The Secret.

Meet my family.

When Nicole woke up, she was still laying on Matts chest, she sat up and looked at the clock it was nearly 10 o'clock, she looked over at Matt and tapped his shoulder "Matt, Matt wake up." She whispered, he opened his eyes and sat up "yeah what's up?" She looked at the clock again and said "you have to leave before my dad finds us here, I don't want him to get the wrong idea." Matt rubbed his eyes and said "oh yeah, yeah, hey listen, I was thinking last night maybe you'd wanna come back to Chichigof island and meet my family this evening?" Nicole smiled and said "I would love to meet your family Matt." He nodded his head and said "great! I'll pick you up by the pier at say 4:30?"
"4:30? That's sounds good to me!" She replied. He leaned in towards her and placed a warm kiss on her lips and whispered "I'll see you later then." He stood up and climbed back out the window, he jumped on the ground and blew a kiss to her. She caught his kiss and blew one back, he pretended like her kiss had shot him, he fell on his back holding his heart, Nicole giggled and said "alright mr. Brown off with you then!" He stood up, and gave her a big smile, then skipped off to the pier. She closed the window and sank to the ground. It was happening, she was falling in love. Then the thought came to her mind, of 'the secret' she knew she would eventually have to tell Matt, but she wanted to wait, cause things were going so good.

Nicole rushed into her fathers house from work as fast as she could, he father was sitting in his recliner having his evening cup of coffee. Nicole stopped what she doing and gave her father a disapproving look.
"Your not suppose to have coffee with your evening medication daddy."
He threw his hands at her
"Eh who cares, I'll be dead in a few months anyway!"
Nicole's heart sank, trying not to cry, she didn't like when he dad talked that way. Her dad looked back at her and realizing what he had said
"I'm sorry nic."
She shook her head
"No...I'm just...I'm really gonna miss you daddy." He sighed and said
"I'll always be with you Nicole, come here." She sat on the arm of the recliner and he kissed her forehead.
"I'm always here." He whispered.

Later that evening Nicole started making her way to pier to meet Matt, before she walked out the front door, her father stopped her
"Where are you going, the young and the restless is coming on at 4:30!"

"I'm...uh...meeting a friend."

"A friend? What's her name?"

Nicole anxiously rubbed the back of her neck.
"Well, my friend is actually a guy, named Matt."

Her father looked shocked "Well... your just gonna have to bring him here so I can meet this "Matt"."
Nicole giggled, and said
"I'll have to remember that, bye daddy I love you."

She ran out the door, and down to the pier, Matt was waiting for her in his skiff.
When she walked toward him he was speechless at how beautiful she looked in nothing more than rubber boots, blue jeans and a big black coat. The wind caught her long brown hair and making her look that much more beautiful with her emerald green eyes.
"Matt?... Matt snap out of it!" He shook his head and said "I'm sorry... I just think you look very pretty." She blushed and looked down at her rubber boots.
Matt looked around the skiff and stood up
"Well, are you ready to meet my family?"

"Ready as I'll ever be."

"Good." He smiled and extended his hand to help her into the skiff, the little boat wobbled and almost flipped into the icy cold water, but Matt leveled it out,
Nicole let out a tiny squeal in fear of falling in the water.
Matt grabbed her hand and said
"It's okay, I have you."
He sat her down and made sure she was warm enough.
He started the motor and they were on their way to brown town.
Nicole closed her eyes and let the frigid cold alaskan air fill her lungs. Alaska felt more like home than Texas did. In Texas their was too much there. To many people, to many memories. As big as Texas was, she still couldn't ever escape her past.'The secret', but here in the Alaskan wilderness with Matt, felt more like home than Texas ever did.

As they pulled into the bay of Chichigof, bear and gabe were waiting on shore anxious for their arrival, Matt had talked Nicole up so much to his brothers they were nervous to make a good first impression. The skiff bottomed out on the muddy shore and bear and gabe waded through the water to pull the skiff in to tie it off, gabe started pulling and bear jumped in the boat, bringing mud, water, and seaweed with him, Nicole jumped a little cause she wasn't expecting it, he took off his glove and held out his right hand "names Solomon, but you can call me bear." Nicole pulled her hand out of her coat pocket, "nice to meet you bear, I'm Nicole." Bear looks back at matt and says "I know, Matts told us all about you." Matt gave bear a mean look and said "bear. Shouldn't you be climbing a tree or something?" Bear jumps out the boat and says "oh yeah that reminds me, I found a really cool tree to climb in the woods today! Wanna come check it out Nicole?"
Nicole laughs and says
"Oh no, I may hunt and fish, but I do not climb trees."
Bear sighs "oh well, maybe next time." He took off running leaving gabe to tie the skiff alone.
Matt hops out and helps Nicole out the skiff. When her boots hit the shore, she had an overwhelming sense of peace cover her. This place felt like when she was with Matt. Right.
After Nicole had met the rest of the family and had a nice meal of fried back strap and grilled fish on the fire, it was time for Matt to take Nicole home. They walked hand in hand to the skiff talking and laughing about the night.
Matt grabbed Nicole's hand and pulled her towards him, kissing her gently but passionately in the cold alaskan air,
The words "I love you" slipped her mouth. Even though she meant them she wasn't ready to say them. He smiled and kissed her again "I love you too." He whispered against her skin, gently kissing her neck. Nicole enjoyed the kisses and wished he'd never stop.
"I want you Nicole, I need you."
Nicole let a gasp of pleasure slip her lips, as his sweet words filled her ears. She wanted him too. 
"Stay here with me tonight, please, I want you." He whispered. Nicole stepped back holding his face in her hands and looked into his murky blue eyes
"I will. I'll stay with you tonight."

They snuck back to matts tire cabin, hoping not wake the rest of the family, he shut the door behind them and they began kissing again falling back on his bed, he took off his coat and dropped it on the floor, never pulling his lips away from hers. She started pulling at his shirt, lifting it to see his muscular torso. She smiled as he pulled it off the rest of the way. He helped her with shirt and started kissing down her neck till he reached her collar bone, when he noticed a purple bruise on her chest. She noticed him stop and looked down at her chest. She pulled out of his grasp and sat on the edge of the bed, that's when he saw the rest of the scars and bruises on her back, she grabbed her shirt off the ground and covered herself quickly.
"Matt...there's something I've been meaning to tell you, I mean I wanted to tell you sooner, but I didn't wanna push you away."

"What is it Nicole."

"You can hate me and forget I ever came into your life after I tell you this, you have every right too."

"Nicole?" The anxiousness rose in his voice.

She sighed "Before I came here, to Alaska to care for my father, I was living in Uvalde Texas, with my husband and daughter."

He cut her off "You're married? Did he do this to you?"

She paused for a moment. "Yes, I married him when I was seventeen. I thought I loved him, he made me think I needed him, he only married me cause he knew I would do anything for him, cause I "loved" him. He beat me before we got married, he told me when I married him everything would change, and as naive as I was, I believed him, after we got married the beatings got worse, and so did he. He would get sloppy drunk and beat the living hell out of me almost every night."

"Why didn't you just leave?" He asks softly holding her hand

"I wanted too, I even tried, but he said if I ever left him he would find me and kill me. I knew when he said that he wasn't playing, so I stayed, thats when I got pregnant... I was scared out of my mind, I couldn't face my parents cause they didn't even know I was married. I stayed in Texas to finish high school while my parents took their retirement in Alaska.
When I had the baby, I made Jason promise me not ever hurt her. That if he was ever angry to let it out on me, not her. He agreed, but I knew he was lying. When I came here to care for my father I wanted to take my daughter with me, but Jason wouldn't let me, I think he was scared I would leave him and never come back, he's using her to make me stay...I think...I think he's hurting her Matt, but I'm to much of a coward to stand up to him." Salty tears fell down her face and hit the floor Beneath her. Matt grabbed her and held her tight to his chest.
"Nicole, I love you, and I will do everything in my power to protect you and your daughter, I promise."