Chapter 14

CHAPTER 14

Mayson

I knew I should've let her know I was almost at her door when she texted me, but I wanted to surprise her. From the look on her face, I did just that.

"Good morning, beautiful. Are you going to invite me in?" I asked.

"Umm. Yes. Sorry. Come in," she said.

I walked in and handed her the bouquet. "I wasn't sure what your favorite flower was, so I made one with every kind I could find."

She took them from me, smelling them briefly before tossing them on the couch. Then she wrapped her arms around my neck and started sobbing.

What did I do wrong?

Orion brought Raya flowers, and this wasn't the reaction he said he hadgotten. Maybe the presentation wasn't the best. I mean, I didn't go to a florist. Instead, I spent the morning searching out in the fields the flowers that were native here. To me, it looked okay. Hell, for all I know she was allergic to flowers. Whatever it was, I was never going to make this mistake again. It was the first and last time I ever brought flowers to anyone.

"I'm sorry, baby," I said, not sure what I was sorry for.

She just held me tightly, crying she said, "No. I'm sorry."

There was a lot of apologizing going on and yet I still had no idea why. I knew she wanted to see me later. So, it wasn't like she didn't want to see me any longer.

I looked past her and the bedroom door was ajar just enough for me to see inside. I could see a suitcase on the bed. Fuck. She's leaving. It all made sense now. Hell, just the thought of her going was like a twist in my gut. I knew it was coming, but how did it come so fast? I wanted more time with her.

Truth was, it didn't matter if I asked her to extend her vacation a week. What was that going to do? Not like I'd grow tired of her by then and be grateful that she was gone. If anything, the more time we were together, the more I knew I couldn't let her go.

Ignoring what I saw, I said, "Guess it's too early for that walk. How about we take a drive instead?"

She looked up at me and said, "Mayson. I would love to but..."

I cut her off. "No buts. I want to show you my favorite place. One I have been going to since I was a little boy." I could see she was about to push back so I did first. "Please, Crystal. Do this for me?"

"Can you give me a minute to go freshen up?" she asked.

I nodded. "Take all the time you need."

She went into the bedroom and closed the door. Too late. I already saw it.

There was a knock on the door, and I knew I shouldn't, but I opened it.

"Bennett. What brings you here?" I asked.

"I wanted to see Crystal."

"She's getting ready. We're going for a drive so we can talk. Can this wait?" I asked.

He paused for a second. "I guess if she is ready to talk to you, then you and I can talk later."

Ready? What does that mean? Bennett was hard to figure out sometimes. I don't care what he has to say. I'm not wasting time with him when I need to make my time with Crystal count.

"Good. I will reach out to you when I'm ready," I said.

Crystal came out of the room, and I could tell she wasn't happy to see him and me talking. "Bennett. I...I wasn't expecting you."

Good. Glad to hear that.

" I was just stopping in to check on how everything is going. But Mayson has informed me that you are going out for a drive. If you'd rather, the dining room is vacant," he said.

"Thanks for the offer, but I think we both want to get away for a little while. Am I right?" I asked, turning to Crystal. She nodded. "Now if you'll excuse us, I have a nice day planned for us."

Crystal walked over to my side, and I took her hand in mine. It was a statement. Whatever Bennett had to say, I was standing by Crystal.

He nodded and showed himself out. Looking down at her I asked, "I hope you don't mind that I made that decision for us. I mean, if you'd rather stay here, I understand."

I wouldn't like it, but I'd do it.

" No. I would love to see what you want to show me."

Smiling, I said, "Then let's go."

"Wait. I need my purse. She rushed back into the bedroom and came out with it in hand. Soon we were on our way and heading to the hills.

"How was your breakfast with Zoey?" I asked.

"It was nice."

That wasn't much of an answer. Maybe Bennett was stopping by because of something that happened or was said over breakfast.

"Just nice?" I asked.

"The food was good. The company was good. But it was missing something," she said.

"Like what?" I asked, knowing you could get just about anything you wanted in that dining room.

"You. I was missing you."

"You don't have to miss me anymore. I'm yours for the entire day," I said. "That is if you want me."

I could see that she had a lot on her mind today. The fact that she didn't answer immediately had me worried. But she did after a moment.

"Mayson, I am the happiest when I am with you," she said.

"Likewise." And it scares the hell out of me.

We were almost there, and I saw her looking out the window andstaring at the ocean. I turned the corner and then pulled the car off the road and parked on the grass.

"Is this it?" she asked.

"Almost. We need to walk a little way." We got out of the car, and I led her towards the cliff. I could feel her tense up. "I guess I should've asked if you were afraid of heights before bringing you here."

"I...I guess not heights. Just cliffs. How close are we getting?" she asked.

"It isn't as dangerous as it looks. There is a small path that we can go down and sit on this ledge. I used to go there all the time when I was a kid, and I needed to think. My secret hideaway."

"No one else knows about?" she questioned.

"I am not sure, but I've never seen any evidence of anyone besides me visiting it. Want to see it?" I asked.

"Yes. But for one reason only."

"What is that?" I asked.

"Because it's a special place to you. And I want to know as much about you as I can," I said. "You mean a lot to me, Mayson."

I pulled her into my arms and said, "I feel the same way. When I picked you up at the airport, I had no idea that you were about tochange my life. But you have."

"Mayson, there are things we need to talk about," she said.

I placed a finger across her lips and said, "Let me finish first. Because there are things I need to voice. After that, I will gladly listen to anything you have to say."

She nodded. "Okay. As long as you promise to listen to me after."

I kissed her, then said, "I will never break a promise to you. Now, come. Let's go and find my secret hiding place and I'll tell you everything."

Holding her hand, I led her down the overgrown path. It'd been long since I'd come here last. Some of the bush had covered it up, but I could find my way anyway. I could tell she was nervous and clung to me as we made our way down, but the small cave shaped ledge finally appeared.

Once inside, she stepped back from the edge and sat down. I sat beside her, and we looked at the view for a few minutes just taking it all in.

"I see why you would come here. It's spectacular. How did you ever find this place?" she asked.

"When my mother left, Orion would go off and I was stuck finding things to do on my own. Not smart, and I must have been only seven or eight years old, but I decided to challenge myself by climbing cliffs."

"Oh my, God. That's dangerous. What if something had happened? No one would've known where to look for you," she said, eyes wide open.

"At that age, you don't think of things like that. I was just trying to have fun. And I was. If you look around, you will see that I had everything I needed here." I pointed to a stack of books, a very old blanket that I wouldn't touch, and a flashlight, the batteries in which had been surely dead a long time.

"I'm sorry you had such a... difficult childhood."

"Funny. I didn't find it hard. I was off having fun. Not safely, but damn I had fun. Orion on the other hand, didn't. He was angry all the time. There was no talking to him. And at times, I thought he hated the entire world. As I grew up, I realized he was just angry at our mother. Not that helped any, because I... I was too young to remember good times with her. The little I can recall; I only remember her crying." at the world.

That probably is why I can't handle seeing a woman cry. It reminds me of my mother.

"I'm very sorry about that, Mayson. I'm sorry for you. For Orion. And for your mother," she said.

"I don't want to talk about her. That's not why I brought you here," I said. If we went there, it was going to be a bitter conversation, and she would never hear what I needed to say. "I wanted to talk about me. You. Us."

"Us?"

"Yes. Us. I know what I told you. That I am a confirmed bachelor. I was prepared to carry that title to my grave. Then you came along, and now the title doesn't have the same appeal that it once held. For the first time in my life, I don't feel...alone. I've always had people around me, my brother, my grandparents, and friends. But I've always felt alone. With you, I don't." Lifting her hand to my lips, I kissed her fingers and said, "And I never want to feel alone again."

"Mayson, I... I really need to tell you something."

"And I need to finish," I said. "I've never felt like this before. I've been thinking about you and trying to figure out what this is. Nothing about us makes sense. We've only known each other forabout a week, and I can't get you out of my head. Even while you sleep in my arms, I wake up just to look at your beautiful face, afraid that I'll find it was all a dream. This is all too good to be true. You are with me in a place that I have never brought anyone else. The place where I escape from the world. But the difference isnow you are the one I want to escape with. I'm...I'm falling for you, Crystal. You might not have set out to, but you got through my walls, and I don't want to put them back up. I want to see where this can go. You and me."

That was a lot. Lot more than I had intended to say. If I didn't shut up, I may have said more. Like I love you. She didn't look ready to hear that. Or maybe I wasn't ready to say it. That didn't change how I felt.

"You're...falling for me?" she said.

I nodded. "Yes, I am. Does that scare you?"

"No. I thought it would, but it doesn't. I've been drawn to you from the moment I met you. I told myself that I would keep my distance, and we would just be friends. No matter what I told myself, my heart had other plans. The more time we spent, the deeper I fell."

She was saying everything I wanted to hear, but I knew there was a but coming. I wanted to block that out.

"Crystal, I know our time is short, but this is just the beginning. We will find a way to make this work."

"Mayson, why don't we just make the most of the time we have now, and talk about the rest, later."

I wasn't about to argue with that. I knew we were on two different sides of the planet. But I also knew that if we wanted it badly enough, we would find a way to make it work.

Love is worth fighting for. You're worth fighting for.

"I'm sorry that I didn't plan this better. I mean, I should have a bottle of wine, some cheese and fruit. A nice blanket for us to lay."

She smiled. "With a view like this, what else could you want?"

I leaned toward her and kissed her. She moaned and kissed me back. The fire that ignited each time we touched, was only stronger now since we had voiced our feelings. I laid down on the rock and pulled her on top of me.

We were kissing and in our own world, when the sound of flapping wings and a very angry bird, broke our embrace.

"What the heck!" she screamed and rolled off me.

I saw the huge angry hawk. It was trying to land in the cave and wasn't happy to find any vacancies. I kicked my legs trying to scare it away. It only seemed to piss the bird off even more.

Laying down only made it as though he was in charge. I got up and swung my arms at it trying to scare it away. No luck. It swooped down, and then before our eyes, it grabbed Crystal's purse and flew away.

She stood up trying to grab a hold of it. I swear that she would've dove off the cliff after that damn bird to get it.

I was able to wrap an arm around her waist before she went over the edge.

"Crystal, it's just a purse. It's replaceable. You're not," I said firmly.

"But...but..." she stammered before crying. "You don't understand. It's...it's more than...a purse."

"Okay. It's a very expensive one. I can afford to replace it. Now come and sit away from the edge. You're making me...nervous." I had played as a child here and never gave a thought about falling. Seeing how close she was to going over the edge, almost gave me a heart attack.

"But not everything can be replaced, she said.

"Was your passport in there?" She shook her head. "You're phone?" No again. "A family heirloom?"

"Mayson, it's none of those things. It was a letter. A very important letter and now it's gone," she cried.

"I'm sorry. Maybe you can write another one," I said.

"It...I... I didn't write it. Someone else did," she sobbed.

A lover? Are you crying over a letter from some other guy?

" It is just paper. It doesn't matter."

"You don't understand. This matters. This is why I am here. And now...now...it's gone." She pulled away from me. "I shouldn't have come. We should've stayed at the resort."

I couldn't understand why she was so upset. It was just a letter.

"If you want, I can take you back there now." Please say no. I don't want this to be how our day ends.

" I'm...I'm not sure. I don't know what to do now."

She was just starting off into the distance and I cupped her face, turning her to look at me. "Crystal, talk to me. Tell me why that letter meant so much to you?" I might not want to hear it, but it was that important to her, I needed to know. And if I had to, I would search every hawk's nest to find that fucking purse and let the damn letter back.

"It... doesn't matter now. It's gone."

"It does matter," I snapped. "You're clearly upset about it. Tell me why."

"Because it was for you!"

"For me? You wrote me a letter? You can just tell me what you want now." I'd much rather hear it than read it anyway.

"No. I didn't write you a letter. Your mother did."

My mother?

I never would've guessed that. It made no sense. Why would she have a letter from my mother? And why is she only telling me this now?

"Crystal, if this is a joke, it isn't funny," I said dropping my hands.

"It's not a joke. The letter was from your mother. And before you ask me, no, I don't know what was in it. She never told me, and I didn't open it."

So many questions were running through my mind. I needed time to process this.

"Crystal, I don't even know what to say right now."

"I understand. This is probably a shock," she said.

"You think? I mean, I haven't heard from her in over thirty years. Now you show up saying you have a letter from her?" The letter was one thing, but there was something more that was bothering me. It felt like a knife. One that was twisting. "I want you to answer this question truthfully. Just yes or no. Understood?" She nodded. I asked, "Did my mother send you?"

Please say no.

All the pleading and hoping wasn't going to tell me what I wanted to hear. I knew the answer, but I needed to hear it from her.

Softly, she uttered the word. "Yes."

It was the final twist of the knife, this time directly into my heart.

"I'll bring you back to the resort," I said coldly.

"Mayson, there is so much more I want to tell you," Crystal said.

"I've heard enough. There is nothing more you can say that will make any of this better. My mother abandoned us and you...you lied to me. Is either of that incorrect?" I asked.

"No. But it's not as simple as that," she said.

"It is to me. Would you like to go up first, or follow me?" I asked.

"Please, Mayson. All I'm asking for is five minutes," she pleaded.

My heart wanted to say yes, but it was being torn in two.

"You had a week to tell me, Crystal. You choose not to. And if the fucking hawk hadn't flown off with your purse, I'm not sure I would know even now."

"I was going to tell you today. That's why I asked if we could go for a walk on the beach," she said.

"Do you think maybe it was a better idea to have said something before I brought you to the wedding? Spent the night with you?" Fallen in love with you?

"Yes, to them all. But it wasn't just about delivering the letter. I needed to make sure you would read it."

"Great. So, all this was just a ploy to manipulate me to read a fucking letter that I didn't ask for. So much better than just one simple lie. It was an entire plot."

I turned away from her and headed up the side of the cliff. If she didn't want to come, then I'd call Bennett to go fetch her. It was her choice.

Everything else has been. Why not let this one be too?

If she was afraid of the climb, she didn't let it show because not once did she ask for my help or to hold her hand as she had on the way down. I was angry. Angrier than I'd ever been in my life. It wasn't the first time a person had disappointed me. Just the first time it hurt this bad.

We drove back to the resort in silence. Maybe she was afraid to talk to me. I know I was afraid to speak because the words that I was fighting back weren't very nice. And no matter how I felt at that moment, I loved her, and I couldn't bring myself to hurt her any more than I already had.

I pulled up in front of the entrance, and she opened the door and got out. Before closing it, she said, "I know you won't believe me, but I'm sorry. I never wanted to hurt you. I just wanted to help bring your family back together again."

I couldn't look at her. She eventually closed the door, and I pulled away. Somewhere along the drive home, I felt my eyes burning. Squeezing them closed I refused to let the tears flow. I'd never cried, and I never will.