True Blue - A Second Chance Romance (Complete)

Chapter 44

Finn didn't think showing her the letter would upset Emily so much. She was standing before him barely able to speak and refusing to meet his eyes.

"Em. Please don't be upset."

But his words had the opposite effect. Her face crumpled and tears continued to stream down her cheeks. He instinctively reached out to comfort her.

She locked herself around his neck and clung to him like a vice grip. Holding her in his arms, Finn didn't know what to say or do. He found himself choked up, not able to understand what had upset Emily. Or how to make things right again.

And it didn't stop.  She got more upset. Full-on sobbing, leaning on him for support.

He picked her up and moved them to the couch. Not knowing what to do, he cradled her until the crying subsided.

It took a lifetime but eventually, she released her grip on his neck slightly and pleaded, "Promise you'll stay with me, Finn"

"That's what this is about. I promise, I'm not going anywhere," he tried to reassure her. "I've already spoken with my CO about staying stateside. You don't have to worry."

Emily was shaking her head. "No. Now. Promise you won't leave me right now."

Finn was confused but he readily agreed. There was no way he was leaving Emily in this state. 

"Finn...," her voice faltered. "Oh, Finn...  the letter... there was a second page."

A fissure of cold spiked up his spine. "Another page?"

"Yes." She was looking at him intently, grey eyes rimmed in red.

There was more.  All this time, all these years of staring at her words, trying to comprehend from the few lines scribbled on a scrap of paper what he'd done wrong, how he'd driven her away. Why she didn't love him.

But he didn't have all the facts.  There was more. "What... what did it say."

Emily grabbed his hand and weaved her fingers with his. "That I loved you." She placed their entwined hands over her heart. He could feel the muscle pounding against his skin. "I asked you to wait for me. I told you I'd be back on Labour Day. To pick you up to go to Yale. To start our life together."

The world got very small, reality as he knew it tilting away. Finn was finding it hard to concentrate. What was she saying?

"Finn?" She whispered. "Do you understand?"

He met her silver irises. Saw the anguish in them, begging him to comprehend. "You... you didn't abandon me."

She shook her head.

"You were coming back."

She nodded. A single tear escaping her eye.

Emily Montgomery hadn't run away from him.  The hard, cold lump of resentment jammed in his heart starting the day her sister pushed the note across the bar to him – shifted. Emily Montgomery didn't only love him now, she loved him then.  She loved him always.  Like he loved her. 

It still didn't make sense. "But you didn't try to contact me?" 

She gasped. "I did."

"What?"

"I called the bar over and over." Emily's eyes dropped. "Simon told me you didn't want to speak to me."

Clarity sharpened Finn's vision. A 'no' escaped his lips as the ramifications of what Emily was saying hit him.

His brother.

Her sister.

Mary delivering the message. The note in Emily's handwriting. The words asking him to believe Mary. Mary gleefully telling him Emily was breaking up with him, didn't want him. Mary who must have read the letter. Mary who removed the second page.

But she didn't act alone.

"Did you keep your promise?  Did you come to Bridgetown on Labour Day?"

Emily's defiant 'yes' almost cracked his heart into two pieces. "I took an early flight. I wanted to be there for breakfast." She looked down at her hands. "I remember Simon was late opening that day. Said he'd slept in."

The lie hit Finn hard. Ignoring the jabs of betrayal kicking at his heart, he had to know the whole truth. "Did you ask about me?" 

Emily's eyes shot up. "Of course.  I was there for you. To beg you to reconsider."

Trying to keep his voice calm, Finn asked, "What did my brother say?"

There was a wobble in her voice again, as if she was reliving a painful memory.  "He told me you'd left the week before. Joined the military.  Why?"

It wasn't easy to hear. Never would he have thought Simon could be so malicious. Meeting Emily's questioning eyes, Finn explained, "Simon was late that morning because he was dropping me off at the bus station. He insisted I leave early to get to the base."

The conversation with his older brother the other day on the phone filtered through his mind.  The hesitation to talk about the past, the awkward pauses, the offer to come to see him.  His brother hadn't been happy for him, he'd wanted to ease his guilty conscience.

Mary and Simon had conspired together to break them apart. 

Mary and Simon had denied them their happiness for eight painful years.

Then the anger flared, searing into every nerve.