A Lover's Secret (23 page)

“Maybe. Maybe not. We’ll take it day by day and you’ll never
be alone.”

He kissed her then, with a warmth and a tenderness and a
familiarity; with love and with hopefulness.

“If we were meant to love, lifetime across lifetime,” Jess
continued, “Let’s at least make the most of this one. Because it will be years
and years before we’ll meet again in some hallway and probably many years more
before we’ll get it together enough to realize what we have.” She laughed. “And
I can’t wait that long.”

“Neither can I.”

“One thing is true,” Jess said. “We will live a life less
ordinary.”

“Fast and free,” he said.

“And slow and hopeful,” she added.

“About that,” he said. His hand burrowed in his pocket. Was
he still carrying his stone, the hunk of obsidian? Would he present it to her
now? Give it to her as a promise to never take that leap without her? But what
he pulled out was a small velvet box, and then he sank to one knee, and she turned
her face on her pillow to see him, to stare into his hard and handsome face.

“Will you marry me?”

With these words, a sense of abandon surged through her. She
felt open and wild, free. Liberated. Even if it were to last only a moment, even
if she were to blink in and out of being, as she knew she would, just as he
would. And they would care for one another, lifetime upon lifetime, and they
would love one another deeply.

“And Jess, before you say yes, know that I’m not going to
live.” A tear welled in his eye and then slid down his cheek. “I’m not going to
live for long.”

She smiled then and her answer burst from her lips.
“Everyone has gathered, Jake. Everyone is here. Let’s have our wedding
tomorrow.”

***

Hours passed, and still they hadn’t told anyone she had
awakened, and now she asked to venture toward the beach, to dip a toe into the
ocean, to feel the bite of the sea for the first time.

He wrapped her cast carefully with plastic, and she watched
his hands moving over her. His fingers fumbled ever so slightly, in a way they
hadn’t before, and she was overcome with love for him, a wave of tenderness
accessible only when you have been chosen to witness another in their
weakening. When you share it like a secret. Jake gave her a set of crutches then,
and together they made their way down the landscaped path to the beach that
smoothed the shore near his home.

“Are you sure this is what you want to be doing on the eve
of your wedding?” Jess asked, “On your last night as a free man?”

He laughed and nodded. “Absolutely sure.” He turned to her
and grinned, his mouth wide. “And you? I mean, I’m sorry I don’t have any lewd
decorations for your little bachelorette party in the sand.”

She took a deep breath and lifted her face to the sky.
“Well, if you squint your eyes and look at that cloud formation…”

He laughed again. “Mother Nature always delivers, doesn’t
she?”

“Always.”

They made their way down then, down past the swath of green
grass that bordered his outdoor pools and spas, and they walked together along
the beach, he helping to steady her as best he could. The sun was setting and
the waves rolled across the horizon as though they would engulf her.

The sand was fine there, and he lifted her, high, holding
her up to the sky and then setting her ever so gently down to the shore, and
the freedom and the openness of their life together unleashed itself. The
fulfillment that came with knowing she would be with the one she loved. The one
she was meant to be with, if only for an hour, for a day, for a week, a month.
However long it would be.

And this was how they made love there in the fine white
sand, with the ocean bathing and blessing them. And afterward, she lay still
and she felt the pulse of the ocean and the throb of her breath, of her heart.
It was a feeling she would always have when she lay very, very still. Knowing
that she would do it all again, just to have this, now.

THE
END

Bethany Bloom is the author of
The One Who Got Away
and
Shy Charlotte’s Brand New Juju
. She is currently working on the
sequel to
A Lover’s Secret
. If you would like to receive free sample
chapters and other bonus content, please sign up for Bethany’s
notification list here
, and visit
Bethany Bloom’s Author Page on
Amazon
.

The One Who
Got Away: A Novel

Have you ever wondered about the one who got away? The
person from your past whom you’ve never quite managed to stop thinking about?
What would happen if that certain someone returned—today?

Olivine Eriksson never needed a man until Henry Cooper
tumbled into her path. And just as Olivine falls for him, Henry vanishes.
Mysteriously and completely.

Fast forward ten years. Olivine has given up, finally, on
fairy tales of the re-emerging lover and, as the clock on her living legacy
ticks away, she decides to move on and begin planning her wedding to Paul. A
surgeon and humanitarian, Paul is helping her to lead the life they’ve dreamed
of together. Loving him makes perfect sense. He needs her, and he has plans for
her. Big, important plans. And Olivine wants nothing more than to live a big,
important life.

But a twist of fate and a mysterious intervention brings
Henry back to Olivine's idyllic mountain village and in search of the only
woman he has ever loved.

His return triggers Olivine to remember the wide-eyed,
wilder woman she once was and to recognize the ways she has distorted herself
to fit into her perfect life with Paul. Now Olivine must choose between the man
who will give her everything and the man who proves she needs nothing.

A wise and deeply moving portrait of a woman rediscovering
the power she once held,
The One Who Got Away
is a masterful love story
that will remind readers how fate can change in the blink of an eye. Will
Olivine decide what she truly wants before she loses it all?

Shy
Charlotte’s Brand New Juju: A Romantic Comedy

Shy Charlotte MacDougall has the perfect life until she
stumbles in on her perfect husband pressing against a perfectly naked woman.
It's a scene that leaves Charlotte suddenly single, jobless, and bewildered,
with two impressionable daughters looking on. That’s when her filthy-rich
younger sister cooks up a plan for her: a “Summer of Transformation” in her
swanky Rocky Mountain resort town...an entire summer devoted to helping
Charlotte lose weight, shake off her shyness, and regain some self-love—all
with the help of a personal trainer and “Confidence Coach” (who, Charlotte
suspects, moonlights as a gigolo) and a soft-lipped, hunk of a man who,
curiously, smells of freshly baked bread and cinnamon sticks. Fighting these
men off is Charlotte’s husband, who suddenly discovers he can’t imagine life
without his sweet Jellybean.

Charlotte tries—oh, how she tries—but, the more she works to
change and improve herself, the more she realizes she doesn’t know who in the
world she is.

Filled with Bethany Bloom’s signature insight and humor—and
a cast of quirky characters,
Shy Charlotte’s Brand New Juju
is a witty,
wise and heartfelt portrait of a woman redefining herself and finding, at last,
the one kind of love that truly matters.