The Sun

Home

My first impression of my home as we turned into the drive was of peaceful tranquillity. It was my first trip back since the accident and although I did not remember the place I was sure at first glance that it had been home. I was grateful to be here for more than one reason the most basic of which was that I was tired. It had been a long journey to my house from Jackson’s condo especially with all four of us piled into his Jeep. Everyone had come to help pack it up and do the last of the renovations.

The agent had made a list of things that he thought pertinent to do and had left it with my brother. The cottage had sold for much more than the asking price as two wives had seen it and had a bidding war in an attempt to secure it. The closing date was the following weekend.

Aaron, Jackson and I would all stay the week at the cottage but Mother, the Chief and Ross, along with Aaron’s partner had come to help this weekend only. They would make their way back to their homes on Sunday night. This being Friday morning there was plenty of time to work. The place was too small to accommodate everyone and besides, there wasn’t much to do anyway. Doc Ross had already arrived with the others and as I got out of the car I waved to the small party.

The second more important reason was that Jackson had asked me to marry him and I was anxious to move forward into our life together! I closed my eyes to relive the sweet intimacy of that moment. We had gone for a quiet trip back to Jackson’s cottage and had decided to walk with Max and Ben. The weather was beautiful and begging to be enjoyed. Jackson gently led me back to the place they had found me and holding me in his arms shared with me in a quiet voice what that night had been like. I leaned back against him lost in the rich sound of his voice and loving him. Surprisingly I felt no fear. Only the wonderful comfort of being in his arms and the strong sense of peace I always had in his company.

As he neared the end of the tale his arms tightened around me and his voice in my ear became strained. He turned me to face him and I could see his pain reflected on his face and in his eyes. He leaned his forehead on mine and said “When I think of it now it’s worse… that night you were someone I needed to save. Someone I was determined to protect. But now…now you are my whole life and I cannot imagine it without you in it. I know that you didn’t die Lex but you could have and the thought that my soul mate would have died along with you… It makes me… I …I need you in my life Alex, forever. Will you marry me?"

Every time I allow the words to wash over me I feel the same delicious thrill.

“Yes” was all I could say.

When Jackson had first approached me about selling the cottage I had felt upset. After all, I didn’t even remember the place yet and it was my home! But after thinking it over I decided without any interference from Jackson to sell it. We did not need two cottages and being off the beaten path it was not near anything. That made it impractical even for visits home as it still left a fair amount of travel to get to either my mother's or my brother's home. I decided to take the bull by the horns and walk boldly into my new life. We still had not told anyone yet that I was no longer missing for fear that the killer would get to me firsthand and since I still couldn’t remember anything that really scared me.

A shout of laughter pulled me from my thoughts just in time to see my mother putting an ice-cold can of Pepsi down inside Aaron’s jacket. His monstrous roar had everyone laughing as they moved into the cottage together.

Jackson came over to me slowly, his sexy smile warming me. He reached for my hand and entwined his fingers in mine. His other hand rested on the small of my back as he pulled me forward into his arms.

“You okay with all this Lex?”

I smiled up into his eyes. “Yes” I was sure this was the next step for me and I told him so with a confident voice. His eyes looked deeply into mine, steady and sure. “I love you” was all he said before his mouth claimed mine.

We had been working all weekend to get the cottage ready. To celebrate we were having a get-together tomorrow with the chief, Doctor Ross, his sister, Jackson, Aaron's mom and me at the cottage. The final inspection and walk-through was in the morning. The agent overseeing the sale of the property had been a real pleasure to work with and the couple that had bought the place had had very few demands for the closing to go through. However despite all that the inspector wanted to do another walkthrough. He had said there was a hitch and could he come and look over things one more time? When he had called to arrange it he had spoken to Aaron since he was handling the sale of the property.

Everyone had thought it was better for me to remain in hiding with as few people as possible knowing that I was alive since the killer was still loose and I couldn’t remember who he was yet and I agreed. ♥