Best of Me

Chapter 30 (The End)

Cora didn't even stop as they entered the house. She wanted to be alone but Garrett had other ideas as he insisted she stop halfway up the stairs. Cora turned to tell him exactly what she thought about his high-handed matter, but what she was going to say was forgotten as she saw Margie appear next to him and take his raincoat from him.

She and Leon had returned the day before and Margie was ecstatic over the new kitchen.

However, Cora wasn't thinking about Margie or Leon she was thinking about the first time she had met Garrett. Suddenly, she was transported back in time, over seven months previous when she had walked down these very stairs and seen Garrett for the first time, but his expression wasn't cold or hostile now as it was then, now he was looking at her slightly amused and with something else that she couldn't quiet place that it made her heart skip a beat. Deciding it was best to hang onto her anger she took a step down the stairs and towards him.

"Would you please tell me what you find so amusing about this situation?" She clenched her hands into fists at her sides.

"Thank you, Margie," Garrett said, dismissing her with a smile. "I need a private word with my wife.

Even after six months Cora's heart still jumped when he called her his wife. She couldn't help but wonder how she had gotten so lucky.

"I honestly don't understand why you're so upset?" He tilted his head in curiosity

Cora clenched her jaw and took another step down, towards him. "I asked you not to say anything." She was really working hard to hold onto her anger. All she really wanted to do was throw herself into his arms.

"And I told you, because you are my wife, I would take care of it. You're mine Cora, plain and simple, and anyone who messes with you messes with me." His voice was serious and all traces of humor fled his face.

The two of them stood there staring at each other neither one willing to back down. Cora was losing fast. He had called her his. What did that mean?  She knew she was his, she had been almost from the first moment they met, but she hadn't guessed that he knew it.

"You're so beautiful Cora, but when your angry your magnificent." His voice was low and gruff.

"It was embarrassing Garrett." It was a weak protest even to her own ears.

"You did nothing wrong Cora." He started up the stairs towards her. "I don't want to give him a chance to do what he did to you to someone else. What if the next girl isn't as strong as you are and can't say no?"

Cora shook he head. "I'm not strong Garrett."

"Yes, you are Cora, you're strong, and kind, and make everything better, and those are only a few of the things that I love about you." He was standing on the step below her, but he still towered above her.

Cora's heart stopped and then jump started.  Had he just said he loved her?

"I do love you Cora." He must have read the disbelief in her eyes.

"Why would you love me Garrett?" She rested her hands on his chest and could feel his heart beating rapidly beneath her palm. "You could have any woman, why me?"

"I love the way you look and smell, I love your passion, I even love your penchant for throwing things at me, but most of all I love the way you make me feel. I feel like I belong to someone, like I have a reason to do all that I do.  You make me feel joy and passion, and I feel more alive loving you than I ever have in my life. I want you to have everything your heart desires, this house, clothes, a career-,"

Cora put her hand on his lips to make him stop talking.

"I only want you Garrett. I only want you to love me and promise me that you'll never leave me."

He pulled her tight against him. "I promise Cora, no matter what happens I will always love you."

"I love you Garrett, I think I have from the first moment I saw you standing here demanding to see Aunt Mable. I remember thinking of a story my father used to tell me about the Selkie, a seal who would transform into a man and seduce young innocent women. The only way a woman could keep him from returning to the water was to steal his seal skin and hide it from him. I wanted to figure out what would keep you from leaving me."

"I'm all about seducing you Cora but I promise, I am a flesh and blood man who has made plenty of mistakes along the way and will probably make many more, and you've already stolen what will keep me with you forever. My very soul." He kissed her and she was lost until he broke away.

"The first time I saw you I thought that you looked like a fairytale princess."

"Cinderella." She laughed, finally making sense of a few of his previous comments.

"And you could not have chosen a dress less cinderellaish than this one," he said letting his eyes skim over her curves. "Especially the shoes."

"I felt a little like Cinderella back then, but I don't anymore. You make me brave Garrett. I like who you make me. I want to give you only the best of me."

"And I like who you make me Cora but I already have the best of you, your heart." He held her close kissing her gently. "We're already married so that kind of messes with this happy ending."

"Promise me we'll stay married."

"I promise you Cora."

"And I promise you Garrett. We'll live happily ever after if I have to throw every damn thing in this house at you make it happen."

"Don't worry, I've already said I'm a good catch.