Somewhere Between the Depths

Chapter Thirteen

Silas 

I park outside the gates, careful not to disturb any of the other visitors. Taking Nora's hand, I walk us inside and weave through the rows as the warm July sun beats down on our backs. When we reach our destination, I cast a nervous glance at Nora. Her eyes are widened a bit as she takes in our surroundings, but she grants me a gentle smile and the tightness in my chest eases. I crouch down, cleaning away a few stray weeds, and lay a fresh bouquet of roses over both of my parent's graves. 

"Nora, these are my parents. Jesse and Iris Lawson." 

She remains standing, but gently runs her fingers over the top of my mother's headstone. A soft breeze rustles the low hanging branches of the nearby dogwood tree, sending a few loose petals floating along the wind until they scatter across the cemetery. A couple of rogue petals even land in Nora's hair causing her to giggle. The happy sound snakes itself around my heart and constricts, and the blossoming smile on her beautiful face has warmth igniting in my veins. 

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Lawson." She says softly, beaming down at me. 

I suddenly find it hard to form words around the obstruction in my throat. I know my mother would have loved Nora, and in this moment, I wish more than anything she was here to meet her. I clear my throat, throwing one arm over my bent knee. 

"You know that fairy-tale love you only read about in books? That was my parents, believe it or not. Even though he was this badass outlaw, and she was his old lady, it didn't matter. For her, and only her, he was soft. He never dared to raise his voice or his hand to her. If she had asked him to crawl across broken glass, he would've done it without a second thought. But she would've done it for him too. Their love was equal, kind and caring." I smile fondly at the memory of them, "I grew up watching them slow dance in the kitchen, sharing laughs and stolen kisses around the house. Women were so jealous of the way my daddy loved my mama. And men were jealous of the Prez's beautiful old lady." 

I toy with a blade of grass, filled with memories of my childhood. 

"Because of them, I grew up a hopeless romantic. Always wanting that blissful type of love. But then they died, and a piece of me died right along with them. The hopeful part. The romantic. I stopped believing in all that shit because they had the purest love I'd ever known, and they were ripped away from me. I've been lost and angry and broken for so long that I didn't think I could ever be fixed. If I'm honest, I didn't realize how broken I was until the moment I laid eyes on you, Nora Prescott." 

Nora kneels in front of me, reaching for my hand reassuringly. I reach out and cup her face, leaning in to place a soft kiss on her lips. Leaning back with a tremble in my hands, I confess the secret I've been holding onto for the last two weeks.

"You helped me find that piece of myself again, and I know this may seem soon, but maybe not. I mean when you know, you know, right?" I take a deep breath to calm the babbling "Nora, I knew from the minute I met you that you were special. I think a part of me knew then that I would always fall in love with you." 

Nora's eyes widen and her mouth parts as a blush creeps across her cheeks. I'm actually afraid she may bolt at any moment. She lets out a shuddering breath, dropping her gaze to the grass beneath us. When she lifts her eyes to mine again, they're filled with tears. 

"I didn't mean to make you cry, baby." I say softly, brushing my fingers through her hair. 

This only makes her cry harder, but she crawls into my lap and throws her arms around my neck. I hug her tightly, feeling the steady pumping of her heart. 

"You love me?" Her voice is soft, a tremor running through the words. 

"I love you." 

She nuzzles her face into my neck. She places a tender kiss on my neck, then trails those kisses upward until she reaches my mouth. I cradle her face in my hands, wiping the stray tears from her cheeks with my thumbs as I search her storm gray eyes.