Redeeming the Darkness

Chapter Thirteen - Ivy

My first thought upon waking up was, are you kidding me?

Zane's hand gripped my shirt and that was the last straw for me. I felt like we'd had a great evening and I hadn't given him a single reason to suspect I would leave. I was horrible with direction, so I had no faith in my ability to find the restaurant from the night before, let alone the airport. I had no access to money. As far as I was concerned, Zane had kept his word to me, so I had every intention of keeping my promises to him. We were finally becoming friends, and he was making my dream come true. I didn't understand why he thought I'd leave after he did something so special for me.

I needed to make a point, to prove he could trust me.

When I finally succeeded in removing his grasp, I stood slowly and went to the restroom.

I thought about going to the beach alone, just to show him I wasn't going anywhere even if he wasn't watching me. I wanted him to trust me, but I figured going that far would only do the opposite. Instead, I dialed room service and ordered breakfast for the two of us. When it arrived, I opened the sliding glass doors that led outside and placed the food on the table that sat on the sand. I looked over my shoulder to the sleeping man I'd left in the bed and smiled to myself.

I walked over to the bed and touched his shoulder. "Zane?" He didn't even twitch.

I tried again. "Wake up, sleepyhead."

He grunted, and I giggled. "What do you want, Ivy?"

"I want you to wake up and come eat breakfast with me."

He finally opened his eyes and looked at me. His eyebrows drew together, and he glanced at the open doors, then back at me.

"How long have you been awake?" he asked. I rolled my eyes at his silly question.

"Zane, you don't have to act like you're holding me as a prisoner. I married you, came to Hawaii with you, and I'm going to be beside you for the next five years. I don't know what it's going to take to make you believe me, but I refuse to live with your fear of me leaving. Don't make your issues become issues in our marriage and friendship." I paused when he looked away. "Please believe that I'm not going anywhere unless you physically hurt me; which I believe you would never do, so it's not something we have to worry about."

He finally made eye contact again. "I don't trust people."

"I'm not just some random person anymore, Zane. I'm your wife, and if you really can't see that, then our marriage is going to be a giant battle. Is it such a bad thing to have at least a little bit of trust between us?"

He sighed, and I decided to leave the subject alone for now. "Let's just go eat breakfast, okay?"

I offered him my hand, and he surprised me when he took it and stood with me. We walked outside and sat down at the table.

"I called room service," I said before he could worry about if I'd left the room. He nodded and started eating his bacon.

As we ate, I listened to the ocean waves in the distance, crashing against the beach. I decided I was in love with this place. This entire moment. Even with my broody husband, I didn't think I could ever forget a single second of this trip.

"What are the plans for the day?" he asked after a few minutes.

"I thought maybe we could spend the day on the beach. I know it's stupid, but I want to go read and just relax."

"You had me bring you to Hawaii, so you could sit and read a book?"

"Yep!" I answered cheerfully.