Pulled(80)
Author: A.L. Jackson

My face felt flushed, and my heart beat impossibly fast, pounding as it thrummed against my chest. Daniel’s love overpowered me as he asked me to acknowledge that day. Our day. A day we had physically missed, but a day our spirits had been present for, a day our souls had always honored. It was a day I confirmed as I nodded, raising a very shaky hand to Daniel, my palm extended in offering.

He didn’t hesitate. Reaching to take the ring and kissing my palm, he turned my hand in his and slid the ring to its rightful place. My entire being hummed.

I gaped at my hand resting in his, the ring a priceless reminder of this love that refused to die.

“I love you, Daniel. Forever.” I stared at him through the firelight, love alight in his eyes. I could feel the energy grow thick, nearly visible at the edges, a faint shimmer in the air as it enveloped us.

“You are everything, Melanie.” He never broke his gaze as he brought me to him, lying us down, side-by-side, face-to-face. His lips were unhurried and worshipful. He took time to revere all of me, leaving nothing in disregard, his love lasting deep into the night.

The rest of our vacation went by quickly, most of it spent in the cabin, content to be alone and without interruption. We’d only ventured out a few times, braving the snow and freezing temperatures. We’d walked down to the boardwalk, always hand in hand, browsing through the quaint stores.

We ate dinner out one night when Daniel insisted I deserved a break from cooking. We dined in a beautiful restaurant nestled on a hil , looking out over the lake. The view was breathtaking, almost as much so as the view from our balcony at the cabin.

We’d rang in the New Year by sitting, snuggled up on the couch with a bottle of wine, the fire raging before us, sharing precious memories of our past and making promises for our forever.

I had never experienced anything so satisfying. My heart was filled to capacity. My joy overwhelmed as it reflected back in Daniel’s face every time he looked my way.

As I strapped into my seat on the plane preparing to return to Il inois, I knew this was what I was looking forward to. As wonderful as the trip had been, I was going home. Daniel borrowed my phone to cal Patrick and Julia since he’d forgotten his charger, and his phone was dead.

He let them know we were on our way home. Our home.

I made one last cal to Mom before turning off the phone for the flight. She confirmed that she’d heard nothing from Nicholas the entire time and all was well.

We were going to handle this as simply as we could. It was Monday, and Nicholas would be at the office, so we would get what little I needed from the house. I would leave my car there. I wanted nothing that belonged to him. I would take only what I had to have and forget the rest.

I would leave a note asking Nicholas to cal so I I would leave a note asking Nicholas to cal so I could arrange to meet him at a restaurant or some other public place, in a place where he could cause no scene and do me no harm. Just to be safe, Daniel would be nearby in case I needed him.

I was going to tel Nicholas the truth. As much as I despised him, he deserved that. After all , I had been a willing partner in all of this.

Daniel’s large, warm hand wrapped around mine as the seat belt lights flickered on and the plane began to move, readying to make its departure into the faint, early morning light. As the plane took flight, we raced east to meet the sunrise. Faster than I could imagine, the captain came on and announced our decent into Chicago. Daniel smiled warmly at me and squeezed my fingers, murmuring in my ear, “Ready?”

I exhaled nervously in anticipation.

Yes.

Finally—I was ready.

We departed the plane, both of us quiet,

contemplative.

“It’s going to be okay.” Daniel pulled me from my meditation with his soft words and a gentle hand on my cheek. “Tonight is going to be hard, but you can do this, sweetheart. You pick the place and time. Don’t give him the option. You need to be the one in control of this.” I nodded, Daniel’s suggestion made sense.

“Um…there’s a little diner Katie and I go to. It’s always busy, and I think if you were in the back he’d never see you.”

“Okay.” He tried to hide it, but I could tel that he was just as nervous about this meeting as I was.

“We’ll just leave a note when we get your stuff.” The tram doors slid open. “I’ll see you at his house.” A smal smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth, obviously thril ed to voice that I no longer lived at that house.

“I’m going to pop by the office to sign some papers for Dad. I’ll be about fifteen minutes behind you.”

“Okay…love you.” I kissed him once more before stepping onto the waiting tram. I raised my hand to return the smal wave he gave me, grinning as I watched him turn to catch a shuttle to his own car.

I winced at the frigid wind stinging my face when I stepped outside. Chicago was every bit as cold as Tahoe had been. The sky was dark with heavy, gray clouds sagging in their promise of snow. I reached my car, struggling to get my heavy suitcase into the trunk. I paid my parking fee and set out on my last trip to Nicholas’s house, unable to pacify the opposing emotions fighting to claim dominance. How could I be so eager to get away from there and so terrified to do it all at the same time?

It was just after three when I pulled up to the house. I opened the garage door and parked the car in its spot. I was officially car-less. Shrugging, I pulled the keys from the ignition. Those little details mattered none. I tugged the heavy suitcase from the trunk, figuring its contents would be the only clothes I’d take. I grabbed an empty cardboard box large enough to fit the few things I needed from the office.

I stepped into the house, silent and dim with the advancing storm. I went directly to the office. I downloaded a few files from the computer while I rifled through paperwork. I made sure to take the large manila envelope that contained my birth certificate and medical records.

There were a few pictures of Katie and me in frames on the desk, and I tossed those into the box as wel before looking around to make sure I had everything I needed. It was amazing that everything important to me in the last nine years fit into one smal box. The only other things I needed were the couple of pieces of jewelry that had belonged to my grandmother in a jewelry box in the closet upstairs and the treasured pictures hidden at the bottom of it.

I heaved the box into my arms, using the tip of my toe to open the door, swinging it wide and stepping out into the living room.

“Did you have a nice trip, Melanie?” The cold, steady voice reached me from across the room, causing me to gasp. The box slipped from my hands, the items spil ing across the floor, glass from the photo frames shattering as they crashed on the tile.