Because of Ellison (33 page)

Lily’s blush covered her whole face when she pecked Ryan on
the cheek and answered, “Yep. Seems Daddy’s going to give him a chance. So, to
thank you, we’ve come over to help fix up the house. It’ll get done a lot
faster if we all work on it together rather than just you and Ellison.”

I was surprised by her offer, and I responded by picking up
some extra bottles and scrapers we had laying around and tossing the supplies
in their direction. Once everyone was settled and working on his or her
section, I smiled. Fixing Bill’s house had been an exercise in patience,
endurance, determination and desire. The act itself had given me time to
reflect on my life, to think about my future, and to take pride in repairing
something that had been neglected and forgotten over the years. And now it was
time to fix Ellison’s house, to repair something that had been damaged by the
many seasons and storms throughout its life. Much like Bill’s house, it would
take time to strip away the fading paint, to prepare the house for the first
coats of primer and to rip away and replace the rotten boards and shingles that
no longer served their purpose. When it was fixed, when enough love and
attention had been paid to the surface and to what existed beneath the layers
of dust and decay, it would last a lifetime as long as it was given the same
care and attention it had taken to repair it in the first place.

“So, did you find out whether you’d be given a scholarship
yet, Hunter? It’s been months. I’m surprised they haven’t answered yet.” Lily
absently scraped at the chipped paint while asking me about the school’s
decision.

My arm came up to wipe the sweat from my forehead. “They
answered a couple of weeks ago.”

Ellison looked up from where she was working to pay
attention to my response.

I let out a deep sigh, resigned to finally tell the truth,
knowing it would disappoint El. “They declined. Unfortunately, because I
dropped out mid-semester at Harvard I was disqualified for an academic
scholarship until such time as I can prove myself ‘worthy’. So, basically, I
have to pay for a year or two and prove I’m serious before they can offer me
any type of financial assistance.”

“But that’s bullshit! You had an emergency!” Ellison’s face
was red with anger and she huffed out an adorable little breath that blew the
loose hairs away from her face.

Shrugging, I went back to work scraping. “It is what it is.
Just another roadblock that I have to work around until I can get to where I’m
going in life.”

“Where are you going?” Ryan piped up, keeping his eyes
trained on the wall.

I sat back and my eyes flicked to Ellison. Her eyebrow
arched and her lip twisted into a confused smiled. “Yeah, Hunter. Where are you
going?”

I hadn’t yet spoken to Ellison about the decision I’d made
the night I returned to Florida and found Ellison completely buried by the cruel
circumstances of her father’s illness. Lily and Ryan stopped what they were
doing and silently looked between Ellison and me.

The corner of my mouth crooked up at the side and I
confessed, “I’m going to medical school.”

Ellison’s jaw dropped. “What?”

I shrugged. “I’ve always been good at science and math, so
it wouldn’t be unusual for me to pursue that path. Plus … ” I breathed out
heavily to bring it up. Looking Ellison directly in the eye, I continued, “Do
you remember what you told me outside of the plane when I went back home.”

She nodded, but still appeared lost.

“When you said you hated cancer and asked if I knew what you
meant? Well, I do know what you mean, I understand how it feels to hate it, and
I decided I’d work to do something about it. I’m not sure how much I’ll be able
to change, but I can at least work towards finding a cure.”

Ellison sat silently, her jaw hanging slightly open to hear
what I’d told her. Ryan and Lily continued looking between us and Ellison
eventually stood up and walked over to where I was sitting. When she was
standing above me, I craned my neck to look up at her. A single tear ran down
one sun kissed cheek and she lowered herself down so that she was straddling me
on the ground. My eyes didn’t leave hers and I heard Ryan and Lily silently
excuse
themselves
and walk over to the other house.
The sun shone behind Ellison making her hair glow around her face and I laughed
to find ourselves in the same position we’d ended up in many times when we
first met.

I started to say something, but she shook her head, placed
her hands on the sides of my face and leaned down to kiss me. The strawberry
flavor to her lips had become my favorite thing. When she swept her tongue
across my lips I opened up to her and cherished the moment she deepened that
kiss. It would never get old — the feeling of Ellison James kissing me.
It was addicting, it was extraordinary, and it was something that would always,
ALWAYS, keep me coming back for more.

When she stopped and pushed herself up to look at me again,
she whispered, “You’re amazing.”

“I’d do anything for you, El.”

Slowly, her lips pulled back into a toothy grin and I
wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her down so that her body covered me.
We
laid
together on the ground for a few minutes, just
holding each other before she asked, “How are you going to afford it, Hunter?
Would your parents … ”

“No. They haven’t attempted to contact me and I have no
intention of contacting them. I can do this own my own, El. I can work, take
out loans,
hopefully
earn that scholarship back
quickly. There are other options besides running back to my parents. It’s the
same reason I haven’t driven the car since I returned home to get my stuff. I
don’t want anything from them if they can’t accept you, Lily and Bill as
family.”

“I don’t want to be the reason you stop talking to your
folks.” She got quiet and I saw a streak of pain flash across her face. “You
don’t get forever to fix things with them, Hunter. Trust me on that.”

I sat up, but held her on my laps as I crossed my legs
beneath. Her legs wrapped around my waist and I hugged her to me. “I know. But
you are my family as much as they are. They are the ones who refuse to
acknowledge you — not the other way around. I made my choice, El. I
choose you.”

She nodded and I grabbed her chin with my fingertips to get
her to look at me. “And don’t start thinking that if it wasn’t for you things
would be different between my parents and me. They wouldn’t. The only thing
that would be different than how things are now is I would be at college living
my life the same way I had in high school. I’d still be lost if it wasn’t for
you. I’d have no drive, no focus, nothing to look forward to in my life. My
parents didn’t think enough of me to ever attempt to help me change. You did.”

Blowing out a breath, she placed her hands on my chest. “If
you say so.” She broke her eye contact with me and looked around at the
miscellaneous supplies that were littered around the perimeter of the house.
“Are we allowed to give up on this today and go do something fun? It’s Spring
Break and they have a bonfire going out in the fields tonight.”

I groaned. “Will Finn be there?”

She laughed in response. “You have nothing to worry about
when it comes to Finn. He’s accepted that I moved on and has finally moved on
himself.”

I knew I had nothing to worry about, but it was still fun
teasing her every once in a while. Unwrapping my hands from her waist, I
grabbed the cheeks of her butt and pulled her hips against me. Her legs
tightened in response.

“Sounds good. But, I think I can come up with something we
can do in the meantime.”

She squealed and I sat up quickly to take her lips with
mine. By the time I pulled away she looked stunned from the intensity of the
kiss and I moved sideways to dump her off my lap. “Race you to the bedroom.”

Her eyes flew open and she smiled while pushing up off the
ground to race. We laughed as we wrestled each other up the stairs and we damn
near hit the ground when we threw the front door open and attempted to squeeze
past one another. Once we were in I slammed the door behind us and chased her
through the living room towards her room. When I reached the hall, Sasha and
Bear excitedly ran past my feet, tripping me in the process. Flying forward, I
hit a wall before falling to the ground and hitting my head. I rolled on my
back and held my head where it had hit the floor. Sasha and Bear took the
opportunity to lick me all over my face.

“I win!” Ellison screamed out at me from the bedroom.

Opening my eyes, I looked up into the furry faces above me.
They looked like they were smiling. “Traitors.”

A grin came over my face and I laughed. If this was what the
rest of my life was going to be like, I couldn’t be happier.

“There! The final touch has been finished and your house is
perfect.”

I stood back from where I’d installed a new doorbell on
Ellison’s house. She ran up the new wooden steps and paused with her hand
hovering over it.”

“Do I get to be the first one to ring it?”

I couldn’t believe how excited she was over a doorbell, but
I guess when you grew up without much, it was the little things that you
learned to appreciate.

“Go for it.”

She hit the button and chimes played in the house. Sasha and
Bear barked in response. Jumping up and down, she threw her arms around me and
kissed me on the cheek. “I love you and I love this house. Thank you.”

Smiling, I kissed her back. “Don’t thank me. You worked on
it as well. So, since the house is done and it’s still early, you wanna go for
a swim and see your fish buddies?”

“That’s seven miles away!”

“Well, okay, I mean, if you don’t think you can handle it …
”

Her hand smacked me on the shoulder. “Oh, please, I can
out-hike your ass any day. Let’s go.”

I opened the doors and grabbed our bags that I’d packed and
set aside earlier in the morning. Stepping outside, her brow arched to notice
that I’d planned on taking her hiking, and she grabbed her pack to toss it over
her shoulder.

Normally, hiking the trail gave me an elevated heart rate
due to the physical exertion; however, this particular hike had me damn near
floored. I was giddy, I was nervous and I walked behind Ellison trying to keep
my breathing even. When we reached the spring, she immediately threw her pack
on the table and starting stripping off her clothes. I watched her undress and
when she looked up again I smiled.

“Sorry, just enjoying the view.”

Her lip curled. “It’s hot as hell, Hunter. Take off your
clothes and jump in the water with me.” She didn’t have to tell me twice.

When we reached the waterline, she looked out before jumping
in and pulled me back when she noticed something floating on the surface out in
the distance. Her head swiveled so she could look at me. “What’s that?”

I shrugged my shoulder. “Don’t know. Guess we need to swim
out there to find out.” I jumped in, pulling her with me, and it took a second
for my heated skin to adjust to the cold-as-shit water. Eventually, I was able
to move again and we swam out to the float. It was nothing more than a square
piece of white Styrofoam, one that I’d used before. Recognizing what it was,
Ellison dove under the water and grabbed the waterproof case I had tied
underneath. When she resurfaced, she held the case up.

“Open it.” My heart fell to my stomach and my skin tingled
making it feel like every part of my body had fallen asleep. Nervous energy
caused my chest to constrict. I could feel a lump form in my throat in
anticipation of her reaction.

She twisted the case apart and pulled out a small, black
velvet bag. Her eyes flicked up to mine and I couldn’t speak while I waited for
her to open it. Finally, she pulled at the little string on the side, opening
the bag and she pulled out the ring from inside it.

Her eyes looked over the ruby heart shaped solitaire that
was set into the platinum band.

I cleared my throat to settle the lump that had formed.

“Will you marry me, Ellison?”

Thank god the water in the spring was as crystal clear as it
was because she dropped the ring almost instantly in shock. My eyes followed it
as it floated to the bottom and I made a mental note of where it had landed.

“Oh my god!” Her hand flew to her mouth. “I’m sorry, Hunter,
I didn’t mean to drop it!”

“I don’t care if you dropped the ring, El.” I grabbed her
chin to pull her face up from the water to look in my direction.

Her eyes met mine.

“Will you marry me?”

When I noticed a tremble to her bottom lip, I got nervous.
Tears broke free of her eyes, and she nodded “yes.” A flood of happiness and
relief assaulted my body when she finally opened her mouth.

“Yes.”

That was the best fucking “yes” I’d ever heard. Diving
beneath the water, I retrieved the ring from the bottom. Resurfacing, I looked
at her, placed the ring on her finger, and pulled her into me before kissing
her like my life depended on the feel of her lips against mine. Pulling away, I
pointed to the ring.

“I bought that for you for Christmas, but given everything
that happened, I never had the chance to give it to you. I didn’t intend for it
to be an engagement ring when I bought it, but over the past seven months I’ve
fallen for you more every day. I know I want to spend the rest of my life with
you, and I know the ring isn’t much, but I’ll replace it with a diamond one
day.”

She held the ring to her chest and shook her head. “No. I
don’t want you to replace it. It’s perfect. I never want to take it off my
finger.”

“But you deserve the best.”

She smiled up at me, reaching out to pull me against her. “I
have him.” Throwing her arms around my neck, she kissed me until we could no
longer breathe. The sun shone down on our skin and the rainbow wave of fish
swam beneath our feet. It was a magical moment, one that would forever be a
cherished possession in my heart and thoughts. And it was there, in the spot
where we’d first learned about each other and where we’d first kissed, that we
started living the rest of our lives together.