Somewhere Between the Depths

Chapter Thirty-Two

Silas 

It's been a few weeks since the hospital gave Nora the all-clear to return home.  I've kept my eye on her every minute although I'm sure she's tired of my hovering. She never complains though, in fact, every time she catches me, she just gifts me with the softest smiles that warm my heart. When I'm not following her around like a guard dog, I've been spending the rest of my time with her friend Ellis. Since he owns his own tech company, he's able to travel wherever and however long he wants. 

Him and his wife, Thea have taken a liking to Variety though. Wouldn't surprise me if we have new neighbors by the end of the year. It seems Thea and Nora have a lot in common when it comes to psychopathic family members. Thea's brother Vincent was a real piece of work until he died a few years ago. Mysteriously, or so Ellis says. But I'd recognize that gleam in his eye anywhere, and it tells me there was nothing mysterious about Vincent's death. Still, I keep my questions to myself, but I'm definitely going to ask Nora about it later. 

Tonight, Ellis is hosting a party at Annie's finished house. Lydia and Darko should be getting back from the airport with Annie any minute now. Nora has been buzzing with excited energy all afternoon as she runs through the recently finished farmhouse, making sure everything is perfect. I wrap my arms around her, keeping her from adjusting the kitchen curtain for the seventeenth time. 

"Silas." She whines, fingers reaching for the curtain. 

"It's perfect. You did a wonderful job; she's going to be thrilled." 

She sighs as she melts with her back pressed against my chest. She cranes her neck back to rest on my shoulder and we stay like that, swaying to the soft country music drifting from the old radio Nora placed on the windowsill. My arms tighten around her on instinct and then I spin her around, relishing in the girlish giggle the motion produces. She's so beautiful it hurts. I grab her hand, tugging her up the stairs toward her old bedroom. 

"Silas!" She says my name more urgently, a hushed laughter in her tone. 

Careful of her injuries, I scoop her up and over my shoulder as her laughter rings out through the empty house. 

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"Gran!" I bound off the stairs, throwing my arms around her as she shuffles into the surprise party filled with Horsemen. 

"Oh." She murmurs softly, her eyes shining as she takes in the newly built house. 

While Gran had been trapped in the attic when the fire started, she'd thrown out boxes of photos and other important items that couldn't be replaced. It was foolish, but she said some things you just can't get back, and as she stares at the framed photos of her and Pop, tears glimmering in her eyes as she's taken back to those special moments, I realize she's right. I grasp her hand, my throat tight as I lead her through the house and into the large dining room. There, a cake that Thea baked for the occasion rests on the long dining room table. Gran wipes at a few stray tears and pulls me in for another tight hug. 

"Nora, how did you do all this?" 

"I had a little help." I wink over her shoulder at Paul who stayed in town for the reveal, trying not to chuckle when Silas throws him a seething glare. 

"Wow, it's beautiful. Bet you can't wait to move back in." Lydia comes up behind Gran, getting in on the family hug. 

"It is beautiful. It's perfect, but..." Gran trails off, stepping back with a worried look in her eye. 

She glances around the house and then back at me. 

"It's too big for me. I'm just one old lady and I can't live here alone anymore, not after staying with you girls for the last few years." 

The way she says it, the smallness of her voice. The vulnerability has tears welling immediately. I glance up at Lydia and see that she's feeling the same. 

"Gran, we won't let you be alone. I'll move in with you." 

"Me too." Lydia sniffles, squeezing her shoulders. 

Gran pats our hands, a playful smirk on her lips now. "That's so thoughtful of you girls. But I just meant that this house is too big. It needs to be passed down, and who better to pass it too than a new family just starting out." 

Gran steps back, as does Lydia. Both their sad expressions falling away to reveal conspiratorial grins. I raise a brow, crossing my arms as I narrow my eyes at both of them. 

"What are you up to?" 

Someone clearing their throat loudly has me turning around, my breath lodging in my throat at the sight before me. Silas kneels on one knee before me, his hands shaking with a slight tremor as he takes my hand in his. He clears his throat again, laughing shyly as he composes himself. 

"Baby," He begins, his voice a harsh rasp, "You came into my life like a wildfire, burning through everything I thought I knew and thought I wanted. You've said on more than one occasion that I brought you back to life, but Nora, you're the one who brought me back. I was lost before you came to Variety. I was angry and broken, but you saw something in beautiful in all my shattered pieces. You saw the real me, the one that was hidden for years." 

His voice shakes as he pulls the ring out of his pocket. The ring. The one I carried with me all those years. He holds it up. 

"But I saw you too. I saw all the parts of you that you deemed unworthy. Every single part of you, no matter how dark, no matter how broken, is beautiful. I love all of you.  Eleanora Morrison, will you marry me?" The emphasis on my real last name is the catalyst, tears stream down my face freely as I pull him up off the ground and wrap my arms around him.

"Yes." I whisper, so softly I don't think he heard but then he's cupping my face in both hands and pressing his mouth to mine. 

Our lips fit together perfectly as if we were made for each other. And I think we were. So many things could've been different, but if any part of my past or his had changed, we may not be the same people now. We may not have found our way to each other. But as I lean back and watch him slip that ring onto my finger with a devilishly boyish grin, I know that's a lie. 

Somewhere between the depths of Hell and Myrtle Beach lies the small town of Variety, South Carolina. A place that held my greatest heartbreak, and as I look around the room at all our guests laughing and clapping, I realize it's also held all the love I'll ever need.