“Yes, because they are,” Josie said, looking confused.
“Oh, my God, I’ve never heard anyone over the age of, like, thirty say that word,” Magan said, clearly finding this funny.
“Josie’s been spending too much time with Sophia,” Griff threw in, and although he said it like he rued the day, I knew he loved how close we were becoming.
Josie raised her brows. “Magan, you don’t reach an age in life where you stop living and stop learning new things. I might be old to you, but in my mind, I’m still somewhere between thirty and forty.”
Griff suddenly stood and headed inside without a word. When Josie and Magan gave me a querying look, I shrugged and said, “I don’t know where he’s going.”
Josie ate her scone while Magan and I finished off our cake, and then she said, “I’m going to go home before it gets dark. Thank you for a wonderful afternoon, Sophia.”
We all stood, but before we could go inside, Griff came back out, holding something in his hand. As he got closer, I could see it was something small wrapped in Christmas paper.
Josie eyed it and her face lit up with a smile, but she didn’t say anything.
He moved to where she stood, and pulled a necklace from the wrapping. Looking at her, he said, “I found this the other day…had forgotten you’d given me a Christmas present until then.”
Josie nodded, and I realised this was a significant moment for them because the mood had turned serious. “It was your mother’s, and her mother’s before that, Michael.”
“I remember her wearing it.”
Josie reached out, and placed her hand over his, squeezing it gently. “She wanted you to have that. Her first-born son was always to have that necklace to give to the woman he loved.”
Griff nodded. “She told me that,” he said gruffly.
Josie’s eyes were full of so much love for her nephew. “I am glad you found it,” she said as she moved towards me. Putting her arms around me, she whispered, “Thank you, beautiful girl. I’m going to die a happy woman one day.”
I wasn’t sure what she meant, but I smiled and hugged her back. “Thank you for coming. We’ll do this again soon.”
As Josie said her goodbyes to Magan, she also said, “Help an old lady home, will you, dear girl?”
Magan hooked her arm through Josie’s and said, “Sure.”
I watched them go until Griff’s arms came around my waist, and he spun me to face him. I sucked in a breath at what I found there. He stared at me with an intense gaze that shot straight to my core. His lips landed on mine and he kissed me, and it had to be said, that kiss was one of the most intense, passionate kisses I’d ever experienced. It was as if he put all the want and need he had for me into that one kiss. When he ended it, he said, “I love you, Sophia.”
He was full of surprises today. First the moving in, now this declaration.
I loved every single second of today.
And I loved everything about this man standing in front of me.
Smiling, I said, “I love you, too, Griff.”
He took his mother’s necklace and placed it around my neck. It was a beautiful antique gold necklace with a diamond pendant.
My hand moved to hold it in place for a moment as I fought back tears. He would never know just what this gesture meant to me.
Not only did it show me his love, but it was a symbol of family to me.
My first tear fell, and I gave up trying to hold them back. They needed to be shed.
They also symbolised something for me – a new beginning, and a new chance at building a family for myself.
He brushed my tears from my cheek and asked, “Are they good tears or bad tears?”
I smiled up at him through them. “A bit of both, handsome, but mostly, I’m just regrouping.”
Watching his face was like watching a switch being flipped. Something I’d said caused him to switch to bossy Griff. He bent his face to mine, and growled, “You’ve got till Magan goes home to regroup and then I’m going to have you naked and under me for the rest of the night, doing whatever I tell you to do.”
My heart beat faster at the thought of what was to come. “That’s why you love me, isn’t it?” I teased. “Because I let you boss me around.”
He stared at me for a long moment before giving me something I would cherish forever. “I love you for your smart-ass mouth, and your purity, and your kindness, and your rambling, and your love of family, and for the way you care about those you love. But most of all, I love you because you’re you, and you accept me for who I am.”
I would always accept him for who he was, just as he had accepted me.
Griff had shown me that some of the beliefs we have about ourselves are illusive, and that we need to leave the pain and hurt behind, and step into our new skin. The past is part of us, part of our story, but it doesn’t have to be who we are today, and it doesn’t mean our story won’t get better.
Together, Griff and I would write a new story – a better story.
THE END