Resolution (Saviour #2)(105)
“Come here” He says very quietly, I stand in front of him, squinting from the sun. “Do you know how f*cking proud of you I am right now?”
I shake my head. “Tell me.”
He shakes his head in return. “I could have f*cked this up for you completely. Anyone else would have run a mile from this job but you held your held high and just got on with it. I was so ashamed Lauren.” He closes his eyes for a long moment and wraps his arms around me, then steps back and looks at me. “That day I came up here and you knew, within seconds you knew what had gone on in the past. You looked at me with such disappointment. I felt, I can’t begin to tell you how I felt; I had never been ashamed of my past until that moment. I wanted, I wished in moment, that right then, that there had only ever been you. But that’s… That wasn’t the case; that day, putting you in that position made me want to be a better person. I know I’ve f*cked up since, but every day, that’s all I want, I want to be what you deserve, you’ve had so much shit to deal with and you just get on with things, you don’t use the hand life has dealt you to f*ck up, you’re good and kind and even now, I know your worrying about that prick of an ex of yours and I know you will want to go and visit with him, because that’s just you Lauren and I want so much to be what you deserve.”
He takes a deep breath in and tucks a strand of my hair that’s blowing across my face behind my ear, his eyes scan the view of the Mornington Peninsula that’s laid out behind me, I know he’s struggling to put into words how he’s feeling so I give him a minute. “No one gets a second chance like this, you, the babies, our life; it’s so much more than I ever dreamed of, even now I have it, every day, every moment is more, is better than I thought it could be and I just need you to know, that I’ve resolved myself to let you know, to make you know, every single day, that you and our life together are my world now, I’m sorry for my past crap but I can’t change it but our future is what we want to make it and I’m so grateful and honoured and so f*cking proud that you have chosen to be with me Lauren, to love me so much more than I deserve.”
“Gabe, don’t go there again, you deserve to be loved, to love, to be happy, neither of us is perfect, I proved that just last week, I could have destroyed us by going to Jason’s, we’re too f*ckups together, we’ll find our way, whatever gets thrown at us, we’ll get through it, as long as I have you beside me I will fight anyone and anything that tries to come between us, I’ll fight for us. I love you”
His hands are gripping my shoulders as he kisses me gently on the mouth; he pulls me with him as he leans his back against the rails of the balcony…
“Are you nervous about tomorrow?”
“Shitting myself.” I admit. “But more about the results than the procedure.” He looks away from me again and nods.
“But we are on the same page right. If the results aren’t good, we won’t panic, we’ll discuss our options with the doctors?”
I nod my head. “Like I just said, whatever life throws at us, we’ll discuss and decide on our choices together.” He plants a kiss on my forehead.
“I love you future Mrs Wilde.”
“I love you too future husband.”
Gabe leaves before the Palmers arrive, I show them around as I did him and they are more than happy with everything, I’ve been sending Karen picture updates as each room has been dressed for the past week so she had an idea anyway, she tells me an interiors magazine want to do a feature article on the place and that she has given them my name and number. She pats my hand in a patronising gesture. “It will be great publicity for your little business Lauren; you will probably get lots of work from it, I will be sure to tell everyone what a great job you’ve done.”
I should keep mouth shut, but I can’t, it’s just not in my nature. “Actually, I’m going to be pretty busy for a while, Gabe and I have bought a large block of land together, we’re going to subdivide and put townhouses on it, he will handle the build, I will deal with the interiors, then on top of that, I have a wedding to plan and the birth of our twins to look forward to.”
Her jaw hits the floor. Good, I hope it hurts, but she probably didn’t feel a thing, her face is probably numb from all the Botox that’s been pumped into it. Thoughts of the film ‘Flubber’ enter my head and I imagine Karen’s face bouncing from wall to wall and from floor to ceiling and in the end give up my attempts to wipe the smile off my face.
“That’s right, you’re engaged to the youngest Wilde boy aren’t you Lauren? I still forget you’re not with Jason anymore.”
Steve Palmer says. “Didn’t think anyone would ever tame him, Wilde by name and nature, been the same since he was younger that one, although I have heard rumours that there’s been a few that have tried to tie him down.”
He looks pointedly at his wife. Fuck, he knows and yet he still does business with Gabe’s family? Her mouth opens and closes a couple of times but nothing comes out. “He just never met the right woman.” I say with a smile.
“Apparently not.” He replies. “Glad it’s all working out for you, twins you say? You’re really going to have your hands full there, still you’re young, you’ll handle it.”
“Don’t be silly darling, Lauren’s only a few years younger than me.” Karen comments.