The Seduction of Alex Parker(44)

“Thank you.” Alex smiled gently at her.





Chapter 30


Alex

Maybe bringing Emerson back to her childhood home wasn’t the brightest idea I’d ever had, but she needed to be reminded of the good times she’d had here. Was it my place to remind her of them? Yes. I felt it was because I loved her and I wanted her pain to stop. She walked up the stairs and I followed her. Opening one of the doors in the hallway, she walked inside the room.

“This was my and Emily’s room. My bed sat in that corner over there and Emily’s sat in that corner across from me.”

“Why did you two share a room? This is a five-bedroom house.”

“Because we couldn’t stand to be separated.”

Jesus. It was all making sense to me now.

“We used to sit on our beds, do our homework, and talk for hours about everything. This wall over here.” She pointed. “This is where our map hung and there was a dresser right underneath it where we always kept a black marker sitting on top. My mom would come in our room to put our laundry away and she’d look at the map. She would smile every time she saw another black circle.”

She was smiling and her tone of voice was lighter. She was remembering the good times here and I prayed to God this was enough to make her stay in California.

****

Emerson

The memories that resided in this house were just as strong today as when I was younger. Walking out of my bedroom, I headed down the hallway and ran my finger along the slight crack in the molding outside Adam’s bedroom door. I laughed.

“I can’t believe it’s still here.”

“What?” Alex asked.

“See this small crack?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s from Adam’s head. When he was sixteen, he went to a friend’s party and came home drunk. He missed the door and cracked his head on the molding. My dad took him to the ER and he got four stitches that night. My mom stayed back with us because she was so angry with him.”

Alex laughed. “I bet she was.”

Taking Alex’s hand, we walked downstairs to the living room. “My mom and dad both loved lighthouses.” I walked over to the corner where a curio cabinet used to sit. “They collected them and we had a cabinet that sat right here filled with different ones. Some of them lit up and, at night, my mom would turn them on and turn off all the other lights in the room so the only thing we saw were the glowing lights of the lighthouses. They were beautiful and so peaceful. Next to the cabinet hung a painting of the Bass Harbor Lighthouse in Bass Harbor, Maine. My mom talked about this cute little cottage they stayed at while they were there. My dad proposed to her in front of that very lighthouse. She was sitting on the rocks, staring out into the water, while my dad took pictures of her. She said it was the most beautiful place she’d ever been to. My dad got down on one knee on the rock in front of her and asked her to marry him. She said he totally surprised her because they hadn’t even talked about marriage. They bought the painting before they left to remind them of how special of a place it was. She said it symbolized their start of a new life together.”

“What happened to the painting?” he asked.

“Adam has it in storage somewhere.”

Walking to the kitchen, I looked around and could see my mom standing by the stove. It was her favorite room in the house. “My mom cooked here every single night. She was a great cook. Sometimes, I would help her while Emily went to swim in the pool. Speaking of which.” I turned to the realtor. “What happened to the pool?”

“The previous owners took it out because they didn’t want it.” She gave me an odd look. “Do you know this house?”

“Yes. I grew up here.”

“Oh,” she spoke with surprise.

Alex walked over to where I was standing and put his arm around me.

“We’re looking to possibly start our own family in this house. Isn’t that right, baby?”

“Umm. Yes. Yes, we are.”

“Excellent!” The realtor smiled.

Her phone rang and she looked at it. “Excuse me. I need to take this call,” she spoke as she walked out of the room.

I looked out the window at the spot where the pool used to be. “Who the hell lives in California and doesn’t want a pool?”

“Obviously fools.” Alex chuckled.

I turned and looked at Alex with a smile on my face. “I have to see if it’s still there. Come on.” I grabbed his hand and led him through kitchen, through the foyer, out the front door, and onto the porch. I looked in the corner and knelt down, placing my hand on the small handprint that my dad made the three of us do when he built the new porch.

“This is my handprint. This one is Emily’s and this is Adam’s.”

“How old were you?”

“We were six and Adam was ten. I remember the day we did this. My dad said that we’d always be a permanent part of this house now that our handprints were here. He said no matter what life threw at us, we’d always have this house and the memories we made here. Oh my God, Alex. I just remembered all that.”

He put his arm around me and pulled me into him. “That’s good, Emerson. Your dad sounds like he was a wise man.”

“He was.”