The Mistake [Completed]

Chapter Twenty

"It's nice to meet y-" She paused before continuing her sentence. "You're...Leanne Danvers." She stated after a couple of seconds. "Rebecca came into the kitchen and said she knew you but I thought she was just messin' around. I didn't think she actually knew it was you."

"It's nice to meet you too, Annalise," Leigh said and took Annalise's hand.

"Call me Annie, that's what everyone else calls me. Well except from my Mom."

"That's because Annalise is the name I gave you so I'm gonna use it whether you like it or not," Maggie said from across the room.

"I better get to the shop," Leigh said and stood from the couch. "I'll come and see you before I go home," she told Jamie but just as she was about to turn on her heel and leave the house Brett walked in being his usual confident self.

"Annie? Becca?" Brett gasped when he stepped through the threshold and immediately ran to his niece and picked her up off the floor bringing her tightly to his chest in an embrace.

"I thought you guys were comin' next week," he said and kissed the young child on the forehead as he set her back down.

"Becca wanted to surprise Jamie, she said it would make him feel better seein' her," Annie told him and Leigh watched as the shy girl slithered out of Brett's embrace and ran behind her mother to hide in embarrassment.

"Awh my heart," Brett said as he placed his hand onto his chest. "You didn't even come to see me?" He knelt down on the floor so that he was at eye level with his niece and pulled a silly face. He continued doing so until she cracked a smile and when she finally did he realised his mission had been successful and then stood to his feet again.

"Leigh can I have a word before you head to the shop?" He asked as he looked in her direction. She nodded, said her goodbyes to the family and then followed Brett outside. They walked side by side in the direction of the shop and then rounded the corner nearing the barn neither breathing a word to each other.

"I want to show you somethin'," he said in a low voice. He pushed open the barn door, allowed her entrance first and then followed closely behind. The only light in the barn came from the small holes in the roof but it was enough light for Brett to see Leigh's beautiful facial features clearly in the dark. He pulled the door closed behind them and just before Leigh could walk any further Brett gripped her hand. He pulled her towards him and pressed her up against the wall sandwiching her in with his body and covered her lips with his. His hands worked their way down her arms and gripped her waist with such gentleness that shivers spread across her skin. The firmness of his body pressed into hers but somehow he was still delicate with her.

"I've missed you," he pulled away slightly and mumbled against her lips before crashing them back down. Leigh groaned in appreciation and she wondered how the man caressing  her waist could be multiple different people at the same time. He seemed to be three different people. There was the Brett she knew when they first met- the man who was the epitome of arrogance. Then there was the man she saw less than five minutes before back at the house. He was loving and a family man and Leigh wondered if that was the Brett from eight years ago- the man she never got to meet. And finally there was the Brett she had in her arms in that very moment, the same man who made her weak at the knees and knew just what to say and when to say it.

They pulled apart and Brett rested his forehead against Leigh's. The two of them stood there for a minute just staring into each other's eyes not quite believing how they had gone from A to B in such a short period of time. There were unspoken words being conversed but nothing was being said and nothing needed to be said- they were simply enjoying each other's company.

Leigh's watch beeped indicating that it was nine o'clock and the shop needed to be open any minute. "I have to go," she said with a light chuckle to mask the fear she was feeling that they would be caught.