What Lies Beneath (Count on Me Series #7) (21 page)

Honestly, I didn’t think Grace would ever marry again.

“Uh, when did this happen?”

“A couple of weeks ago. At least that’s what she told me this afternoon.”

“And she wants you to marry them?”

With a quick nod, she looks down toward the papers, the faintest trace of a smile beginning to lift and erasing the more serious one I’d walked in on before. The news about her mom obviously bringing my girl back from wherever it was she’d gone in her mind. 

“Do you want to do this?”

“Yeah. They’ve even asked Tristan to be a part of it. With the way those two seem to have become inseparable since she finally introduced them, it makes sense. She wants it to be a family affair.”

Belle has come so damn far since we were kids, but even now, years later, she still has trouble with social settings. Especially when there’s more than just a few close people around.

Having her officiate a wedding?

What is Grace thinking?

“Is this you trying to conquer another hurdle?”

“Yes and no. I want to do this because it’s something I’ve never done and I want to see if I can handle it, but it’s also something else. She told me she can’t imagine having anyone else being there for her in that way. That when she walks down the aisle to Ethan, it’s not a stranger she wants to be standing in front of, but someone she loves most. She wants me to be that person and so do I.”

“When’s the wedding?”

“Not for a while, but you know how I am.”

That’s true. Belle needs the plan, even if its years off. So it makes sense that even if the wedding isn’t right around the corner, she’d want to have everything prepared for when it does.

“I guess this means I’m gonna need a suit, huh?” I ask jokingly. “Is that why you looked so lost when I came in? You were afraid of how I was gonna react to dressing up?”

Smacking me on the shoulder, she laughs. “No, Kay. That’s actually the other thing I want to talk to you about.”

“Okay…”

Now, I gotta admit. I’m secure in my relationship. Secure in her feelings for me and the fact that no matter what gets thrown in our path, we’re gonna face it and conquer it together as a team, but I’d be lying if I wasn’t also waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I guess some things won’t ever change.

“Okay, well, before you tell me, just answer me one thing. Does it have to do with this wedding stuff?”

“Yes.” She answers easily. “Just not my mom’s.”

I’ve been wanting to marry this girl since the day I dropped to one knee in the park, so if this has to do with our wedding and what will be our marriage, then I’m more than ready to hear it. I want to take what’s already in my heart and make it legal.

“Belle, just tell me whatever it is.”

Going back to the pins again, you could hear one drop in the silence that envelopes the room after I’ve asked her to tell me what’s going on. And where I could normally look to her facial expressions or the way her body sits against mine in order to figure out exactly what could be coming, I can’t this time.

She’s giving nothing away.

“Belle…” I whisper against her ear, breaking the silence. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“I picked a date.”

Say what?

“You mean…”

“I don’t want to wait anymore, Kay.”

If it didn’t mean throwing her off my lap, possibly over the bar, or worse, to the floor, I’d jump the fuck up right now with the surge of adrenaline that her words just caused. Words that I knew one day would eventually come, but that I hadn’t been expecting for a while. At least not until we’d made it through school.

“When?” I somehow manage to choke out, calming myself just enough to press my lips to her hair when the reality is, all I want to do is spin her around until she’s pressed against the bar and kiss her until we’re both left breathless.

“A year from now.”

“So, you want to get married next April?” I deduce, my head swimming with details and days. “But what about your birthday?”

“That’s the thing, Kay. I was thinking that we could get married
on
my birthday.”

“Done.”

“Really? It’s that easy?”

“I would marry you right now in the middle of this kitchen if that’s what you wanted. But considering we’ve got to turn you into a minister for another wedding, I suppose I can hold out a little longer.”

Reaching into the pile of papers, she pulls out a lined sheet and holds it out, the smile she’s wearing reminding me of exactly the way she’d been when I walked in earlier.

“You played me, didn’t you? You were never upset.”

With cheeks lifting higher and eyes dancing, she grins and gives me what I’m after.

“I totally played you, but in my defense, I never claimed to be upset. I just said we needed to talk.”

“Very funny.”

“I thought so too.” She laughs before leaning in and brushing her lips gently over the bridge of my nose. “But now that we’ve talked, there’s something else I need you to do.”

“Name it, Wifey.”

Moving her eyes to the paper between us, I take it and seeing the date at the top, am taken right back in time again.

The day that through our original beginning, we were able to craft an even better one.

“I want you to read this and tell me what you think when you’re done.”

“What is it?” I ask, ignoring the date and the significance of it, wanting—no, needing to hear how she sees what written on the page.

“The beginning of the next chapter.”

So just like I did six months ago when I pulled the dusty old journal out of storage, I do again. I read. Making sure, despite the need to stop and tell her how much I love her, to see it through to the end the way she wants me to.

October 15, 2016

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there was a girl.

An extraordinary girl who had abilities that often times went unseen because they were overshadowed by things that made her stand out. Made her different from the rest. Often times, not so good things. Ones that in the end would make her stronger, but also at the same time vilify her from the rest of the people that didn’t quite act the way that she did.

But one day, this not so average girl, well, she met a boy.

A boy with the most beautiful emerald colored eyes that once locked on you, pulled you straight in and despite your need and desire to be let go, never did.

Eyes that the older the boy grew, the more his hair seemed to get in the way of, but whose power never lessened.

The boy held the girl, but for every second that he did, she held him.

In her arms, in her head, and in the softest parts of her heart.

She held onto him and onto his heart so tightly because the girl knew that one day, when the waves stopped crashing into the shore and the dust settled, it would be those eyes and that heart that would be her peace.

And through that peace, the boy would and could find his way home again.

Home to her.

Home to the part of her heart that she held him so tightly in.

And he did.

You see, that boy, he eventually slayed the beast that according to him had been determined to do the same to the girl, and in the end, he saved her.

In the best way possible.

By saving himself.

Kay,

You’ve spent your entire life believing you were the beast of this story. The monster. But the truth is, you’re the hero.

My hero.

I found love, peace and serenity in you. But most of all, I found where I belong.

With you.

So, Kayden Walker…I energy you more.

Isabelle Walker <3

Grabbing the pen from the bar, I scribble the date in as big and bold print as I can before sliding it across to her. Giving her the first part of the answer she wanted when she first asked me to read.

Isabelle Walker

April 19, 2018

Meeting her eyes when she takes in what I’ve written, catching the tears before they have a chance to fall down her beautiful face, I go back into the past one more time. Pulling her words from that day in the gym from their place around my heart and repeating them back. The tear that slips out, along with the lift to her lips in the moment making me fall in love all over again.

“What took you so long?”

The End

What Lies Beneath Playlist

Holding A Heart – Toby Lightman

No One – Cold

Say Anything – Tristan Prettyman

Easy To Love You – Theory of a Deadman

Dancing In The Moonlight – Toploader

Colorful – The Verve Pipe

Army – Ellie Goulding

Legacy – Eminem

The Best Is Yet To Come - Hinder

Count Me In – Early Winters

By Your Side – Faber Drive

Monster – Imagine Dragons

Kiss Me – Ed Sheeran

Love Alone Is Worth The Fight – Switchfoot

Here’s To The Night – Eve 6

Count On Me – Default

I Dare You To Move – Switchfoot

Love Me Anyway – Parachute

Forever – Faber Drive

Acknowledgements

Most anyone that’s reached out to me during the time period in which I started the Count On Me series, knows that they’re fictional stories based in my very real reality. Count On Me existing because of my daughter Isabella Rose, and one of the follow ups in Take Me With You (Eric and Amelia’s Story) pulling double duty in depicting not only life with my oldest Caleb, but also the very real struggles of my best friend and sometimes co-author Joey Reagan.

So for me, there is no bigger acknowledgement that I can give then the one to my children, Caleb, Noah, Raine and Isabella (My CNRI) and my best friend Joey because truly, without them and their experiences, which in turn have become my learning experiences, these books would not exist. These characters that I have come to love as much as I do my own family, wouldn’t be as alive as they are.

So to all of you. Thank you. Thank you for loving me, for supporting me, but most of all thank you for teaching me. For proving once and for all that love really is worth the fight.

Fans, friends, family. My three favorite F’s (that aren’t a curse word lol). Where would I be without you? Nowhere is where. So for all of you that reach out to me about my books, share my teasers, news and posts and who never waver in your support of me. From the bottom of my very humbled and appreciative heart, thank you.

Readers. Book Buyers. Blogs. Often times, the bigger we get, the more attention we receive, we can lose sight of the people that worked tirelessly to get us where we are. The real champions of this whole crazy book releasing dream.  The people that anxiously wait for the pre-order to go up from their favorite author and then spread the word when it does. The people who buy the books, read the books and then talk about the books. The people that feel the words on the page, more than just read them and carry them out into the world with them. Without all of you, there would be no me. There wouldn’t be any author. So from all of us as writers and publishers, thank you.

For anyone that comes across me or my stories after the publish button has been hit on this story…Thank you for taking a chance on some random Canadian woman with a dream. I love your face and I always will, no matter what.

About the Author

Melyssa Winchester is a mother of four from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

She’s currently working on Luke Grayson's story from
Remembering Sunday
,
Ready When You Are
and the third book in the
Black & Blue
series,
Heroine.

When she’s not writing, you can find her buried under the covers with her portable DVD player, watching marathons of Supernatural and Veronica Mars. When those aren’t available, she can be found curled up in a corner with her e-reader and a plethora of books, falling in love with characters written so well she deems them her book boyfriends and girlfriends.

If you want to find her, check Facebook or Twitter (@WinchesterBooks) as she may just have an addiction to both. If those don’t work you can always keep up with her progress on her personal site.

Other Works by

Melyssa Winchester

Count On Me Series

Count On Me

Hear Me Now

Take Me With You

All My Heart

Here & Now (w/Joey Winchester)

Unbroken

Love United Series