Unconditionally

5

They drove home quietly listening to the radio. The excitement of the weekend had drifted from their bodies and they were all running on low energy, desperately needing a good nights sleep with no drama.

Kian parked the car and grabbed the bags with Arabella as they made their way inside, Georgia followed close behind. "How was your weekend then?" Joanna asked eagerly wanting to hear all about it.

"Exhausting, but a lot of fun!" Arabella replied, dropping the bags and rushing over to the fridge. She appeared back in the lounge seconds later, downing her fresh cold beverage. The colour seemed to glow through her eyes as her energy reappeared, her thirstiness subsiding.

"Georgia, I have a surprise for you, we have a surprise dinner guest this evening!"

Georgia looked past Joanna into the garden and saw her mother sitting on the patio with a glass of wine in her hand. "Mum!" she screamed, dropping her bag and running out. Teresa jumped up hearing her daughters voice and put her wine down just in time as Georgia jumped on her, hugging her tightly. Georgia moved back, worrying about the lack of fat on Teresa's body, her embrace felt like she was hugging a corpse, "how have you been?" Georgia asked her as they sat down.

"Yes fine darling, Joanna has been giving me some advice on other things to try just to give me a bit more energy", she smiled at Joanna as she walked outside and sat down to join them.

Georgia eyed her suspiciously, "right", she turned back to look at her mum, seeing the dark circles around her eyes and her gaunt face, "so what have you been up to? I thought I wasn't going to see you before I went on holiday?"

"Yes, well I thought as I was here to see Joanna I would stay here and see you too. I know you're going the day after tomorrow, but I don't need any excuse to see my daughter", she smiled unconvincingly at Georgia and squeezed her hand in hers. Georgia smiled back, feeling worried and sat back on the bench and looked out at the beautiful garden below.

Georgia caught up with Teresa and enjoyed reminiscing on old times; all the Richmond's found Teresa's stories fascinating and Luke even chipped in with a few stories from his and Teresa's past as witches. By 11pm Teresa was exhausted and made her excuses to go.

"Bye darling, lovely to see you. I will see you when you are back from your holiday, ready to start University!" She hugged Georgia as tight as she could manage and kissed her cheek. Georgia watched her walk outside and into an Uber before shutting the door. She felt worried about her but was soon distracted by the sight of Kian as he appeared at the bottom of the stairs, staring at her.

"What are you doing?" she said, leaning on the door.

He got up and slowly walked towards her, no words had to be said between them, they both felt it. Such pure love that was underestimated by everyone. He embraced her and spun her round before he picked her up and shot upstairs, throwing her on the bed. She slowly hauled off her clothes and pulled him towards her, kissing his nose, his cheeks, his lips...

"What are you thinking about?" she whispered, looking at him lovingly.

He looked at her intriguingly, "one day, when you least expect it, I am going to ask you the most important question of your life, and do you know what you are going to say?"

Her heart fluttered as she locked her eyes on him, "I will" she whispered.

Kian laughed, "you don't know what the question is yet? How can you possibly have an answer?"

Georgia looked back at him deadly serious, "I already know..."

*

The next day Arabella helped Georgia pack her clothes ready for her holiday she knew nothing about. She looked at all the clothes in detail trying to work out where she was going. By the evening Georgia felt tired and was exhausted mentally dealing with her mum and how aloof she was being with her.

Arabella sat Georgia down in front of her dressing table to do her hair, finishing the final touches of her makeover, giving Kian some time to finish off packing, "so how is your mum?"

Georgia sighed, looking disheartened, "she is being SO secretive and I don't know why. I know everything about her, I don't know if she is worried about telling me more, but seriously? Does she know where I am staying!" Georgia laughed to herself. "Dad says that she is okay so I think my best bet is just to believe him as mum isn't going to tell me anything!"

Arabella nodded, not knowing what to say. She could feel the heartache Georgia was feeling and knew there was nothing she could do to help it. Joanna was being secretive too and Arabella was determined to get to the bottom of it whilst Georgia and Kian were away. "Right I am done, makeover completed. You look beautiful Georgia, now go and get some beauty sleep, we are leaving early to go to the airport in the morning!"

Georgia admired herself in the mirror and hugged Arabella, "thank you!"

She rushed into Kian's room and paused in the doorway, laughing at his packing technique, "oh wow, do you need some help?"

Kian looked up, not amused, "no I'm fine, I have plenty of years on you of packing."

Georgia smirked and got into bed, "okay then, I'll just lay here and listen to you struggle, no problem!"

Kian shot over and tickled her, "why are you so annoying sometimes?" he laughed.

"Stop, stop, okay I'm sorry. Your packing style is great" she said glancing over at the overfilled suitcase on the floor.

Kian looked over and admired it, "I know! Anyway, I am going to kiss you goodnight because Arabella and I are going hunting before our flight tomorrow, airports are awful environments to be in, even more so being stuck on a plane full of people..."

Georgia didn't know what to say, it hadn't even crossed her mind that he would struggle with something like that, "okay, I will see you in the morning then I guess..." She lay back down and turned over, facing away from him.

He leant over and kissed her cheek, pulling the hair away from her ear, "I love you Georgia Hunt."

She closed her eyes and felt darkness surround her, "I love you too Kian Richmond."