Protecting Olivia

CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

ETHAN

There was a part of me that always held out hope that if I was ever able to tell Livy the truth about why I left, she would fall into my arms and we would pick up where we left off. I knew it was wishful thinking, it's been eleven years and I'm not naive enough to think that she's still harbouring feelings for me after all that time.

It was different for her than it was for me. I knew why I left, I knew without a doubt that if things worked out differently, we would still be together now.

Not a day went by that I didn't think of Livy at least once. She was my everything, and I'd never wanted to be apart from her. But I doubt that was the same on her end. Maybe she did think of me, Matthew being the ultimate reminder, but I imagine it would have been in anger and hate more than anything else.

I knew the moment I saw her again after so long that my feelings for her had never faded. She still managed to make my heart race just at the sight of her. Her touch still managed to both calm and excite me in ways nothing ever had before.

Even now, laying on the bottom bunk, the morning light coming in through the cracks in the curtain, I watch Livy sleep in the bed across from me. She's even more beautiful now than when she was a teenager. I know I'm being a creeper, staring at her while she is asleep. But it's been eleven years since I have been this close to her for so long, eleven years of dreaming that she would be beside me. And, even though this isn't what I'd imagined, that she would be so close yet so far away, just being in the same room as her is enough.

Lying on my side, my wound starts to ache, but I push the pain out of my mind. I've been shot before, the pain is like nothing else I've ever experienced, but my stomach wound is nothing compared to being shot in the leg. I was nothing but skin, bone and hair then, the bullet lodging itself in my thigh during the rescue from that place. This bullet didn't hit bone, instead lodging in the soft tissue, narrowly missing my organs but nicking an artery on its way in. In that way it was a lot worse than the thigh, and I know that I only escaped death because of the quick work of Seb, and Livy staring down at me like the angel she is.

Movement from the bunk above Livy pulls my eyes away from her sleeping beauty. Matthew's head pops over the side of the bunk, his sleepy eyes looking around until they land on me. His eyes widen, now fully awake as he almost jumps up in the bed.

"Dad!" he yells, making my heart skip a beat and a lump to form in my throat. I never thought I would be called 'Dad'. I never considered that I would ever be a father after I left Livy in Brisbane, but hearing him call me that stirs something inside of me.

Matthew practically jumps from the top bunk onto the floor, making me sit up quickly, wincing in pain but my thoughts solely on Matthew and the fact that he just had a kidney transplant and probably shouldn't be jumping from such a height so soon after surgery. Seemingly unaffected by the move, he launches his small body at me, wrapping his arms around my neck and putting an insane amount of pressure on my stitches causing me to grit my teeth in response. I don't say anything, despite the pain, wrapping him in a hug for the very first time.

"Careful Matthew, you're both injured." I hear Livy's sleepy voice say from the bed beside me. Looking over Matthew's shoulder I smile towards her, trying to stop my eyes from welling up as emotions bubble inside of me. I'm overwhelmed that my son is in my arms, the love of my life is in the same room as me, and despite the searing pain I'm in, I'd take it a million times over for this moment.

"Sorry Dad," Matthew says quietly as he pulls away. I look back to him and smile, shaking my head slightly.

"It's alright, you didn't hurt me." I lied. He smiles wide, his eyes sparkling with childlike joy.