Guarding Her Heart | t.swift

Chapter 32: Pasts, Promises, Photographs

Kelly had been on a mission in her attick, her late husband Cooper Kingston. Quincy had unintentionally started a tradition of showing Bailey new pictures on his birthday every year, and after a few years, it was getting harder, so she resulted in the attic adventure.

Her heart was heavy as she watched Quincy move the boxes filled with his belongings with ease, like it did not carry the memory of her husband and the life he lost. But that ache eased when she saw the sad look in her friend's eyes, knowing she was not alone in her hurt.

"Are there any photos left of Coops? The man shied away from a camera more than he would from a woman." Quincy tried to add some humour, but the joke only made both remember the gentle man for who he was. And how he was missed.

"I'm sorry," Quincy gulped glancing at Kelly who had been hugging the teddybear Cooper gave her on their first date as an apology for being late from his visit at the hospital. On the first date she received a teddybear holding a heart that said 'its a girl'. Cooper would never hear the end of that joke, Quincy had even bitterly told him again when she visited his grave.

Kelly observed her best friend, "Why?" She knew Quincy was never good with grief. It was one mission she would never see through, no matter how wounded it would leave her.

"I started this thing and now look at us digging through his belongings," Quincy had always hated prodding in other people things because her father would go through her and her sister's things to find something to sell for money. "It's not how I wanted to spend my off day," she sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"That's the last thing you could ever take blame for," Kelly placed a hand on her arm, finger brushing over the scar Cooper had left on her. "You can keep your promise in another way. We can remember him in more ways than a picture in a frame." Kelly assured her tone carrying peace and a sense of hope.

Quincy clenched her jaw and looked up at the roof, "I can't talk about him," green eyes flashed with unspoken pain. "I—it hurts." She shook her head when Kelly's expression softened into understanding.

"You don't have to, I can talk about him," Kelly offered gently, "He was my friend too," the oldest Kingston cringed when her friend's breath hitched. She hated talking about lost ones in past tense. It made it too real.

"Bails does love when you talk about him," Quincy replied, trying to see past her own pain and what her best friend might be experiencing. "I... miss him at night when I'm awake, he would drag me outside... stars is all he ever spoke about for hours... even that night..." Quincy exhaled as she sat down, looking around at her friend's life packed away in boxes.

She thought of who all these things had belonged to and how he had changed her life. "No..." she shook her head, looking into her best friend's eyes, willing herself to speak. "That was the one night he—it was you and Bails." She couldn't voice it, her voice catching in her throat, making her clear it and try to wipe the stray tear like Kelly hadn't already seen it.

"He talked about me and Bailey?" Kelly approached the bodyguard slowly, stopping in front of her and placing a supporting hand on her shoudler. "Can you remember what he said?" The question was simple, yet so loaded.

"He was terrified," Quincy recalled firstly, but Kelly waited, silently encouraging her to think back once more. "He wants Bailey to be loved by the best person his god could offer..." The brunette had long since lost her faith. "He wants you to heal, find a person that could love you... as much as he wishes... wished he could." Taking a deep breath in seemed to only worsen the ache in her lungs, but the gentle arms around her shoulders grounded her in a way no words ever could.

Quincy could hear his last words echoing, and for the first time since she heard him say it, she voiced it, "He trusted me to make sure of that."

"My husband made many mistakes but that would never be one of them," Kelly cupped freckled cheeks offering her most loving smile, "because he knew we would look out for you as you do for us," she leaned down and placed a kiss on Quincy's freckled forehead. "That's all he wanted."