A Beautiful Forever(48)

“What?” we say in unison.

“The flat – it’s your wedding gift!" squeals Erica “Open it!”

“Dad, I –”

“It’s done, son. It’s yours. The paperwork is inside.”

“I don’t know what to say,” I stammer out.

“Just open it!” Erica insists.

My hand is shaking as I reach out and put the key in the lock. As the door swings open I’m faced with a long narrow hallway. A faint smell of paint invades my nostrils as I step inside, closely followed by Elliot.

As I walk down the hallway, I first come to a formal dining room with a square, chestnut-coloured table, surrounded by eight leather chairs and a high chair in the corner, there’s a mantle off to one side and on it are some photos of Elliot, Grace and I. I look back at Elliot, utterly surprised.

“Do you like it?” Erica asks coming to my side. “We renovated and I decorated it for you, but if there’s anything you don’t like, just tell me, and we will fix it up lickety split!”

Tears start to fill my eyes and threaten to spill, as I look around the room. “No, it’s perfect, thank you,” I tell her.

“Can I show you around?” she asks, reaching for my hand. I’m speechless and simply nod my head and let her pull me along as she chats about what she did with each room.

In the lounge room, she has put in a massive leather cream coloured couch in front of a large round foot rest that is covered in a beautiful burgundy, grey and white fabric. On the floor is a burgundy rug that covers all but about ten centimetres worth of floor. On the wall is a mounted flat screen television with a low line cabinet underneath it holding the DVD player and there’s two matching book cases either side, artfully decorated with books, vases, candles and photographs.

The kitchen has been done with all stainless steel appliances and a dark granite bench top that has a small drop when it becomes a breakfast bar that looks out the window.

The first bedroom is for Grace, with a beautiful white sleigh cot, with a matching chest of drawers and change table. It has been decorated almost entirely with butterflies, the most exquisite butterfly mobile hanging above the cot, and there is every toy a baby girl could ever hope for.

Next up is the main bathroom, it has a sleek bath tub with spa jets inside and a glass partition to turn it into a shower. The large mirror has vanity lights around it, and the sink is shaped like a bowl and rises out of the counter top.

I gasp when I see the main bedroom, it almost looks like the bed and breakfast we went to. Above the bed is a blown-up photo of Elliot and I, kissing on our wedding day. I look over at Erica, trying so hard not to cry, “This is so beautiful, Erica,” I breathe.

“Wait, you haven’t seen all of it yet,” she says pulling me towards a door that I assume leads to an en-suite. I’m surprised with it opens to a walk in wardrobe before it becomes an en-suite, she has even put a chair in the middle of it. It is quite simply amazing.

The en-suite itself is also gorgeous with a his and hers basin and a corner mini spa bath and shower combined.

I look around with my mouth open, never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would live in a place like this. “This is so amazing Erica.”

She has her hands clasped in front of her as she watches me happily, “Let me show you the view,” she says, pulling me over to the sliding door on the other side of the bed. “You can see the ocean,” she tells me as I step out and take in the panorama before me.

“I think I just went to heaven,” I say looking out at the roaring black ocean encircled by the dotted lights of the city surrounds.





Elliot


“I can’t believe you did this for us,” I say to my father as Erica takes Paige through the flat.

My father gives me a half smile and shrugs. “Thank Erica, it was all her idea. She’s a good woman. She made me see that I was being too hard on you.”

“She did, did she?”

“She’s helped me alter my perspective. Everything doesn’t seem so black and white to me anymore.”

“I’m glad dad. I'm really very glad that you found someone who obviously makes you happy.”

“Thank you son, I can say the same to you, you seem to have found yourself one amazing woman... Although son, I do have to say that I’m sorry for the choice I forced you to make with your last girlfriend. I was wrong. I should never have done that to you.”

Looking at my father right now, was like I was meeting him for the first time, gone was the man who intimated me all through my youth. Instead, I’m faced with a man who is only human, just like me. I regret that I felt so much hatred towards him for so many years, knowing Paige and all she went through has altered my own perception, I don’t care about things that happened in the past anymore. I only care about now and what’s ahead for all of us.

“You don’t need to say sorry dad, if she meant as much to me as I thought she did. I would have fought for her. The fact I didn’t says it all really doesn’t it?”

“And you’ve found your girl worth fighting for now?” he asks me.

“Yes dad, I found her. I fought for her, and I’ll fight for the rest of my life if that’s what it takes to keep her,” I tell him seriously.

He pats me on the back, urging me to follow him through the flat to find Paige and Erica, “I’m proud of you son,” he says walking ahead of me. I can’t help but smile as I follow him through the flat that used to be my home, but now looks like a new flat entirely.





Chapter 41


Paige


“Hey you,” Elliot says as he steps out onto the balcony with me. “Enjoying the view?”

I lean into him as his arm slips around me, and we look out at the ocean together, “It’s amazing. I feel like I’m dreaming,” I say as I rest my head on his shoulder.

“This is all really strange for me too. It looks so different now. The front door is the same, but everything else has changed, even the view looks a little different.”

“What did it look like when you lived here?”

“Old, everything was some variation of brown.”

I laugh a little, “I’m imagining a sepia photo.”

“Yeah, I suppose it did look a little like that… Listen Paige, in the interest of full disclosure. This is where I was living when I was dating Katrina. If it bothers you, we’ll sell it and choose something different.”

“Wow,” is all I can say for a moment, I turn around and lean against the railing, looking back inside the room. “All the furniture’s different isn’t it?” I ask.

“Yeah, everything is different. It's like they’ve gutted the place and changed it all,” he tells me.

I take him by the hand and lead him into the main bedroom, “What does this room remind you of?” I ask.

I see him look around for a moment, taking everything in. “Honestly? It reminds me of that B&B we went to before I came home the first time.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Then we’ll keep it,” I say, sliding my arms around his waist and tilting my head up so he can kiss me.

Erica and Robert decided on that moment to enter the room. “Whoa lovebirds! Give us some time to get out of here before you christen the room ok?” Erica exclaims.

I walk towards them both and hug each of them, thanking them profusely for doing this for us.

“It’s our pleasure Paige,” Robert says kindly before clapping his hands together. “Now, I had already set this up with Kathy, so she isn’t expecting either of you go back to her house until tomorrow morning. However, I just called her to be safe, and she said Grace is still fast asleep.

“So you two enjoy. We’re going to head off now and let you have some time alone in your new home. Congratulations again on your wedding and your baby. We’ll see you all soon.”

“Thank you dad, thank you Erica,” Elliot says, embracing them both before we follow them to the door to walk them out. I think we thank them a hundred more times on the way.

We both lean against the front door as it closes and look at each other with giant grins on our faces. “Can you believe this?” he says first.

“No, can you?! Have you seen Grace’s room? Have you seen our wardrobe?!"

“Did you see the lounge room?"” he replies and we both laugh and walk through the flat again, pointing things out to each other as we go room to room. As we walk towards the main bedroom, Elliot stops me.

“What?” I ask turning to face him.

“We’re on our own for the first time since we were married, I have to do this right,” he says kissing me before reaching down and scooping me up in his arms to carry me over the threshold of our room.