VANGUARD(86)

“My cell phone bill?” Michael asked, hanging over her shoulder to peer at the pages.

She flipped through months of records. Two numbers had called Michael’s phone every single agonizing day he was missing. She recognized her own number, of course. The other looked familiar.

Michael did. “You called my cell phone every day? Both of you?”

Sophie looked at Maxwell, then shuffled through her bag to find her iPhone. Sure enough, the other number was Max’s.

“I needed to hear your voice. Some days, I couldn’t find hope any other way.” She stopped, not wanting to cry in front of them, but failing miserably.

“We found hope where we could.” Maxwell rose from his chair and came around to put his arms around both of them. “We found hope in you, Sophie. Signe and I always knew you had the best chance of bringing him back.” He kissed the top of Sophie’s head, and then Michael’s. “That’s enough business for one night. Off you go now, both of you.”





-





Michael waited for Sophie in his bed when she emerged from the bathroom. She felt weird climbing into bed with him in his family home. Her parents definitely would not have allowed this. But as soon as he pulled her into his arms under the duvet, all the doubts melted away.

“No more crying.” He kissed her eyes. “We have had enough tears. I am here. We are together.” His lips moved down to her nose and cheeks to her mouth. He kissed her slowly and sweetly, making her forget that his parents were near, making her forget everything else except the two of them.

“I had a nice night.” She rested her head on his chest. “Although I think your mother might be rushing things.”

He laughed, tangling his fingers in her hair. “You think? I am surprised she did not have bridal magazines laid out in the living room after dinner.”

She ran her hand down his stomach. “A little lower would be very nice, mana mila,” he said throatily, nudging her hand farther down his body. She touched him lightly through his shorts, but was too freaked out by their proximity to his parents to do more.

“Don’t you find it…you know…weird to do this? I mean, with your parents right down the hall?” She expected him to burst into laughter, but instead, he turned his head on the pillow and smiled.

“A little,” he admitted. He bit his lip as she continued to touch him. “I have never brought a woman home to my parents, so I have found the whole evening rather stressful.”

Sophie dropped her hand and stared at him in shock.

“Oh, please do not stop.” He moved her hand back. “It feels so good, yes, just like that.” He sighed in contentment.

“Never brought a woman home to your parents?” she repeated, stunned. “Never? But you took Mirielle to Orlisia for Christmas!”

“Must you mention her name? My parents were not there at the time Mirielle visited. And I did not bring her here, to my family home.” He saw the shock on Sophie’s face and sat up. “What? What have I said?”

“I’m so surprised. You have a European home. I thought you would’ve had all your girlfriends sleeping over since the time you were sixteen.”

“No.” He chuckled and put his arms around her. “I told my parents a long time ago that I prefer to keep my private life private.” He smiled. “I also told them that the day I brought a woman home for dinner to meet them and sleep in my bed under their roof would be the day they would know I had met the woman I wanted to spend my life with.”

She tried very hard not to start crying again. “I love you.” She kissed him.

“I love you, too,” he replied, his eyes soft in the darkness. Then he smiled imploringly. “Now maybe you could return your hand to where it was before?”





Chapter 19





February 28, 2014





Sophie awoke to an empty bed the morning after dinner with Michael’s parents. The clock said it was nearly 10 a.m. After showering, she went downstairs dressed in the jeans she had brought in her overnight bag and the button-down Michael had had on last night. It smelled like him.

She found him in the kitchen unpacking a paper bag. Fresh-squeezed orange juice, fruit, croissants, smoked fish. Her stomach growled as her eyes roamed over the food. “Did you work up an appetite last night?”

He grinned, saying everything that needed to be said with his eyes. She sat down at the table as he poured her a cup of strong black coffee.