Covering the Carolinas by Casey Peeler Page B

precious name and date on the other side, I
can’t keep the tears at bay. Marleigh takes her soft hands and
tries to wipe the tears that have begun to fall. A smile escapes my
lips. “Marleigh, will you let me in his life? And yours? We can get
through this together.”
    She pauses and stares into my eyes. “Yes, Gunnison
Cyrus. I will.” I waste no time capturing her lips with mine, and
with each kiss I can’t get enough of her. It’s as if I’m making up
for the past three years.
    As her hands trail up my chest, I realize there’s no
way in hell I’m letting her go. As her arms wrap around my neck, I
reach around her and lift her off the ground. Marleigh pauses and
looks at me with a smile. She wraps her legs around my waist and I
walk her to the chair. Sitting down, I let my hands roam her body
and hers do the same. As a moan escapes her lips, I pause. As much
as I want to pick up where we left off, tonight’s not the
night.
    “ Mar, as much as I want to, we should stop.”
She bites her lip and nods in agreement as I pull her into my
chest. I kiss the top of her head. “Is it crazy I feel as if you’ve
never left me?” I whisper.
    She pulls away and looks at me. “No, it’s not crazy.
No matter how much I told myself I was doing what was best for you,
I never let you go. You stole my heart and gave me the most
precious gift. Even when I tried to move on, I couldn’t stop
thinking about you.”
    “ Everyone told me I was crazy, and that there
was no way you would come back to me. I tried to move on, too, but
Summer wasn’t you and after her shenanigans tonight, there’s no way
I’ll ever speak to her again.” Marleigh looks at me confused. “You
don’t need to know the details, but no one will ever speak about my
son or you like she did tonight.” I see a glimmer of wonder in her
eyes. “I love you, Marleigh. I always have and always will. Now
that you’ve walked back in my life, I’m never letting you
go.”
    “ Gunnison Cyrus, I’ll never be able to tell
you I’m sorry enough. I love you with every ounce of my being and I
want to make us work.” She says and then brings her lips to mine
and starts to cry. Pulling away, I try to dry her eyes before they
become icicles. “These are happy tears,” she says with a
smile.
    “ They might be, but I don’t want you to turn
into an ice princess.” She starts to laugh and so do I. Being with
her makes me feel complete. We might have met by chance, but that
chance made life worth living.
    MARLEIGH
    “ So you want to go back to my house?” she
questions. I raise my eyebrows and she swats at my arm. “Not like
that. My parents are there! I mean to talk.”
    “ Sure,” he says. I stand and take him by the
hand, pulling him into me to hold him close for just a minute,
savoring this moment. For the second time in my life, this exact
spot has changed the course of my life.
    As we begin to walk toward my house, he takes his
arm and wraps it around my shoulder and I can’t help but smile as
my heart warms. I know that I’m no longer in this without the other
piece of my heart.
    Approaching the house, he stops as he sees it in the
distance. “Marleigh, how are we going to do this?” Looking at him
confused, I’m not exactly sure what he’s talking about. “I mean how
are you going to tell Gunner who I am?”
    “ Honestly, I don’t know. I think maybe you
should meet him, and then we’ll just see how it goes. I don’t want
to throw it on him too quick.”
    “ Is he leaving tomorrow?”
    “ Yes, around lunch.” GC doesn’t say anything.
“Could we maybe get a late breakfast or something?”
    “ I think that’s a great idea. Now, come on.
There’s nothing to worry about.” I say confidently for the first
time in a long time.
    When we enter the house, I don’t hear anything. I
look to see if they are outside, but the fire is barely burning.
Guess they’ve all gone to bed. GC follows me and as I turn from
looking at the patio, I see