Jayden reveled in the feeling of her back in his arms. It was incredible, having her there and filling the void he had had for the past three years. He wondered how much she had changed since the attack and if she had tried to move on, and if he should have continued to let her. He had been silently keeping tabs on her, but he had no idea if she had someone new in her life, or if she wanted to make a new life with someone else. The idea broke his heart, but it didn’t elicit the response he would have had years ago. He wanted only the best for Delilah, and if that meant her moving on without him, he would let her do that. After all, she was blowing his expectations out of the water with her response so far.
Delilah’s questions were warranted and he dreaded the fact that he had to tell her the whole truth of the situation, only because he was worried she would push him away for trying to protect her. He ran a hand down her soft hair, then sighed softly. “I wanted to keep my distance. I turned after I was already in the morgue, and newborns can be particularly viscous when hungry. You can see that here in this very town. I… I couldn’t risk harming you, Delilah. You were… You are my everything. The thought of hurting you so badly, even unintentionally was what kept me away. I know that you can handle yourself, but I couldn’t risk harming you or anyone else.”
Jayden lowered his head to look down into her eyes, searching and hoping she understood him. That she wanted a second chance caused him to nearly drop to his knees, begging whatever higher power there was to keep this woman from taking back her words. “You don’t owe me a second chance.” His voice broke at the last words, and he did lower himself to his knees on the snow, wrapping his arms around her middle. “You only owe yourself the best happiness you can find.” He was crying again, and he didn’t care. This woman held his heart in her very hands in this moment, and had, in fact owned it since they had met in high school.
It felt too much like a dream, seeing him there after one of the worst nights she had in sometime--it was hard to believe. But the way he held her, the way he smelled, and his voice it was all too real and she prayed this wouldn’t all fade away when the dream was over. She tried to move on, but she never got far. She was trapped beneath the surface, grief held far too tightly. There were days she would break the surface and was able to breathe, but others it pulled her further into the deeps. It was getting easier to breathe, easier to live in that state, but it wasn’t living and in hindsight, she could see that. The last three years feel wasted, but it brought her here and here is where she found him by some twist of fate. And for that,she couldn’t be more grateful.
Delilah leaned into him, letting her guard fall as he ran his fingers through her hair, making up for every moment they’d lost. She couldn’t look away from him as he spoke, hanging on every word. Three years he spent fighting that urge alone, three years of learning to be a new creature with no one to guide him or help, and three long years living outside of his own life. She couldn’t have imagined what he’d gone through. “I would have run too. I don’t blame you for leaving and even if you’d stayed--there were risks. Even if I can protect myself, newborns are unpredictable.I don’t know if you did the right thing leaving, it was the safe thing, but you came back and the past doesn’t matter anymore. You’re here. And I want to be your everything and you to be mine. We can start again. Vampire or not, I don’t care. I just want you.”
She wanted more than anything for this, by some miracle he would come back to her. Maybe it was that strange thought that maybe he was alive, that it had been a mistake--she never knew she was right for feeling that. And as she held his gaze, she could feel her heart begin to mend. She watched as he moved to his knees, taking her back to the night he asked her to marry him, if he were asking again she hoped he would know the answer already. She ran her hand gingerly through his hair smiling softly, “No, but I want to give you one. I made you a promise. I promised to love you even after death, to be there despite everything else. You are my first and only love, Jayden. I think we both deserve the chance.” She stepped back, only enough so she could move to kneel before him, taking his face into her hands and pulling him into a gentle kiss. “I found my happiness in you and if you’ll have me, I want to be yours again and you to be mine.”She breathed, pulling back to meet his eyes wanting nothing more than their forever to begin.
