Nineteen. There’s something about that number; it not only
brought us together, bonding us forever, it also played a hand in tearing us
apart.
The nineteenth of January 1996. I’ll never forget it. It was
the day we met. I was seven and she was six. It was the day she moved in next
door, and the day I developed my first crush on a girl.
Exactly nineteen years later, all my dreams came true when
she became my wife. She was the love of my life. My soul mate. My everything.
The reason I looked forward to waking up every morning.
Then tragedy struck. Nineteen days after we married, she was
in an accident that would change our lives forever. When she woke from her
coma, she had no memory of me, of us, of the love we shared.
I was crushed. She was my air, and without her I couldn’t
breathe.
The sparkle that once glistened her eyes when she looked at
me was gone. To her, now, I was a stranger. I had not only lost my wife, I had
lost my best friend.
But I refused to let this tragedy be the end of us. That’s
when I started to write her letters, stories of our life. Of when we met. About
the happier times, and everything we had experienced together.
What we had was far too beautiful to be forgotten.
CHAPTER ONE
Jemma
It’s a wet
and dreary morning is the first thing I hear when the radio booms to life,
alerting me to the fact it’s time to get up.
Dreary
doesn’t even come close. The thought of no longer being able to spend every
waking minute with my gorgeous husband has already put a dampener on my day. I
can’t believe our time off together has come to an end. I hate that I have to
go back to work this morning, and leave the little bubble Braxton and I have
been living in for the past four weeks.
Right up
until the wedding, things were so busy with our careers, building our dream
house and organising our special day. Everything combined seemed to take away
from us being together. This one-on-one time we’ve had since tying the knot was
just what we both needed.
‘Morning,
Mrs Spencer.’
He rolls
onto his side, pulling me further into his warm, luscious body. It has been
exactly nineteen days since we exchanged wedding vows, and I’m still floating.
‘Morning,
Mr Spencer.’ I lean my forehead against his. ‘I’m not ready to go back to work.
I can’t stand the thought of spending the entire day without you.’
He chuckles
as his teeth nip at my pouting lip. ‘I feel exactly the same way, babe. Our
time off has gone way too quick. We should have taken two months off, instead
of one.’
Despite him
being a constant figure in my daily life, for the past nineteen years, I still
get a rush when I think about what our future together holds.
I met
Braxton when my parents and I moved in next door. We were just kids, but we’ve
been inseparable ever since. He’s my one and only. He always has been, and
always will be. He’s not only the love of my life; he’s my best friend, my soul
mate, my forever boy.
He’s
incredibly dreamy, with his movie-star looks. I run my fingers through his
sandy blond hair as my eyes roam over his perfectly sculpted face; his big blue
eyes pop against his tanned skin. He has a smile that makes my knees weak. His
front tooth turns in ever so slightly, but it takes nothing away from his
Colgate-worthy smile.
When he
realises I’m checking him out, the sexy grin that I adore appears on his face.
It highlights the cute dimple in his left cheek. To this day, he still manages
to turn my insides to mush, but it’s his inner beauty that affects me the most.
‘I could
always call in sick,’ I say, perking up for a moment, but in reality I know
it’s not possible. I have a big client coming in first thing Monday morning,
and I need to prepare.
‘If I
didn’t have this damn meeting later this morning, I’d say do it,’ he replies,
smiling.
‘I’m going
to miss you.’
‘I’m going
to miss you too, Jem. The past four weeks have been my kind of heaven.’
I sigh.
‘I’d give anything to be back in Kauai right now.’
My fingers
move from his hair and skim down the side of his face as I speak. The beach has
always been our favourite place. That’s why we built our dream home overlooking
the ocean. The soothing sound of the waves crashing against the shore as I
drift off to sleep every night, and the sweet smell of sea air first thing in
the morning . . . it’s cathartic. It’s also one of the reasons we chose
Hawaii—a beautiful villa on the majestic shores of Tunnels Beach—as the place
to spend the first two weeks of our married life.
‘Me too.’
He gives me a wistful look. ‘I’ll take you back there over the Christmas break,
I promise.’
‘I’d like
that.’ My fingertips dance over his collarbone, before moving across his
shoulder. When I run a path down his strong back, he groans.
I sigh
again when I think that Christmas is ten months away, but I guess we have the
rest of our lives together to create the kind of memories we did in Hawaii.
Untangling
my legs from his, I pause briefly. I don’t want to leave him. I exhale a
drawn-out breath. ‘I suppose I better jump in the shower.’
‘Would you
like some company?’
Reaching
for me, he rolls onto his back, taking me with him. I laugh when he wiggles his
eyebrows. I straddle his waist before covering his mouth with mine. My shower
can wait. Making love to my man is much more important.
Sliding
forward, I line myself up. His strong hands grip my hips, and we moan in unison
as I sink down onto him. My eyes lock with his as I slowly rock my body against
him. ‘I love you, Brax.’
‘I love you
too, Jem. So much.’
He reaches
for my hands, lacing his fingers through mine. We’ve always had such a strong
bond, but when we’re connected like this, we become one. I’ll never tire of
these feelings he evokes in me.
There are
times I feel guilty because together, we’re perfect. None of our friends have
the kind of relationship Braxton and I do. What we have is unbreakable.
Sometimes my feelings for him overwhelm me. I’m not sure how either of us would
survive without the other.
—
As I rush
around putting the finishing touches on my make-up, I catch a glimpse of
Braxton in the mirror. He’s leaning up against the doorframe watching me get
ready. He’s shirtless and wearing a pair of grey sweats that hang low on his
hips. My pulse quickens as my eyes rake over his bare chest, and each delicious
muscle that defines his torso, from the perfect V just above the waistband, right
up to his washboard abs. One of my favourite things to do is watch him work out
on the small home gym he set up in the garage. I don’t think he even realises
how sexy he is. Growing up, he didn’t notice the way all the girls swooned over
him. But I did.
My eyes
move back to his, and the adoring look on his face sends my heart into a
flutter. The sheer love I feel for this man consumes every fibre of my being.
It’s euphoric.
‘How long
have you been standing there?’ I ask as my mouth curves into a smile.
‘I’m just
admiring my beautiful wife.’ I love hearing him call me his wife.
He pushes
off the doorframe and stalks towards me. When his arms encircle my waist, he
pulls me back into him. A soft moan falls from my mouth as his lips trail a
path up my neck. I tilt my head to the side, allowing him better access.
‘I’m
already running late,’ I breathe.
‘I wish you
didn’t have to go.’ His warm breath on my skin leaves goosebumps in its wake.
‘Me
either.’
‘The next
eight hours are going to feel like an eternity.’
I sigh in
agreement. ‘I know.’
His tongue
glides over the sensitive spot behind my ear, sending shivers down my spine. He
did that on purpose. ‘Don’t make any plans for tonight, because I’m taking you
out to dinner.’
‘You’re
taking me out? Where?’
‘The Sea
Shanty.’ He groans as he sucks my earlobe into his mouth.
‘What’s the
special occasion?’
‘Our
anniversary.’
My eyes fly
open to meet his in the mirror. ‘Our what?’ My mind starts to race. What anniversary?
He turns me
in his arms so I’m facing him, and pulls a small black box from his pocket. ‘I
was going to give this to you tonight, but I want you to have it now. Happy
nineteenth anniversary, sweetheart.’
My hands
tremble slightly as I take hold of the box. That’s when I remember that today
we have been married for nineteen days, and a huge smile breaks out on my face.
The number nineteen has always held special significance for us.
Tears of
happiness pool in my eyes as I open the lid. Inside I find a white-gold
necklace that’s holding a diamond-encrusted number-nineteen pendant.
‘Oh
Braxton, it’s beautiful. I love it . . . I love you.’
Dear Bridget,
Vi Keeland is a #1 New York Times Bestselling author. With more than a million and a half books sold, her titles have appeared in over eighty Bestseller lists and are currently translated in seventeen languages. She lives in New York with her husband and their three children where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age six.
Sunny Shelly Reads 