-----Some of this doesn't make sense, but it's okay. It's not very important to the story line.------
Emileigh had been receiving letters from Bryan all this time. It was something she cherished and through the months, she realized that she enjoyed receiving and writing the letters. She found that when she needed something to do, she could write to him. She mentioned in her letters that she knew she was being annoying but that it really helped her to write to him. His answer was always the same. He always told her that he enjoyed receiving and reading her letters and that it was the only thing that kept him sane.
She loved how there was always something she could look forward to. It made her realize that sometimes the worst circumstances brought one to some of the best circumstances ever. There was no doubt in her mind that Bryan was healing her heart, slowly but it was definitely happening.
It always helped when she talked to Lauren about what she was feeling because of what her ex boyfriend did to her. It always made her feel weird when even the thought about telling a guy the same thing crossed her mind. But she trusted Bryan, and she told him through the letter what had happened to her, why she was there in the first place.
His response took a while and that was when she had concluded that it had been the wrong thing to do, that writing to him was the worst possible thing because now he didn't want to talk to someone who was broken.
But a few days later, she received his letter. It made her cry actually and she even showed it to Lauren. It was the letter that she was reading now, on Christmas Day, the one that made her realize that she was definitely getting better. She read it almost every day:
Emileigh,
I never thought that you had been through so much. The fact that you came here to start over again from scratch just makes me admire you more. And it also makes me want to shoot the guy who hurt you in the way he did. I don't understand what the problem is with this guy. You're absolutely gorgeous, the way your eyes sparkle always made my day a little brighter. I never imagined that you had gone through something as painful as what you went through. I promise that I'll do whatever it takes to heal your heart. I'll do it. I'll make you laugh every day, carry you in my arms from places if I have to, I'll listen to you attentively when you need to talk, I'll let you cry on my shoulder if you need to. I promise you I'll do whatever it takes to heal your bruised heart. You're so beautiful and you;re so strong that it makes no sense that your heart is bruised. We need to get that heart back to its normal state, back to the heart you had when you were happy. Of course I still have to wait for you to actually allow me to do what I have said I wanted to do. And don't ever think that it was because of something you did, don't ever think it was your fault. There is absolutely not the right thing to think. If there was something wrong with someone, there was something wrong with him. I'm sorry for what happened. If I could go back in time and be there the day that he was coward enough to lay a hand on you, I would have killed him. What you need to do is keep smiling the way you had always done every time I saw you. You need to have the same resilience I saw, the same spark in your eyes. Because you're a special girl. I'm sure that everyone that meets you thinks the same thing. You might not know this but you've made my world a better place, you've changed my world for the good and I have no other real way to thank you for that. So I promise you that on Christmas, I'll give you a surprise. Hopefully, it's something you will like because I don't want to make you upset. You're one of the few people I trust. You're one of the most important people in my life and I hope you realize how much you have actually done for me just because you've been here to listen to me and to share all of these moments together. So thank you. And I promise 'll work on the healing your heart back to normal, I'll nurture it if I have to. So don't worry.
Much Love,
Bryan
There was so much curiosity in finding out what the surprise was but she new that she had to be patient.
She sure missed Lauren. Cindy was back in the house but Lauren had decided to stay over there with Landon and truth be told, she didn't blame her. Cindy didn't really measure the consequences of her actions. In reality, Lauren would have been her daughter.
Back when Emileigh was in high school, she met Kyle through a friend of hers. She was a kid then and her sister was already graduated and stuff. So that made the age difference between Emileigh and Kyle a good nineteen years or so. But despite that, she fell for him. It was childish. It was pure puppy love. How could she like a guy who was maybe twenty four when she was like 6?
It was just a silly crush, but the way Kyle treated her made her like him. She knew that she had mistaken his friendliness for something more. After all, she was a girl, a baby and he was a grown man. There is no sense in that.
One day, Kyle kissed Emileigh. Emileigh went to tell her parents that Kyle and her were going out because he had kissed her cheek. It was a really bad mistake. They went ballistic. They even almost called the police so that they could take him into custody. When she had found out that it was serious, she told them it was just a kiss. Kyle went through with the story, after all, he saw her as the little sister he never had and besides he didn't want to be taken to jail. That summer, they sent her off to Montana to live with quote aunties. When she came back, Cindy and Kyle were getting married.
She had been the maid of honor. It took nerve to do what Cindy had done. She had been crying the whole ceremony, because she felt that it was her fault that they were getting married. Kyle never once looked at her in the eyes. He always averted her gaze. There was a certain sadness about him, but of course, Cindy couldn't be happier. She had won.
As soon as the wedding was over, Emileigh left back to her parents. Her mother was still very upset for having caused a scene, but her father picked her up in his arms and talked to her in the sweetest tone he had ever heard him talk in. It was through him that she felt comfort, It was also because of him that she went to college and now she was working on her credential to teach elementary children. It wasn't as awkward as it used to be with Kyle but she definitely felt like it was all behind her. Now it she felt nothing but a little shame whenever she thought about it, but that was all. now she had Bryan. Someone Cindy couldn't take away. Someone she hoped that nobody would take away, because for once she was actually happy.
There was absolutely nothing more that she missed on Christmas morning than hearing her niece come down the stairs to greet her. It was Cindy's fault, though. She had no idea what had made Cindy change her mind, but it might have come a bit too late. Lauren loved her mother, this Emileigh new, but Lauren was still hurt because she saw to what extent her mother was willing to go to protect her own interests.
There was nothing worse than knowing your mother could change for no reason that drastically. Emileigh always saw how her own mother always favored Cindy. She saw a huge difference in the way that her mother treated Cindy and the way her mother treated her. It was painful to watch, but luckily Emileigh had her father. He was always there to support her, and Cindy as well. He didn't play favorites. It wasn't his thing, but he did feel a more fatherly-daughterly connection with Emileigh than he did with Cindy. Cindy had that connection with her mother.
She went down to the kitchen and saw Kyle grabbing a glass and filling it with water.
"Hey." Emileigh offered.
Kyle turned to face her and then said, "Oh, hey Emileigh."
"Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas."
"It's lonely without her, isn't it?"
"Yeah. Cindy was such a jerk. I don't understand how she could do that in the first place. She's her daughter."
"Well, Cindy's always been like that. She protects herself and when she wants something she gets it no matter what the cost."
"Yeah." his eyes went to the window in the kitchen, as if remembering. "I know."
"I never blamed you for falling in love with Cindy. She's absolutely gorgeous. And I'm really sorry I'm the cause for our parents hating you."
Kyle turned his eyes away from the window and glued them to hers. He had been caught off guard by her comment.
"I never said I had fallen in love with her." he answered, eyes still connecting with hers, as if trying to read her. Why would she bring it up. It wasn't one of the things he liked talking about."And it's fine. You were literally a little girl. We all had a laugh about it later."
"What do you mean?"
"I didn't love her. Not the day we were married." he explained. "I fell in love with her when she had Lauren."
Emileigh's eyes grew wide. That answer was not the one she had expected. "But that was seventeen years ago. You've been married for quite a while."
"It's probably not what she wants to hear, but it's the truth. Lauren is the most important person in my life. She's my baby girl. Brett is my son, but Lauren, she's my little princess."
"Wow." she said. She had the sudden urge to hug him, and that's exactly what she did. He was a lot older now, but he looked exactly the same as the day she had seen him when she was six. He had definitely been her first crush, an impossible crush.
Kyle wrapped his arms around her. For some reason Emileigh reminded him a lot of his little princess. They had the same tactics when they were little. Always causing trouble unintentionally but causing trouble nonetheless. The way Emileigh hugged him reminded him of Lauren's hugs, and he missed her so much. I am definitely going to visit her later, he thought, and I'll give her the gift I bought her.
"You should go." Kyle said. "I believe there's a surprise waiting for you at the door."
Emileigh was a bit confused. "A surprise?"
"Yeah. So go."
"Thanks, Kyle."
She walked out of the kitchen. He had definitely mentioned surprise. So this is probably the surprise, Bryan had in mind for her. It was definitely romantic. All she kept thinking as she approached the door was what the surprise would be. Her hand reached the cold metal doorknob and she turned it.
She had expected to see a a big fluffy teddy bear, but what she saw instead was something much better. Her eyes kept closing and opening. It had to be right.
"What? Not happy to see me?" Bryan teased. He was wearing his military uniform.
Emileigh squealed and jumped into is arms. Tears were running down her cheeks. Bryan could feel some of her tears on his cheeks. He had caught her just in the nick of time. He was so happy to finally have her in his arms.
Emileigh held on tight. There was no way she could ever let go. She didn't want to.
"I'm so glad you're here." Emileigh whispered.
"I am, too."
Emileigh finally let go of him and let him go. Her feet were back on firm soil.
"I got you something." Bryan stated.
"Did you?" Emileigh asked, a little surprised that he would go as far out as to get her something.
Bryan nodded. He reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a black rectangular box. He opened it and from the inside grabbed a necklace. But it wan't the expensive type of jewelry, it looked like it had been made out of natural plants or leaves or something lie that. "I hope you like it. I know it's definitely not what you're accustomed to, but it's special because the people of the village we're in showed me how to do it. It even includes a locket. So yeah."
Emileigh looked at the necklace and was completely ecstatic to put it on. "I love it." she said breathlessly.
She looked at him and when their eyes met, she felt sparks travel through the veins in her body. Those sparks just from one look. This man was special and she knew it.
"May i put it on?" he asked her.
Emileigh simply nodded.
Bryan took the necklace in his hands and unhitched the hook at the end of each end. Then he approached her and as he lowered the necklace to her chest, Emileigh grabbed her hair and held it up for him to hitch the two ends together. As he moved away from her to see what it looked like, she opened the locket. There was a picture of her and him. Lauren had sent it to hi and it was the one he had used in the locket.
When she saw it, she gasped. Her eyes met his again. She was speechless. No words could express the gratitude that she felt towards him.
She took a few steps at a time and when she was in front of him, she lifted herself up o her tippy-toes and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Bryan instinctively wrapped his arms around her waist, and then she whispered, "You're healing my heart."
A few minutes passed and they let go of each other.
Emileigh spoke next. "You need to go visit your sister. She will be more than happy to see you."
Bryan nodded because that was his plan. They walked together over there and when they rung the door bell, Landon was the one to open it.
"Uncle Bryan!" he exclaimed. "You're here!"
At that moment, Laura came running towards the door. She couldn't believe that her brother was here. Of course, it was because he wanted to be with Emileigh, but she didn't feel offended. Emileigh was a very good young woman in her eyes. She was what Bryan needed.
She hugged him with all her might. "You're here." she said, unable to believe it ,even when she was seeing the proof right on front of her.
"Hey, Laura." he hugged his sister with great force as if his life depended on it. "I missed you and Landon and Lance."
"We've missed you too."
"Come on in, you two. Breakfast is still warm."
With that Emileigh and Bryan entered the house and ate, then discussed how they were doing. It was good to have family time again.