“Nora. My name’s Nora. Now go. Dry those tears and find those people you love and tell them.” She shooed me, and I let out a laugh that was mixed with a sob.
With a final wave, I turned and all but ran to the terminal exit. I pushed through the glass doors to be met with a sheet of rain.
And then …
“Whitney? Oh my God, Whitney!”
I turned to see Kyle running toward me.
“Kyle?”
His hair was plastered to his forehead from the rain.
“Don’t get on that plane.”
“Kyle, I—”
He grabbed my face and kissed me. His lips bruised mine with force. He kissed me with all his pain, all his fear, all his love.
How could I have wanted to run from this? What the hell was wrong with me?
“I love you, Whitney. I love you so damn much. And Katie loves you. And we can’t live our life without you in it, and we don’t expect you to be Super Wife and Mom. We just want you there with us. And I know you blame yourself for the accident, but fucking stop it already. It was just that—an accident. But running away and leaving us behind for four months isn’t an accident. That’s just bullshit. And you promised you’d be there. For Katie. For me. I didn't take you for someone to go back on a promise.” His eyes were wild as he gripped my face.
“Kyle, I know, I—”
He wouldn’t let me speak. “And I know we went into this marriage saying it was for appearances only, but you and I both know that’s not how it is now. This is for real. This is forever. Forget that weekend eight years ago. I don’t care about our past. I don’t care about any of it. I only care about now and our future and us being together with our daughter.”
“But Josie—” I started to say.
“Fuck her. Seriously. She’s not interested in being a mom to Katie. And the court will see that too. It’s a good thing I recorded our conversations because they show what a messed-up person she is. And there’s no way she’s getting custody of Katie. Hell, she’ll be lucky to get visitation. But it doesn’t matter because we can fight her. Together.”
Then he was kissing me again. His arms wrapping around me.
“I love you. I love you so damn much. Come home. Please.” Kyle’s eyes were red, and I could see how exhausted he was. After everything he’d been through in the past twenty-four hours, I felt horrible for adding more to his plate.
He didn’t need this. He needed me to be strong. He needed my love, not my fear.
Finally, able to get my breath, I pulled back. “I was coming home to you. That’s why I was leaving the airport,” I told him.
“You were?” he asked.
“I love you, Kyle Webber,” I said.
His eyes widened and then glistened with unshed tears.
“I think I’ve loved you since that disastrous weekend eight years ago, but I was too stubborn to admit it. I came back to Southport wanting to see you, hoping to see you. Wanting to find a way to be in your life. Because you’ve always mattered to me.”
He ran his hands up and down my arms, his smile watery. “That goes both ways, you know.”
“I’m sorry. About Katie. About leaving. About making a giant mess of all this. But I want to come home. I want you and Katie and our family. I want this forever.” I lifted my face and kissed him.
“I love you,” I murmured against his mouth, finally giving him the words that had been his all along.
“I love you, Whit.” He grinned before picking me up and swinging me around. “Now, let’s get you home where you belong.”
Epilogue
Kyle
Two months later:
“Do you know where the streamers are? I can’t seem to find them anywhere.” Whitney dug around in the box of party supplies on the patio table.
Our backyard had been transformed into every two-year-old’s fantasy, complete with bouncy castle and a face painter. In a few hours, our house would be taken over by toddlers and their parents here to celebrate Katie’s second birthday.
“They might be in the bag in the kitchen,” I told her, filling the rest of the balloons with helium from the canister I had rented for the occasion.
“Let me go check,” she said, walking past me. I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her toward me, making her squeal.
“If you want to pass, you have to pay the toll,” I intoned dramatically.
“Happy to.” She grinned, wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing me long enough to make my shorts tight.
“Hey, you two, there’s no time for that,” Lena teased, coming through the garden gate carrying a large white box. “I picked up the cake as asked. Where should I put it?”