Remember Me

Chapter 53

CHAPTER 53

Skye

M oonlight beams into Finn’s bedroom as scented candles flicker all around us. Bathed in their glow, I’m sprawled naked on the bed we used to share, every part of me exposed, including the scars I’ve tried to hide. The painful reminders of that night.

“I have a lot of scars,” I murmur, worried that my marred body will turn him off.

He hushes me. “I loved you without your scars and I love you with them,” he whispers, a long finger caressing one of my major scars, left behind from one of the many surgeries I had to repair my right femur.

I’ve always hated them even though Sister Marie told me to embrace them. “Scars,” she said, “show that you survived.”

My magnificent husband, lover, soul mate, and the father of my child tenderly kisses one of my many imperfections. “Your scars make you more beautiful to me. More special. I want to own them... reclaim every inch of your body.

He makes love to me yet again. This time so tender. So in the moment. Taking his time. Each stroke deliberate and precise like the skilled artist he is. As if my body is his temple, and he’s worshipping me. I moan with pure bliss, never feeling more cherished or beautiful in my entire life.

We come to together, and a sad thought cuts through the ecstasy. Because of my internal injuries, I can never have another child. Unshed tears well up behind my shuttered eyes.

***

We don’t go to sleep. At least not right away.

“Finn, did you ever suspect who I really was?”

“There were similarities. The way you looked at me... your eyes... that first kiss... the way you danced with me and followed my lead. Plus, how you and Maddie took to each other. There were other little things, but I ignored them, thinking it was impossible.”

“That morning at the motel, did you see my tattoo when I was in the shower?”

“To be honest, I saw something. But in the steamy frosted-glass stall, it looked more like a bruise.”

“You had a lot of nerve going into the bathroom while I was naked in the shower.”

He chortles. “Hey, I needed my clothes.”

I laugh back. “I needed you.”

A saucy smile crosses his lips. Tenderly, he brushes a fingertip over the one-inch scar that slashes my eyebrow.

“Another one of your scars?”

“Yes. It used to be a lot worse. It still bothers me. An ugly reminder.”

“I think it gives you character.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’m going to add it to your portrait.”

His words move me. How much I love him!

“Did you deliberately play Springsteen’s “Brilliant Disguise” when you painted me this afternoon?”

“No, it was just a coincidence.”

A beautiful coincidence . A beautiful surprise.

“Then, when Maddie showed me the locket, everything changed in an instant. I went crazy. I had to know.”

Leave it to our daughter to unite us. To end the charade.

“Oh, Finn, I’ve missed you so much. Never stopped thinking about you.”

Unconsciously, he plays with my locket.

“Baby, I never stopped thinking about you either. Remembering you.” He slides the gold heart close to my own. “How could I? Every time I looked at Maddie I saw you.”

I weigh the intensity of his words and an alarming reality hits me. “Finn, what are we going to do?”

“About what?”

“About us? About Maddie?” About her. Kayla’s name stays stuck in my throat.

A shaky breath follows as I hear Finn inhale and exhale, feeling the rise and fall of his chest beneath me. “I don’t know yet. It’s complicated.”

Complicated ...that’s an understatement. Our situation is like a soap opera. So over-the-top crazy in every way. The kind of story some whacked out romance or thriller writer would come up with.

In addition to Kayla, there’s a killer out there. Someone after my life.

When I wake up in the morning, Finn is gone.