Falling Dawn (II)

Chapter 16

I have been working a lot on the next three chapters, deleting entire pages and have probably shortened them by about a third, but am still not happy with them. I probably have read them too many times now to be able to really judge them. I feel I'm going back and forth with them and decided to just publish them here now and hope you guys can give me some honest feedback. (Too boring? Too cliche? Too much all over the place?...) 

The clog in my throat tightened once more. All his life, Tom had been alone, facing the worst forms of abuse imaginable. For a moment, I couldn't speak or move. I wanted to kiss him, kiss all his pain away, and wipe away the bad memories. But I couldn't. All I did was sit in front of Tom, frozen, my nose pressed against his. We were both crying, our tears melting with each other.

"You're healing me, Lisa. For the first time, I believe I can live a normal life."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

We were running late for our BBQ dinner at the park with Dave, Corey and the twins, so Tom quickly organised a taxi for us. Luckily, the others weren't there yet, when we arrived.

"Looking over the ocean, just like the night before, Tom pulled me into him and asked, with his lips pressed against my forehead, "Can you imagine this being your forever after?"

I didn't have to think about my answer, nodding dreamily.

"I was hoping this is my forever after."

"It certainly is mine," Tom clarified and kissed me. I was happy that everything was good between us again, and I had to promise him earlier not to ever run away when we had a disagreement or tough time, and I wouldn't doubt myself anymore. Tom promised to keep the dialogue open with me. I realised that there were still things about his past that Tom wasn't ready to share, but he did promise to try. Step by step.

"Hi mum, hi Tom!" Emma and Sam announced their arrival from afar. "Go-karting was so awesome. You should have come, and then we had lunch at the sushi train and ice cream and..." They told us all about their day, every little detail. I was glad they did. There had been times when I had to tear every word out of both my kids.

Tom and I had organised take-away salads, drinks and French bread on our way to the park. Dave and Corey brought the rest, including a large picnic rug and sausages.

"Want to play soccer, Tom?" Sam asked him while fishing a new soccer ball out of Corey's bag. Tom's face brightened and they walked to the open park space. Emma followed them. She used to play soccer when she was younger but had stated for the past years that it was a sport for boys.

"They really like him, don't they?" Dave asked me while putting his arm around my shoulder. I pressed my lips in a tight line, nodding silently. I just couldn't keep my eyes off Tom and the kids. They looked so happy and familiar with each other.

"Sounds like you had a great afternoon."

"We had so much fun. Those kids are amazing," Dave assured me.

"Thanks for looking after them today."

"Any time, darling. So, how was your day, with your love bird over there?"

"Dave," I scolded him. But that was just Dave talking, always trying to be funny. "It was magical. We went on a kayak tour."

"Oh, with the champion! Did he show off?"

"Stop it Dave. He did not," I defended Tom.

"But I bet it was incredibly sexy having him row you over the waves," Dave purred.

"I'm not even going to talk to you anymore. You're stupid. I'm going to help Corey set up everything."

"He doesn't want help. Has everything under control. Sexy, isn't it?" Dave turned me around so we could both watch Corey lean over the BBQ, cleaning it immaculately.