I sat on the park bench staring at the flowers and shrubbery.
Everyone has gone and I'm alone. It's only me here that's left. I didn't know the time. My phone sat in my clutch bag next to me. I couldn't even bother pulling it out to check the time or call a taxi back to the hotel.
I tilted my head as I watched a lonely bee fly away.
I was wrong.
I took the risk I didn't want to take.
I was wrong. The risk backfired.
I rubbed my cheeks from any tears. I had stopped crying, but the tears dripped every now and then.
It felt cold as the sun was low. I closed my eyes and breathed in the nature around me. I could smell the flowers and dirt and plants around me. I rubbed my bare arms from the cold as small goosebumps appeared.
I couldn't do it. I would be miserable and full of regret if I did.
The faint smell of wood and smoke, leather and musk surrounded me.
My eyes flew open as I stared at the bushes in front of me.
Oh....
"You're late." My voice quivered. I felt something drop on my shoulders as I looked down at me.
A jacket.
I picked up my purse and stood up to see a miserable Oliver with his hands in his pockets.
The park bench kept us divided from each other.
"I'm sorry."
I let out a shake breathe.
"You're late." I repeated myself. I felt another tear slip by.
"I tried to get here earlier."
Neither one of us made an attempt to move.
"Percy told me you went and saw him."
"I wanted to know how you were doing." Oliver even sounded miserable. So he should. I feel miserable.
"I don't even know how I'm doing." I answered him in truth as I looked down. How am I still coping? I'm held together with sticky tape and glue right now.
"So... Did you..."
I looked up at Oliver then the ground. I took a breathe and went back to his grey eyes. "No."
"Why not?"
"Because," Oh God. I'm going to have to admit it to him. I moved to the same side of the park bench as Oliver and slipped off his jacket and went to hand it back to him. "You were right." I wiped a tear. He didn't take the jacket so I turned to the exit of the garden.
Oliver walked with me. "I didn't want to be."
"What?" I spun to him. "Be right? Yes, you did. I see it written all over your face. I agreed to do this with Percy because it was the only open option I had." I cried as I angrily wiped the tears away.
"I could lie to him, I could lie to his family, I could lie to you about all the reasons why I should marry Percy. But I couldn't continue to lie to myself."
"Then tell me the truth why you didn't."
I thought of how I could say this, but none of it made sense. "I can tell you why I was going to. But not why I didn't."
"Why can't you?"
"Because it doesn't make sense to me!" I yelled at him. "None of it does. I have gone through my life, jumping from one house to another and that made sense. I've worked countless jobs since I was a teen, that made sense. Being with Percy made sense." I ranted to him. He was barely an arms length away and I wanted to close that gap but I stepped back, my wedges sinking in to the soft grass.
"But you," I shook my head. "These past few months. Whenever you are near me. When ever you talk to me that isn't work related. None of it makes sense!"
Oliver stepped towards me and I put my hands up signalling him to stop. "I didn't marry Percy. I took a risk, expecting someone to show up for me and he didn't." I screamed the last few words out.
Oliver looked at me with anguish. "I didn't mean to be late."
I scoffed at him. "You are never late. And the one time when I was expecting you, you didn't show."
"Honestly, I had one more thing to do before coming here."
"I don't want to hear excuses, Oliver." I shook my head as I took another step back from him. Why does he keep coming closer?
"Monty. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not being here. I'm sorry for the hurtful things I have done. I'm sorry about the times I've ignored you."
"You're too late." I whispered as I shoved his jacket at him.
"I'm not going to apologise for that." Oliver growled as he threw his jacket aside.
"Where's Cody?" I asked him defiantly.
"I left him with security back home. He hasn't finished his tantrum he started the day you left." Oliver stepped closer. Maybe that's what he was doing before he came here, I thought to myself. "But I'm not going to use him as an excuse. Not any more."
I looked at him confused. "Any more?"
"Yes. Any more. It was easy to hide behind him. Hide my feelings behind him. But these past ten days have been hell. Why do you think I stayed there instead of my actual home in Sydney? I never accepted the truth till you were gone. So hell is the correct word to use. Hell isn't Cody. Hell is without you."
"I'm not going back to work for you. I just can't." I rubbed my arms against the cool air.
Oliver sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. "That's not what I'm saying, Monty."
"I can't do it. The tension is thick enough." I stopped talking and thought about what he said. "Wait, what do you mean then?"
"You told me the other week that you wanted to raise your own family, not someone else's."
I pointed to him. "That was the truth!" I snarled. But Oliver ignored the pain in my words.
"Ever since Conner died, I have felt empty. Incomplete. That I died a little. A part of me, a good part, had gone. No one has ever filled that part back up. Until now."
I turned away from Oliver as I leaned over for a second before straightening up and facing him.
Why can't I think straight?
"What do you mean? Just tell me straight." I cried at him. Am I that upset that all proper strain of thought that helps filter things in my head vanish?
This wasn't how I pictured my wedding day. I felt more tears on my cheeks as I started to shiver. I wasn't sure if it was my mood that was making me shake or the temperature dropping.
Oliver came for me then. I stepped back and half turned, shaking my head.
I was an emotional mess. I couldn't even think straight.
I felt his hand take mine as he pulled me towards him. But instead of landing against him, I was mere centimetres away from his face.
"I'm moving back to Sydney. I want you to to come with us."
I stared into his eyes. "Sydney?"
"Yes. I don't want to leave here without you."
My brain was starting to think clearly, the longer I kept my gaze in his eyes. He wants me to move to Sydney? "Why?"
Oliver kissed me then. Hard and passionately. Everything melted away, my fears, my tears, the park around us. I held one hand on his chest as Oliver had my other hand.
His free hand snaked it's way to my back and pulled me closer again. I responded to his kissing, to his body language.
Slowly, Oliver pulled away and looked down at me. "That's why."
I felt my cheeks heat up. Oliver pecked my lips. "So please come with us?"
I felt like smiling.
"Cody will kill me if I come back without you." I saw the small smirk on his face, but then I realised he wasn't smirking, it was a proper and genuine smile.
I half laughed half cried. I would believe that.
Oliver pulled me away at arms length and tilted his head.
"I got the DNA results back."
My eyes widened. My breathe stopped. "And?" Came my whisper.
"It turned out that Conner did the test as well. I don't know why he did it, or when. Maybe when Sarah told him. And I'll never know what Conner did in that time period, but his results were on my file. Maybe he knew we would be here with Cody?" Oliver said as I felt his hands on mine.
"So? What did it say?" I don't know why I was eager to know. Maybe because Cody deserved at least one parent in his life.
"It turns out Sarah was right."
My eyes went wide.
"Have you told Cody?"
Oliver nodded. "I did. Cody was confused at first, but he is now happy about the change. Despite his sour mood."
I smiled gently at him.
Oliver gazed at me. A small smile on his lips. "Monty," He said in a low voice. "I'm a dad."
I giggled at him. "You always were."
Oliver pulled me closer again and threw his jacket back over me. "You have made my place so bright, Monty. You have made that dreary place something I look forward to go to when I know you're there." Oliver's hands went to my back as I felt his breath on my neck. "I want you to raise your own family. But will you let us be a part of your family?"
I search Oliver's eyes. "Do you mean...?"
"Will you help me raise Cody? As his mother?"
I gasped. Everything froze. My heart and breathing. The time. It had all stopped. I felt more tears coming, but they weren't from sadness.
My smile went broad as I grabbed Oliver by his shirt and pulled him to me.
I kissed him again. It felt so right and wonderful. I felt alive and a tingling sensation flooded through me.
I giggled on his lips as I put my head down and felt Oliver's arms wrap around me and his lips on my forehead.
This was such a huge decision. But I knew my answer. I love the kid like he was already mine. And Oliver saw that. He knew that.
I looked up at him with a huge toothy smile. "Yes." I whispered as Oliver took my mouth again.
Here we go lovelies.
Unfortunately, we are coming very close to the end. The ending has been all urgh in my head, not sure how to finish this.
Until the next update
Take care xx