Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 104729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Even today, as I hold our daughter in my arms, I still need Alaric’s strength holding me up.
Together, we walk up the hill to the stone that says his name.
Michael Lawrence.
Beloved Father.
He might not have been my biological father, but he loved me with all his heart, and that’s all that matters.
“Hi, Dad,” I say. “I’m sorry I’ve haven’t been here in a while. I was having a baby, so I think you’ll forgive me.”
Alaric places the flowers that I had him pick up on the way to the grave.
“I’m here right now because I want you to meet your granddaughter.” I step closer. “Dad, this is Michaela. She is everything that is perfect in this world. She has shown me what true love is. You would have loved her.”
Michaela makes a cooing sound, and I know it in my heart that she is saying hello to her grandfather.
We stay at the graveyard for some time. Eventually, Alaric takes Michaela in his arms when she gets fussy and walks back to the car with her. When I’m alone with my dad, I begin to tell him about everything.
I tell him about Damian. I tell him once Damian was dead, I had to bring Alaric back to life. But every day, he got better. We sailed for some time during my pregnancy, and then when I was about to be in my third trimester, we came back to New York so we could be around the best doctors in the world. Alaric was insistent about that.
Life has been calm since Alaric left the business. At first, I thought he would resent me for making him stop, but he never did say anything. In fact, since he’s given it up, he seems at peace.
When I’m done talking to my father, I head back to the car. I find Alaric in the back seat, whispering sweet nothings to our baby.
“What are you doing in here? What are you telling her?” I laugh.
Alaric places a kiss on his daughter’s head and looks up at me with a large grin on his face. “I’m telling her all about the time her momma stowed away on my yacht.”
This man. “You would, wouldn’t you?” My eyes roll as I shake my head in mock disgust.
“What?” He shrugs. “It’s a great story.”
As much as I want to tease him some more about what he tells our daughter, I can’t because he’s right. “It is, isn’t it?”
“The best.”
Alaric places Michaela in her car seat, and then we both get into the front seat of the car.
“Where to now?” I ask.
“Home,” he responds.
“And then …?”
“Wherever the tide will take us. As long as we are together, I’m home,” he says.
And it’s true. In Alaric’s arms, I’ve found a home.
We give each other a place we both belong—filled with hope, love, peace—and most of all, a family.
And when you have those things, time holds no meaning, and the possibilities are infinite.
Like the sea.
* * *