…he was your father."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I found out that day that Mom came to the house before we went to London. But it didn't matter." I looked him right in the eye. "It didn't matter, Dad. You have always been and always will be my father."

"And that was why I raised you as my own. Because it didn't matter." He cupped my cheek. "When your mom left, all I could think about
was
that I'd done something wrong. That I hadn't been the father and husband that I needed to be and so she left. It had nothing to do with you and I beg you to believe me."

"I do. I'm sorry."

"No, I'm sorry." He pulled me to him and hugged me. "You will always be my baby girl."

The ride out of town was quiet. Caleb was patient and waited for me. When I finally climbed into the side, he immediately pulled me to his side and kissed my forehead before we pulled away.
Bella slept in the back seat and I kind of envied her.
I felt drained, but in a good way. So many things had come
to
a head and to light the last few days.
I just laid my head on his
shoulder as he drove, and
felt everything flow through me.

We stayed at a hotel that night
,
and Caleb just held me. It was the longest I'd ever not spoken a word, but felt so safe and comfortable and at the same time.

T
he n
ext day in the evening
we finally arrived
at Caleb's dream state
. I smiled as we crossed the Arizona
state
line and enjoyed Caleb's
grin. Not too long later, he pulled into
an apartment complex. It was gorgeous with bright colors painting every surface of the place. Our building was red. I looked up at it through the window as Caleb opened my door. He helped me out of it and then turned
,
nodding for me to jump on his back. I laughed as he hoisted me up. I pressed my face to his cheek. He took us up the stairs to the front door
, Bella following behind us
. "What about our stuff?"

"I'll get it later," he said and
turned to look at me
over his shoulder
. "Ready?"

I nodded. "More than I've ever been."

He opened the door to reveal a beautiful
ly
furnished place that was nothing like the one in Tennessee.
Bella went right to her dog bed by the back glass door.
The furniture was brown leather and
the walls were yellows and tans. The floor was hard wood throughout the whole place. And the kitchen. I gasped at it. It was any cooks dream with its huge island counter and every appliance and contraption I could think of. A skylight was open a
bove the dining room table, giving
the area a glow that matched my mood.
The cherry on top? There was a wicker basket full of honey buns on the counter.

I turned to him and ran, jumping up into his arms, kissing his mouth because I could think of no better way to show him how much I loved it. He held me to him easily and chuckled under his breath as he gripped my thighs to hold me up.

"I'm glad you like it," he could finally say.

"I love it."

"We'll be here during all of our breaks at school and the summer while we get the centers set up here.
When we're finished, we'll find another state and go there."

I bit my lip. "I can't wait. One day I'll be able to say that I've lived in every state."

He laughed. "Well…hopefully. That's the plan."

"I have complete faith in you."

"I know," he said in a breath. "It's pretty awesome." He carried me to the living room and put my feet to the floor. "And there's this."

There was a picture of us in a brushed nickel frame. It was a wedding photo. I hadn't even realized that someone was taking photos. My back was to the camera and I was turned just a little bit, my head on his chest. His head was leaned to mine
as he hel
d my fingers in his hand. His other hand was on my back, big and tan and strong. There was a haze over us from the lights in the trees. It was beautiful.

"How did you do all this?" I asked.

"I have my ways," he said slyly and grinned.

He went to get our things from the car and I rubbed the object in my pocket. I was actually nervous about it.
When he came back, he set our bags in our bedroom. I followed him in and was surprised again at just how perfect everything was. But I was on a mission.

I sat on the bed and patted the spot next to me. He sat, looking curious. He tried to find out in my mind what was wrong, I blocked him out. "I've got something for you."

"OK," he said slowly.

"And I know things have been really crazy so it's all right if you haven't gotten mine yet.
"
I slip
ped
to the floor between h
is knees and pulled the ring fro
m my pocket. I looked at the inscription
inside
I'd gotten yesterday morning when Jen and
I had gone out,
With all that I am.
The outer rim was a plain sterling silver band with a trim of filigree swirl. I looked up at him to find him looking at me. "I…"

He leaned forward while simultaneously
pulling my elbows to bring me to him and captured my lips. "I didn’t know that you remembered with everything that's been going on."

"I remembered." He took the ring and held it between his fingers. He read the inscription and looked up strangely. "What?"

He pulled me up and made me sit on the bed. "Stay here."

He went to the suitcase and unzipped the front producing a box. I felt my heart leap with excitement.
He knelt down in front of
me, between my knees, just as I had done him. He opened the box, took the ring out and held it out to me. It was beautiful on a whole new level. It had little diamonds that circle
d
the silver band.

"When did you have time to get this?" I asked.

"Maggie, I…" He smiled and
sucked on his lip a little. "I bought this ring weeks ago."
I felt my lips part. I took it from his fingers.
On the inside, it said…
With all that I am.
I pressed my lips
together to stop the happy sob. "Now you see why you're so perfect for me?" he said with a smile.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and he pulled me down into his lap. I leaned back a little and slipped the r
ing on my finger. He already had
his on and he linked our fingers together. "
So
I
did
good?" he joked.

"I'm never taking it off."

He sighed
and grinned
. "Good answer."

He held my face between his hands and pulled me to him. He spoke against my mouth, in the most achingly sexy and sweet way. "Gah, I love you, baby."

I licked my lips, touching his lip in the process. "I love you
. Now k
iss me, Jacobson."

He grinned. "Yes, ma'am."

And so he did. For hours. For days. For weeks. Months. Years. The road ahead was paved with things that we'd have to work o
n. The world, even the Ace world, wasn't perfect. No matter that our lives seemed to be wrapped with a pretty bow, we understood the rough times ahead as what they were.

Life.

And we
'd mak
e it thro
ugh the bad times so that the
good times were that much more special and appreciated. I could only imagine what our lives would look like in five years, or ten, or fifty, but one thing was for certain…

We'd be together and
I had found my significance.

The End…
For
Infinity.

Maggie

T
wo
and a Half
Years Later

"Hey, Maggie!" I turned to find Misty. "Hey, girl. Do you have Mr. Dean's notes
from last week
?
I failed my final." She rolled her eyes. "He said I could do a make-up this summer and t
he man is a freaking Nazi about things being worded correctly
,
and my laptop crashed."

I smiled. "Sure. What's your email and
I shoot them to you?
"
"Ah! You're a lifesaver!" She gave me the information and I wave
d and said my goodbyes
.

I squinted at the bright light that hit me
from the sun that I hadn't seen in hours
. When a large, warm arm slung around my shoulder
,
I knew exactly who it was. "Hey, Vic."

"My girl, Maggie! What's up this weekend?"

"We're going to a birthday party. Sorry. We won't be around."

"Who's birthday?"

"My…Haddock," I answered awkwardly. Even after all this time, and though we were really close these days, it was hard to explain to people.

"OK," he dragged out for effect. "Tell Caleb to hit me up when you get back. I want to go see the new
Bond movie and everyone else has already seen it."
"OK. I will."

He kissed my cheek.
"You're the best, you know that?"

"Yeah." I laughed.

"Catch ya later!"

I watched him go and walked across the quad. It was so stinking hot.

I dialed Haddock.
He answered the first ring. "Hey, Maggie."

"Are we still on tomorrow for your birthday?"

"Are you still coming to stay with me this weekend?" I could tell he was smiling.

"We are," I agreed.

"Then yes, we are still on for my birthday. If you must."

"I must," I said with a laugh. "A
nd how's Heather?"

"Ah, man, she's doing great. She's waddling around everywhere and eating up all the ice cream in the house." He laughed. "I feel way too old to be a father of a newborn."

I smiled. "You'll be great." Haddock had imprinted at the last reunification almost a year ago and they were already pregnant. Granted, s
he was a bit younger than him, b
ut we'd never seen him happier. And we saw him a lot. True to his word, he moved back to Tennessee and we even hung out with Dad and Haddock together at family functions. Haddock still didn’t know that D
ad knew
about him. And we planned to keep it that way. He was filled with guilt about a lot of things, but he'd more than made up for it. He saved our lives.

"I can't wait to see you." His voice was quite and thoughtful.

"Me either. It's been almost a month now. Sorry, we've been so busy."

"No, it's fine. You're getting on with your life. I'm just happy that you're happy."

"I am," I said with certainty.

"Don't let the council get to you," he said, is voice turner harder. "This reunification will be rough with everything, but they'll get over it. You're the Visionary. It doesn't hurt for them to be reminded of that every once in a while."