All For One (Complete)

Part Twenty-One: The End

A touch on my chin drew me back and I had no choice but to face him and his searching eyes, “Trust me,” he murmured, stroking along the edge of my jaw.

I shuddered, “I do.”

He appeared to tighten his lips but I saw a gentling in his eyes that lowered my shoulders, “Just remember that above anything else, even our problems and concerns; you are our future and we will fight to make sure that we are yours.”

He dropped his hand, grabbed up his glasses and walked out of the room to leave me with a hand clutched to my chest and breathlessness spinning through my lungs and mind.

I tossed on the bed in the Anderson’s spare room and tried, without success, to stop myself from overanalysing the last statement that Mr Blackbourne had made to me in the bathroom the night before; just like I tried to imagine that what North had whispered to me was just said the spirit of friendship.

I had walked back into the dining room to find everyone lounging about the room in some fashion and that the majority of them sported drying red paint over some part of their body. North had enfolded me in a gripping hug and whispered that no matter how much of an asshole he sometimes was, he never wanted to lose me. He’d told me that I was his one and only Baby.

I groaned as it all ran through from the top and I pushed back the bed covers to force myself up. I could hear movement and murmuring from downstairs and guessed that I was the last one up.

I smiled, Melissa had said that they would make today even more fun than the last two although I couldn’t anything matching up to poker, drinking, a shopping trip that had me assaulting a  mugger and an impromptu war game in the backyard.

I dressed, used the bathroom and powered my way down the stairs to find them all sitting easy at the kitchen table, drinking coffee and eating their breakfast with relish and ease.

Caleb looked up and smiled, “Morning, chickpea. How did you sleep?”

The others sent me looks of enquiry and I returned them all with a smile as I helped myself to the scrambled eggs, toast and bacon. “Good, I didn’t wake up once.”

“Yeah,” Adam rumbled, “Shooting people will have that effect on you.”

We all laughed and turned our concentration to finishing up. I bounced in my chair once I dropped my fork, “So, what are we doing today?”

Harry sat back in his chair and rubbed a hand across his stomach, “Well, I was thinking that you might enjoy looking over some of the land out here before you head home.”

I nodded, it sounded nice and I was sure that there wasn’t much that could get me into trouble while I was sightseeing, “I’d really like that.”

They all beamed and I wanted to laugh at their happy faces.

“Next door has some horses that he’s willing to lend to us for the day. How’d you like to learn how to ride?”

It sounded so amazing that I clapped my hands like a toddler, “That would be awesome.”

The morning flew by as Melissa helped me pick some of my clothing that would help lessen the chafing caused by horse riding but they all took time out to warn me that by the end of the day my legs would end up stiff and sore. I didn’t care, not even any of the boys had suggested horse riding as an option and there was no way in the world that I was going to pass up the opportunity.

I got introduced to a sweet older mare called Sugar, and Adam helped to lift me into the saddle. It had seemed so high off the ground that I’d almost asked to be let down but after a few moments of deep breathing I was able to appreciate the view.