Written In The Stars: Book Two

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: OUR TIME

While it would have been nice to know his family connections prior to spend four grand on security, Elijah was okay with that unneeded expense.

Kevin spoke on the phone with Johnny Boy's father, confident that John was just butt hurt rather than out for real revenge. While he did that, Madeline worked on a social media post, taking photos of the picture and ticket stub, and writing out all the information his uncle provided.

There wasn't a lot they knew about the man, but it was more than what his grandfather had provided the day before. His name was Daniel, and he'd graduated from Portland State University only around a month before the concert. He'd grown up somewhere in the state of Oregon.

Madeline didn't reveal what the connection was within the post, only that they had information the man needed to be aware of. Once Elijah gave her the go-ahead, she sent it all to Eva to post. Apparently, Eva had quite the modeling career going for herself the last few years. Nothing too major, but enough to gain her a strong social media following. It was a start. Plus, this way, there was nothing connecting this information back to him.

Elijah had little faith in this process, but if this didn't work, he could still do the DNA test kit, and at least Madeline had something to keep herself occupied while she healed.

"The resemblance between the two of you is uncanny," she said a few minutes after posting.

Elijah took a drink of his coffee and looked down at the post. It was easier to see the man's photograph copied rather than the original that sat face down on the table amongst his mother's other pictures. Personally, Elijah saw little resemblance. A bit in the thick eyebrows, and maybe the mouth. The way the guy towered over his mother's slight frame. He also had the width of a college football player, which Madeline seemed to have noticed, as she added 'may have played a college sport' in the description. Besides that, it wasn't at all like looking in the mirror. "I don't see it, but I'll take your word for it."

Madeline just shook her head and pointed at the man in the living room. "Him. I mean, he's skinnier, but besides that, you two are like carbon copies of each other. They always say if you want to know what a woman will look like it twenty or thirty years, just look at her mother. In your case... I know I saw him at Harrison's funeral, but I hadn't seen you in so long at that point that I didn't take in the resemblance."

He was careful not to hit one of her injuries when he bumped his body against hers. "You can quit eye fucking my uncle now."

"I'm not eye fucking him," Madeline fired back in a laugh. "I'm just saying, twenty years from now, I'll still admire your good looks."

The statement didn't go unnoticed by Elijah, enough so that his attention was no longer on the man Madeline had pointed to, but was now completely on the woman by his side. "You think we'll be together twenty years from now?"

Madeline looked up at him, only realizing now what she'd said. Still, it didn't seem to faze her as much as he expected. "I know we will be. We love each other too much to give that love to anyone else. I had to learn that the hard way. You? You always knew it, didn't you?"

"I did," Elijah told her softly. "I told you once that I wouldn't come back in your life until I had more to offer you than small pieces, but then I jumped the gun, and everything blew up. But I'm not those small pieces anymore, M&M. Since we reconnected, I've been challenged time and time again, and those pieces I glued back together aren't falling apart. There've been a few close calls, but I'm still standing strong, because the alternative means losing everything important to me, and that's unfathomable.

"I also told you in that same letter I could never move on from our friendship, and I never did, just like I never moved on from us. My life moved on, my mind did its best, but my heart was always with you. That'll never change."

Madeline smiled then. That smile that caused her a slight twinkle in her brown eyes, and a blush across her cheeks. "I hope it doesn't. It would be a travesty to our stars."

Elijah lifted her hand and placed it flat against his chest, another reminder she'd never left him and never would. He wasn't aware the placement of his tattoo would end up holding such a sacred meaning. Close to his heart, sure, but he didn't know to what extent.

The sweet soul that she was, Madeline rest her head against his chest, letting out a small groan when she bumped her shoulder against his side. "Our main issue now is that we are so drawn to each other mentally and physically, and physically my vagina is literally broken, and that can take up to a year to fully heal."

Because it wasn't an 'in your face' injury, that fact had slipped his mind. Still, hearing her say it aloud caused a laugh to escape him. "I've already gone a year without sex, Madeline. One more isn't that big of a deal. I don't know if you know this about me, but I've more or less excelled in self-control these last couple of years. If I hadn't, your ex would have ended up in the room next to you in that hospital."

Madeline squeezed his side, and let out her own, much smaller laugh. "Who said anything about your self-control?"