Three hours later and I’m sitting on the grass of the manicured garden in the family graveyard of my father’s estate. I stare at the tombstone.
I’m with my mother and a feeling of deep sadness fills me. I wish she could meet Spencer. I wish she were here to see how happy he makes me.
I’ve packed all of my things and loaded them into the back of the cars. I know my father is home, but he hasn’t been down to see me. He knows.
“He’s got blonde hair, Mum, and blue eyes,” I whisper through a lump in my throat. “He’s tall and handsome, and if you could see the way he looks at me, you would understand.” Tears roll down my face. “I love him.”
I just want to hear her voice, just one more time.
I want her to tell me that’s it’s okay-that she understands why I’m doing this.
But she can’t. She never will.
She’s gone.
Sometimes the pain of her not being here is too much.
It’s like I have to fight for my next breath.
How am I supposed to live without her?
I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I jump in fright. “Are you all right, darling?” my father asks.
I stand, and I wrap my arms around him. “Not really,” I whisper against his shoulder. “I miss her, Dad.”
“I miss her, too.”
“I need her to tell me that this is okay.” I lift my chin and his eyes search mine. “Because I’m moving in with him, Dad. I love him and I’m not waiting.”
His face falls. “But you said-”
“I know what I said,” I cut him off. “But I’ve thought about it.”
“He talked you out of it, you mean.”
“No.” I shake my head. “Not at all. He doesn’t even know I’m here. It’s time for me to grow up and make my own decisions, Dad.”
His eyes fall to the ground.
“I love Spencer. In time, you will come to love Spencer, too, because he’s a wonderful man.”
“Charlotte,” he whispers. “I can’t support this relationship.”
“Then you won’t see me.”
His face falls. “Don’t say that.”
“Remember when you fell in love with Mum and the whole world was against you… but you knew it was right?”
He frowns.
“I know this is right. In my heart of hearts, I know this is right.”
“Charlotte, you are so young and naïve. What’s the rush, darling?”
“Why would I wait?” I whisper. “Why wait when he makes me happier than I’ve ever been?”
Dad drops his head.
“I’m moving in with him today. My things are already packed, and I would like you to come and visit me.”
He stays silent.
I scowl and swallow with regret. I feel like my heart is being ripped out of my chest. “I love you, Dad.”
“I love you too,” he whispers.
“Will you come and visit me?”
He stares at me blankly. “No.”
I blink as my vision becomes blurred.
“I cannot accept this relationship if you move in with him. I’ve told you that already.”
I frown and step back from him, shocked, but not surprised by his coldness. “This is goodbye then.”
He stares at me, his face blank and emotionless. I wait for him to say something, but he doesn’t.
I can’t stand this, I need to get away.
I turn away with tears streaming down my face. I walk as fast as I can and get into my car, wasting no time in pulling out of the driveway.
I watch the property disappear in the rearview mirror, feeling the pain in my chest.
I thought he loved me more than that.
* * *
“Angel?” Spencer calls. “Are you okay, sweetheart?” he whispers as he sits down beside me.
“Huh?” I push up onto my elbows. “Oh, I must have fallen asleep.” I sigh as I look down at myself sprawled across the sofa. My face falls. “Oh my God, I forgot to get you from work?” I whisper in a panic. “What time is it?”
He brushes my hair back from my forehead and smiles. “That’s okay, I called Wyatt when I couldn’t get you and he came to pick me up. We guessed you were asleep.”
I lie back down and put my forearm over my eyes. I just want this day to be over.
Spencer looks around at the boxes of my things spread everywhere. “What’s all this?”
“I moved in.” I give him my best attempt at jazz hands. “Surprise!”
He smirks. “I thought you were getting your own apartment.”
“I wanted my own Spencer instead.”
He leans down and kisses me. “I told you I didn’t mind.”
“I know.” I wrap my arms around his shoulders. “But I minded. I’m not coming into this relationship with anyone but you as my priority.”
“I love you.”
“Lucky. Because my father doesn’t want to see me again.”
“He’ll come around.” He sighs as he pulls me up by the hand. “Come on, get up and get yourself ready.”
“Why, where are we going?” I sigh.
“We have to celebrate. This is a big day. We just moved in together. Let’s see if we can find a bar that will play our song.”
I laugh. “There are no Australian one-man bands in London who know the song “Dream Catch Me,” Spence.”
“Karaoke it is then.”
* * *
Five hours later, and I’m smiling up at my handsome dance partner, rearranging his tie. “Thank you.” I smile.
“For what?”
“For dancing with me in a deserted bar at 1:00 a. m. on a school night. I know you’re trying to take my mind off of things.”
He spins me around. “You’re wrong about that, Prescott. I’m putting your mind onto things. This is a strategic move. I’m playing the game of champions.”
I fake amazement and narrow my eyes. “Oh, really? Tell me, Mr Spencer… ” I reach up and brush his hair back from his forehead and kiss him softly on the lips. “Is your brain in your dick tonight?”
“No, my brain is in my heart.” And what a beautiful heart it is.
“My erection is in my dick.” He kisses my temple.
I giggle at his ridiculous answer, and we sway to the music.
“Will you love me when I’m poor, Lady Charlotte?”
“Why would you ever be poor, Mr Spencer?” I smirk.
“Sheridan wanted me to go to New York next week for a tender meeting.”
I stop dancing.
“I said no.”
“What does that mean?” I frown.
“It means she has the right to pull my company’s contract.”
“Do you think she will?”
He shrugs and starts to sway us again. “I don’t think so. She’s ballsy but she’s not a bitch. She isn’t vindictive.”
I stare at him.
“My company supplies her with good quality steel, she knows that.”
“Why don’t you just go?” I say.
“Because I don’t want to leave you.” He kisses me again.
“It’s okay, Spence, I trust you. You can go. I don’t want you to lose business over us.”
“Angel.” He smiles down at me. “I will not be held for ransom from an old lover and risk fucking up what I have in this room. She can jam the fucking contract up her arse for all I care.”
I look around at our surroundings, unable to stop myself from grinning. “We have two drunks in the corner of this room. I’m happy to sacrifice them,” I offer.
He laughs as he looks around at the two old men sitting drunk at the bar. “I wouldn’t even give up them.”
Spencer looks over and spots Wyatt, and I see a frown crease his brow. “What’s wrong?” I ask.
“How well do you know Wyatt?”
“Why?”
“Nothing.” He frowns. “Just something he said to me the other night has me weirded out a bit.”
“What did he say?”
“He asked me if I’d ever fucked a guy.”
I stop dancing again. “What?”
He widens his eyes. “Weird, right?”
“Seems I haven’t been the only thing he’s been watching then.”
“What does that mean?” He frowns.
“Wyatt is into men and women.”
“What?” he gasps.
I giggle at his surprise.
“How do you know this?” he whispers.
“We’re friends, of course I know this. He was in a three-way relationship with a woman and a man for over twelve months. They broke up last year.”
“You think he’s checking me out?” he whispers, completely terrified.
“No, I think that was his way of trying to tell you that he’s bisexual without coming out and actually saying it. When he said that to you, did you ask him the same question back? Because I know that’s how he told Edward.”
“What do you mean?”
“He asked Edward if he’d ever fucked a guy, and Edward said no, and then Edward asked him if he had. Of course, Wyatt said yes… that he swings both ways.”
Spencer’s eyes close, relief pouring out of him. “Thank fucking God. I thought there was some sinister paparazzi story being concocted about me. I was freaking the hell out.”
I laugh out loud. “Spencer, why don’t you just ask me these things instead of brewing on them for days?”
“Hell, woman.” He rests his cheek against mine. “I’ve aged thirty years since I met you.”
I smile up at him. “Spence?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t sing our song to me.”
“Hmm.” He closes his eyes. “There’s a place I go when I’m alone.” He rocks us to his whispered song. “Do anything I want, be anyone I wanna be. But it is us I see, and I cannot believe I’m falling.” He pushes me out by the hand and twirls me under his arm, slowly bringing me back to him. “Dream catch me when I fall.”
“Or else I won’t come back at all,” I whisper.
We smile at each other, and it’s like he’s the only person on earth.
My person.
“I love you.” He smiles as he holds me tight.
“I love you.”
Our moment is interrupted when his phone vibrates in his pocket. He digs it out and reads it. His eyes light up in excitement.
“Bree’s in labour.”