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REBECCA
I grabbed Reiner’s hand and, without thinking twice, pulled him into my bedroom. Luckily, he didn’t protest or resist. When I shut the door, he started pacing back and forth, clearly trying to
release some tension.
I stayed silent, letting him be; it was best to let him cool off when he was like this.
I approached him only when I saw the red hue of his wolf in his eyes fade. As soon as I
touched his arm, he pulled me into a tight embrace. It wasn’t a hug–it was more of a grip, one
that hurt a little and made it hard to breathe.
“Reiner,” I called. “Reiner, you… I can’t breathe,” I said, opting for that over “You’re hurting me.”
Thankfully, he loosened his hold–not much, but enough that I wasn’t being suffocated or
crushed.
“She knew,” he growled. “She knew you could die.”
I swallowed hard. Knowing Sheila, I didn’t doubt it. I mean, she did try to kill me afterwards: I’d never forget the car chase, or the crash, or the heroic way Ravi and Wayne had saved me.
“She knew,” he growled again. “And I…” his voice broke. When I looked up at his face, I saw tears in his eyes. “I almost lost you. Almost lost you and the kids…”
A growl escaped his lips, and he collapsed onto the bed, clutching his hair and breathing
deeply.
After a moment of hesitation, I sat next to him, taking his hand.
“But it didn’t happen,” I murmured.
“It could have,” he insisted, his voice full of fury and fear. “I can’t believe that… I might have never known them. They could have died before I even knew about them. You could have died. Those two psychopaths were willing to kill a woman and two innocent children for… for a
damn chair.”
Suddenly, I found myself on his lap, his face buried in my left shoulder. I didn’t waste time pulling him closer, running my fingers through his hair the way I knew he liked–knowing that gesture would help relax him as much as having me physically close.
“Listen to me” I murmured, cupping his cheek. “The day she kicked me out, she … she sent
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people after me, to kill me. I guess she wanted to be sure I’d never come back into your life, so her plan would never get exposed“.
“She did what?!”
His voice was low and controlled, but full of shock, disgust, and rage.
“But I survived. We’re here,” I went on. “Thank the Goddess, we’re here–and we’re all together. I
survived her spell and those guys she sent after me, and life brought you to New York out of
all places… the chances of all this happening were slim, and yet, here we are, despite all
odds. Isn’t that what matters?”
Reiner took a deep breath, his hand gently wrapping around my wrist as he leaned into my touch. “Of course it is,” he murmured. A sigh escaped his lips. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lose
it–not in front of the kids.”
“Don’t worry about it, I understand. We can stay here as long as you need“.
After a few seconds, Reiner nodded, resting his forehead against my shoulder.
“I trusted them,” he murmured after a while. His voice was so weak, so defeated, it broke my heart–and instinctively, I hugged him tighter. “I loved them. They were my family. I can’t believe they went so far as trying to kill you and the kids.”
For a moment, the image of James’s little face flashed before my eyes–he was my son, just as Reiner was Sheila’s. I felt physically ill even when I had to clean his wounds, because I knew it would sting… and she had decided to destroy him, to ruin his life, just for a title.
Now that I was a mother, I felt I could say she had never loved him. Never.
“I’m sorry,” Reiner whispered. “I don’t… I don’t want to make this all about me, I know that…”
“No,” I said, making him look me in the eyes. “Now it’s my turn to tell you you’re talking crap. This is about you–your mother and brother did this to you, and you have every right to suffer because of it. They hurt and betrayed you in the worst possible way. You have every right to be
upset about it.”
Reiner swallowed, nodding weakly.
“It’s just a lot to… take in,” he murmured. A tired laugh escaped his lips. “Can’t say we’re having a relaxing day, the two of us, huh?”
I nodded, chuckling in turn. “No, indeed,” I said. “But I want you to know,” I added. “You’re not alone. You have us–we’re here for you, through thick and thin.”
I bent down, kissing him and taking my time for it – making sure he felt how much I loved
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him, how much I cared for him.
“And I’ll thank the Goddess every single f*****g day for that” he murmured once we broke the
kiss to catch some air, his forehead resting against mine.
For a while, we just stayed there – simply enjoying each other’s presence, and basking in it.
“Wanna get some ice cream?” I asked after a while. “Ice cream always made you feel better“.
He chuckled, and his lips found my mark, kissing and nibbling it. Tingles began to run all over
my skin, and my core tensed up.
—
He let himself fall back on the bed, dragging me down with him. with the result that now I
was basically laying on top of him, and extremely aware of the … thing poking my lower
abdomen.
“What if it’s a different kind of cream I want?” he whispered as his hands snaked down from
my waist to my hips.
It took me all I had to push myself off of him.
“The. Kids,” I reminded him, nodding with my head towards the door. “Not to mention Mark“.
His hands stayed firmly on my ass, just like his smirk stayed on his face. “Mark won’t mind. And if we brought this in the shower, no one would hear us“.
I rolled my eyes, getting off of him and curling into his side. “You’re an i***t”.
My smile only grew as I felt his lips on my cheek and his arm wrapping around my waist.
“And you love it“.
“It went well, I commented, stifling a yawn as Reiner opened a bottle of champagne. The scent of the wine filled the living room, and I took a deep breath to savor it.
–
A soft bubbling sound told me he was pouring the wine into the flutes and moments later, he sat down next to me, handing me my glass. I made myself comfortable, throwing my legs
over his, and he wrapped an arm around my waist.
“I’d say so,” he nodded, clinking his glass against mine. “To new beginnings?”
I nodded. “To new beginnings.”
It had been a night of announcements and emotions for our family: the kids had been very happy to find out that Reiner and I were now together, though the concept was a bit hard for them to grasp at first – but that happiness paled in comparison to the explosion of pure joy they experienced when I asked if they’d like him to come live with us.
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+ Point:
“So he stays with us?” James had asked, shocked and excited. “Like… like Kyle’s family? Forever?”
“Exactly,” I said, grateful he used his friend as an example. “We’d be like Kyle’s family. We’ll all live together.”
The news made them ecstatic: once they were done jumping and screaming with joy, they threw themselves into our arms for a good dose of cuddles. We ended the night with a burger picnic in the living room: Reiner had taken care of the cooking his burgers were the best in the galaxy.
–
I’d spent years trying to figure out what he did to the bacon to make it so crispy and juicy, but the jerk had sworn to take that secret to his grave.
Reiner and I enjoyed our wine – the kids were asleep, peace reigned in the house, and everything was perfect.
Violet and I were even okay, now: Sybille had left a healing potion on the table
under the tongue, and every trace of sickness vanished.
–
two drops
“What do you think?” Reiner murmured after a while, brushing my cheek with a kiss. “Shall we go to bed, wife?”
I nodded. “Sounds like a fantastic idea, husband.”
We abandoned our glasses on the coffee table and headed to the bedroom: I smiled realizing
that, from that night on, it would be our bedroom.
Our bedroom, in our house.
–
–
the
As soon as we entered and closed the door, a bit of awkwardness settled between us
same awkwardness we felt on our second wedding night. We’d been too taken by each other
to realize the significance of the moment on the first one but on the second… oh, boy.
Realizing that, from then on, that would be our bedroom, that we’d share it, that it would
become our space… it had been intense. Our first days as a married couple had been intense
– we had to figure out how to live together, how to coexist in the same space, how not to go
crazy over each other’s mess or shortcomings… we had to create our own dynamic.
I knew this time wouldn’t be any different.
We’d been apart for four years, and we had reunited as parents: now, we had to rewrite the
rules of our relationship. We had to… recalibrate.
“Okay,” Reiner said. “Same sides of the bed or want to spice things up?”
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“Let’s not overcomplicate things,” I commented. Then, I gathered my courage and asked the
question I’d been dreading all evening.
“Listen,” I said. “Do you… mind if we don’t… I mean, if we don’t jump right back into having
s*x? It’s just that… well, we reconciled less than twenty–four hours ago, and everything’s
moving so fast, not that I’m not happy about it, but especially for the kids, and… I just want to
take things a bit slower,” I said, trying to catch my breath and organize my thoughts. “I don’t
know how long it will take for us to get back in sync, and being together will change how we
manage the kids – which means we have a period of adjustment ahead of us. I think it might
be better to bring some stability back to the house before adding another layer.”
Reiner was silent for a few seconds, his face unreadable. Then he nodded, calmly, pulling me
close with gentle care.
“No problem, baby,” he said, brushing my lips with his.
I swallowed, unsure. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to think I don’t want you, really, it’s just…”
“Considering how good you smelled this morning?” Reiner chuckled, making me blush. “I’ll never doubt your desire. Anyway, I think you’re right. We need to find ourselves again, both as
a couple and as parents, and work through and heal from everything that’s happened – and
that’s something we need to focus all our energy on.”
I smiled, relaxing in his embrace. “I’m glad you feel the same way.”
“Also, it’s basically impossible to get some alone time with those two,” he added. “We’ll
probably need to find a babysitter and go to a hotel to get any privacy.”
I burst out laughing. It was true: the kids, as was natural for children their age, sought us out
–
frequently and with school ending soon and them being home with us, the chances for us to
carve out moments of intimacy would be slim to none.
“There’s just one thing we should discuss,” Reiner said – and my heart would have skipped a
beat if that sentence hadn’t been accompanied by a sweet smile.
He took my left hand in his. “Someone’s missing a ring“.
Oh. Right.
A sudden flash of fear crossed his face. “You still have the ring, right? You didn’t… pawn it or …
”
I sighed, closing my eyes and letting out a chuckle. Then, I walked over to my dresser and took out my jewelry box, where I kept both my engagement and my wedding ring. With Reiner’s
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hands on my hips and his lips on my mark, and with a huge knot in my throat, I slipped them
on: I hadn’t worn them ever since, during my pregnancy, my fingers had become too swollen…
and even after my fingers had returned to their normal size, I hadn’t been able to wear them
without feeling sad and angry about what I’d lost.
I took a moment to stare at my left hand – I wasn’t used to see, or feel, those two rings on it anymore … but I couldn’t deny it felt absolutely right.
I smiled.
“Now that’s my wife” Reiner murmured – and gently guided me to our bed.
North Wave
Happy July everyone! Now, how long do you think these two will last in such a “pure” relationship? Ahahha!
