Yearning Absolution (Yearning Series) (18 page)

“Speak. Now.” Gwen turned and
looked at Cole as soon as they entered his bedroom. Cole shut the door behind
him and took a breath.

“Let’s sit down.” Cole gestured
towards the small seating area off the bedroom. Gwen walked over and sat down then
looked at him expectantly. Cole sat next to her and took one of her hands in
both of his. “Well, simply put, I made sure Richard wouldn’t be bothering you
anymore.”

“Did you kill him?” Gwen asked. She
didn’t know what to think. It wasn’t a situation she thought she’d ever be in.

“I did what I had to do to make
sure the woman I love more than life would no longer be in danger. Especially
after the bastard took our children from us.” Cole took another deep breath.

“When did this happen?”

“When you were at McKayla’s. You
have an alibi as do I for that time if they were to ever able to pin down a day
and time, but I don’t think that will happen. I was very careful to leave a
limited amount of evidence.” Cole squeezed her hand. “I couldn’t allow him to
live after what he did to you and continued to try to do to you. My people
captured him shortly after his run in with you.”

“He was captured and what? Held for
months while I recovered?” Gwen was confused at how all this had come to happen
and Cole had hidden it from her.

“Yes. I had people with him the
whole time. Gwen, I really don’t want to talk about this. The less you know,
the better. What was done, needed to be done. What if he got a hold of you
again? What if he simply got tired of you and went after another little girl or
even another woman? Would you really want that man loose on the streets still?”
Cole squeezed her hand again. “The world is better off without someone like him
around.”

“Just tell me, did he suffer?” Gwen
wasn’t sure she wanted to know, but she needed to know. This man had caused her
much suffering and pain in her life.

“Yes.” That lone word was all Cole
wanted to speak of it. He made sure Richard felt as much pain as he had
inflicted on Gwen when she was young. He made sure Richard paid for the fight
in the alley. Mostly, he made sure Richard knew how much it hurt Cole to lose
his children before he had ever even been able to hold them in his arms.

Gwen nodded. As sick as it might
be, she was glad. She was glad he felt a small fraction of the lifelong damage
he’d done to Gwen.

A few weeks passed before Gwen
heard from the detectives again. They said they were going to put the file into
the Cold Case files because there simply wasn’t enough evidence to keep
investigating.

Gwen hung up the phone and
immediately headed for the elevator and up to Cole’s office.

“He’s on the phone.” Tiffany,
Cole’s secretary, informed her. “I’ll let him know you are here.”

“Please do.” Gwen stood tapping her
fingers on the top of the counter in front of Tiffany’s desk.

“He said to go on in.” Tiffany said
as she hung up the phone. Gwen quickly walked through the heavy door to Cole’s
office. He was sitting behind his desk with a pen in one hand taking notes, his
other hand was holding the phone to his ear.

“Yes. I understand. I don’t care.
Make it happen. I will check in again in a few days and I will be getting
better news then.” Cole placed the phone back in the receiver before standing
to meet Gwen. “What did I do to get this unexpected visit?”

Gwen smiled as he took her in his
arms and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “I just got a phone call I thought you
would like to know about.”

She told him the news the detective
had shared with her. He picked up and spun her in a circle with the biggest
smile she’d seen on his face in a very long time.

“I think it would be great to take
a vacation now. You know, celebrate your full recovery.” Cole winked at her.
The smile never leaving his face.

“Where would you like to go?” Gwen
had yet to take a vacation with him. Their lives had just been so turbulent
since they’d met.

“I would love to take you to my
property at Duck Island. McKayla too. We could leave as soon as tomorrow, if
McKayla can get away that is. Let’s go for a week. And if you like, I’ll make
plans for us to spend a few months down there over the summer.” Cole kissed her
forehead, then each of her cheeks before landing on her lips again.

“I’ve been gone so much since being
hired, I think a week would be doable. I wouldn’t feel good about leaving
longer than that after all the time I’ve been gone.” Gwen smiled and kissed him
on the lips.

Two weeks later, Gwen, Cole and
McKayla were all departing from Cole’s private plane on Duck Island.

Gwen turned around looking at the
vast lush scenery. The island was thin and long while covered with lots of
greenery, houses and a couple resorts.

“I can’t wait to get in the water!”
McKayla exclaimed as she rolled her bag towards a waiting car.

“Aren’t you afraid of sharks?” Gwen
made a scary face at her.

“No! Silly.” McKayla laughed and
jumped up and down a bit. “Plus, if I was going to get eaten by a shark, this
is the place to do it. So beautiful.”

“Come on ladies. If we hurry we can
get settled in and still have an hour to play on the beach before the sun goes
down.” Cole handed his bag to the driver and stood by the door waiting for them
to get in.

McKayla and Gwen quickly climbed in
the back of the car and Cole slid in closing the door behind him. Gwen held
McKayla’s hand in one hand and Cole’s in the other.  The driver pulled away
from the airport.

Before long, the car came to a
stop. All three of them stepped out to see a beautiful cottage surrounded by
lavender and calla lilies.

“Wow! It’s so beautiful!” Gwen
loved the combination of flowers with the brown and white rustic cottage.

“This has been my getaway for a few
years. It’s mostly families that come out to the island on the weekends. During
the week it’s so quiet and nearly deserted. All the beaches are private too so
it is much more peaceful than most places. The house isn’t very big but that’s
just how I wanted it. It’s cozy.” Cole explained as they made their way down
the lavender lined pathway.

The interior of the house was
surprisingly modern but still rustic feeling. There was only two bedrooms with
a small living room and small kitchen with 2 bathrooms connected to the
bedrooms and one you could access from outside. Cole gave them a quick tour
showing them the path from the back that led down to the beach.

“You just have to walk through a
small patch of trees to get to the beach right there. There is no fences or
anything but the neighbors are quite a way away on either side so we should
have the whole beach to ourselves.” Cole pointed to either side of the house,
which was surrounded by tall brilliant green trees.

“Sweet! I’m going to change and go
swimming. You two coming?” McKayla asked.

“I’ll come watch but I don’t want
to get in the water.” Gwen shrugged. “Beautiful or not, I’ll pass on any shark
or fish bites. Maybe later in the week I’ll get the water.”

“I’ll go down and check on everything
while you two change. It takes me much less time to change than you.” Cole
winked and gave Gwen a quick kiss before slipping out the back door. The two of
them went to the master bedroom and changed. McKayla picked a black bikini and
pulled her hair up into a tight ponytail. Gwen changed into a white pullover
and a white one piece.

Cole was coming in the door when
they opened the door. “Great, you are both ready. Let me put on my trunks and
we can head down. There should be towels in the cabinet right there.” He
pointed to a cabinet near the back door before going to change.

Gwen got a couple white beach
towels out and the three headed out a few minutes later. Walking down the path
was an adventure. There was more lavender and calla lily plants along both
sides of the path until they stopped and the lush forest took over. There was
about ten feet of tall thick trees to walk through before the forest stopped
and the beautiful sandy beach started. The beach wasn’t very wide before the clear
green water lapped up on it.

Gwen and Cole spread towels out on
the beach to sit on while McKayla ran out into the water throwing off her shoes
as she went.

“This is actually low tide right
now. When it’s high tide it will actually come almost up to the trees here.
We’ll have to watch as it rises otherwise we might end up having the water
catch up to us sitting here.” Cole laughed. “I’ve had it happen a time or two
when I was caught up in work or taking a nap. It’s a bit of a surprise when you
find yourself in water when an hour before you weren’t.”

They spent an hour on the beach
before the water started to rise and the sun was setting on the horizon. They
made their way back inside. On their walk back inside, they decided to go out
for dinner to a nearby restaurant so they all separated to get ready.

The girls dressed similarly in
light sundresses and heels with their hair down. Cole dressed in a well-fitting
pair of dress slacks and a button down black shirt.

Once they were seated at the
restaurant, McKayla tapped her nails on the table impatiently.

“You okay?” Gwen asked her as she
put a hand on top of her tapping fingers.

“Yeah, fine.” McKayla said with a
small smile. “Just hungry.”

“You sure?” Gwen didn’t believe her
but didn’t want to push her if she didn’t want to share whatever was on her
mind. They were here to have a good time, not fight over anything.

“Yep.” McKayla looked towards Cole
briefly then pulled her hand into her lap just as the waiter brought their
drink order.  They each ordered their dinner and the waiter left again.

“I guess now is just as good as
after dinner.” Cole spoke up after clearing his throat.

“For what?” Gwen cast a confused
look at Cole then McKayla and back to Cole. “What is going on?”

“Well, McKayla and I have been
talking.” Cole reached out and took one of Gwen’s hands in his. “And since the
loss of the babies and the fact that the doctors had to remove one of your
ovaries. Plus all the damage that your uterus has been through. When the
doctors said that the chances of you ever having another pregnancy was
extremely unlikely, we started throwing ideas around. McKayla and I that is.”
Cole swallowed hard and looked briefly to McKayla then settled his eyes on Gwen
again. He continued, “We wanted to put an idea out there for you. Since we both
know that you want children, there is a way to possibly give you that option.”

“Okay.” Gwen frowned. She hadn’t
expected this conversation, let alone know where it was going.

“McKayla and I both agreed that we
could try to have her conceive a baby and it would then be a little of me and a
little of her and a baby for you.” Cole said then took a deep breath and waited
for Gwen’s response.

“What?” Gwen’s eyebrows pinched
together as she tried to comprehend what he was saying. She looked to McKayla
for help.

“Cole and I would have sex, with
you there too of course. And if I can get pregnant, we would be able to give
you a baby that your own body isn’t able to.” McKayla spoke softly. It hadn’t
been an easy conversation between her and Cole. Neither of them knew if Gwen
would even want to go that route. “We don’t have to. But we wanted to put it
out there in case you ever wanted to.”

“Um, I need to think about this.”
Gwen pulled her hand from Cole and sat with both her hands in her lap. “I have
been trying to come to terms with not being able to have a baby. I never wanted
a baby… ever. But when I was pregnant with the twins, things changed. Only to
find out that now I can’t get pregnant or the chance of me getting pregnant is
very unlikely... I guess I had figured at this point, there wouldn’t be
children in my future so it’s going to take a bit for me to decide. My head is
being pulled in so many ways.”

“It’s okay. You don’t have to
decide now. We just wanted you to know this option is there.” Cole scooted
closer to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He kissed the side of
her head and rubbed up and down her arm tenderly while McKayla laced her
fingers with Gwen’s and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

The rest of the meal passed fairly
quietly as Gwen didn’t have much to add. McKayla and Cole carried on a
conversation but Gwen didn’t pay any attention to them. She was stuck in her
own thoughts.

They headed back to the cottage
afterwards. Gwen changed and went to bed with only a handful more words to
either of them.

The next morning, Gwen woke to find
both Cole and McKayla in the bed with her. She carefully slipped out of the
covers and down to the foot of the bed to climb off without waking either of
them.

Gwen moved to the kitchen to start
coffee for McKayla and Cole since she knew they’d both want some when they got
up. She poured a glass of orange juice for herself and then sat on a lounge
chair on the back porch to look out at the beautiful blooming flowers blowing
in the nice breeze.

“There you are. I knew you had to
be around somewhere since there was fresh coffee brewing.” Cole stepped out the
door and sat in a chair next to Gwen. He had a mug of steaming coffee in his
hand.

“Just came out here to enjoy the
view. It’s beautiful.” Gwen smiled out at the scenery. It was much different
than where they lived in New York or really any place that she had ever been. “It
is so calming.”

“Well, I have plans to take you to
all sorts of beautiful places in the future. We have all been through a long
year. Heck, a couple long years. But now that it is calming and becoming
normal, I want to show you some of the most beautiful places I’ve been in the
world. Plus, I want to discover new ones with you two.” Cole smiled at her,
even though she was looking at the landscape.

“That would be wonderful. I would
like to learn what it’s like to be this so called normal thing. And happy. I’d
love to be happy with both of you for more than a few fleeting moments. Seems
like every time we get our little threesome happy, something bad happens. I
guess that ends up being the biggest thing for me when it comes down to having
a baby… at all.” Gwen took a swallow of her juice. “The pregnancy before was
unplanned. No one thought it would happen, then it did and we just had to go
with it. But now the actual opportunity to have a choice. I don’t know what to
say. Before I was pregnant with your babies, I never ever wanted children. But
feeling them grow and seeing them on the ultrasound screen, it was one of the
most wonderful moments in my life. And then I lost them. I don’t think I can
handle another loss like that. My entire world shattered when the realization
hit me that day in the hospital.”

“Then don’t decide right now.
Neither one of us is in a rush. We aren’t pushing you to decide one way or the
other. It was just us putting the option out there for you to considered, if
and when you wanted to.” Cole set his mug down on the deck and grabbed her hand
and brought it up to his lips. “We just want to love you anyway we can. We both
just want you happy.”

“And I just want to love you both
too.” Gwen smiled at him. “So, what is the plan for today? Did you and McKayla
talk about it last night after I went to bed?”

“We did. She wants to go down to
the beach and tan for a bit. I was hoping to steal you away for a little while
and then we could join her to figure out the rest of the day.” Cole smiled as
McKayla joined them on the patio.

“Sure. I guess that’s okay. Where
are you stealing me away to?” Gwen put her arm around McKayla’s waist when she
sat on the lounge chair next to her. McKayla rested her head on Gwen’s
shoulder.

“It’s a secret. We can leave
whenever you are ready. No time constraint.” Cole looked at the two women in
his life and smiled again.

“You’ll be okay on the beach by
yourself?” Gwen tried to look down at McKayla, who simply nodded her head. “You
okay?”

“Mmm. Yes. Sleepy.” McKayla
murmured. “I’ll take a little nap in the wonderful sun while you are gone.”

“Make sure you wear sunscreen.
Wouldn’t want to get sunburned on your first full day here.” Cole reminded her.
McKayla stuck out her tongue at him. He stood, picking up his cup again. “I’m
gonna go get a shower so I’ll be ready whenever you are.”

“What should I wear?” Gwen asked
before he disappeared into the cottage.

“Something comfortable.” Cole
winked and moved out of her sight into the cottage.

Gwen slowly made her way inside and
showered. She did her in big spiral curls with a bit of natural make up. She
put on a simple nude slip dress that had a white lace overlay that was
mid-thigh length with a pair of nude heels.

“This okay?” Gwen asked when she
found Cole standing in the living room looking out a window, his hands in his
pockets.

“Absolutely. Beautiful.” Cole pulled
her close to him and laid a kiss on her lips. “You ready?”

“Yep. Where’s McKayla?” Gwen looked
around the room.

“She already went off to the
beach.” Cole informed her.

“Oh, okay.” Gwen frowned then took
a deep breath and smiled. “Let’s go.”

“Lets.” Cole held open the back
door for her. Gwen stepped out into the bright sunlight. “Why don’t we just
walk down to say goodbye to McKayla first.”

“That’d be great.” Gwen smiled
broadly. She held his hand tightly as they started down the path. Once they reached
the part of the path that was surrounded by the forest, Cole tugged her hand
and gestured off the path.

“This way. Just for a moment.” Cole
carefully took a few steps through the underbrush before it opened to a small
clearing. The sun shining down in spots through the thick branches above. “I
just wanted to talk to you for a moment.”

“I thought that’s what we were
going to do after we said bye to McKayla.” Gwen’s eyebrows pinched together in
confusion. Cole just winked at her and held onto both of her hand, looking down
into her eyes.

“Gwen, you make me the happiest man
in the world. I really couldn’t ask for anything more in a woman. You are
strong and smart. You’ve had so many bad things happen in your life but you
always find your way through them to be this wonderful smiling woman. Even
though you didn’t know love growing up, you somehow found it in your big
beautiful heart to love not only McKayla but me as well. I just want you to
know how much you mean to me. Baby or no baby or ten babies. I. Want. You. I
want you in my life along with McKayla for the rest of my life.” Cole spoke
softly. Gwen’s eyes teared up and he gently squeezed her hands. He laid a soft
kiss on her lips before continuing, “I can’t promise that there won’t be tough
times. I can’t promise that we will have a perfect life. But I can promise you
will have my heart in your hands for the rest of your life. I have had many
loves in my life but you are the love of my life. I can’t live without you. I have
to be able to see your beautiful face every day and hearing your melodious
laugh and see the silly faces you make. I love everything about you. I love you
so much.”

“I love you too, Cole.” Gwen smiled
tenderly at him as he brushed his fingers against her cheek.

“Good. I just wanted to make sure
you knew that.” Cole pulled her close and slowly brought his lips to hers again.
Her lips parted and their tongues danced around each other. He pulled back
after a moment. “We should get going.”

“Okay.” Gwen smiled. She followed
Cole back to the path that led to the beach, her hand in his. Gwen froze when
she saw what was on the sand in front of the,. 

On the sand was a huge heart made
out of rose petals filling the middle of the heart was more scattered rose
petals. Cole led her out to the middle of the heart.

“As I was saying, I love you more
than life. I can’t live without you.” Cole said holding Gwen’s hand in his. “I
want you in my life every single day until I stop breathing.”

Gwen watched as Cole slowly dipped
to one knee in front of her while holding on to her hand. He brought up a
velvet box in the other hand. Tears streamed down Gwen’s cheeks as she stopped
breathing.

“Gwen, would you marry me?” Cole
finally asked the question Gwen didn’t think she’d ever hear.

“Yes.” Gwen whispered as tears
streamed down her face. Cole slid the ring on her left ring finger before
standing to pull her into a kiss. Gwen pulled back and looked around “How?”

“McKayla.” Cole grinned and
gestured off to the side where McKayla stood in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.
When Gwen’s eyes landed on her, McKayla ran over to her.

“Let me see the ring!” McKayla
squealed and reached for her hand causing both Gwen and Cole to laugh. “Oh it’s
beautiful.”

Gwen finally looked at the ring. It
was an oval shaped diamond with one smaller shaped oval diamond on either side.

“It’s a ring for all of us.” Cole
spoke up. “You see, you are the middle diamond, the light of our lives. We are
the smaller diamonds that both love you and want to be by your side.”

“We? You had something to do with
this?” Gwen looked to McKayla.

“Yes! We went ring shopping
together.” McKayla smiled. “We are all in this together, right?”

“Right.” Cole and Gwen said at the
same time.