Chapter 311

"Bash, do you really believe this is going to work?" Pearl asked as he drove her back to the house.

"It has to." He said, looking over at her.

"Pearl, thank you." He said.

"For what?" She asked. If anyone needed to be thanked, it was him.

"For trusting me. For trusting this. And for... just for being who you are." He said.

She smiled. "You're welcome." She said.

"When I heard about you, before I met you, I had this image in my mind about how you would be. Who you would be. People rarely surprise me, Pearl. But you did." He said.

"Well, you're fortunate. People usually blindside me." She said, smiling in disgust and shaking her head.

"You need to forgive yourself. And you need to start with the little girl that loved a violent man because he was her daddy. You are not a victim. You never were. You are just a good, incredibly caring, human being. Forgive yourself, little fairy." He said, smiling and touching her chin.

"Little fairy?" She asked.

"Oh yes. You are one of the fae, I'm convinced." He said.

"Fae?" She asked.

"The fae. My mum used to tell me about them. Celtic lore. Magical little creatures. Like you. Not only are you no bigger than a minute, such a wee lass, but you are pure magic. People look at you and think you are weak, so cute and harmless. So tiny, so fragile, and they believe you can't hurt them, right? That they can hurt you, break you?

Wrong.

Faeries are probably the most frightening creatures anyone will ever encounter in legends and folklore. They are cunning and will destroy you if you wrong them. Completely come out of nowhere." He said.

She laughed. He wasn't wrong.

"I'm dead serious, my little dark fairy. I'll have to keep my eyes on you. Offer you milk and honey and little shiny things to keep you happy." He said, holding out a box. She looked at him.

"Open it." He said.

She took the small box and lifted the lid. Inside was a gold necklace. The pendant was some kind of knotted design, a diamond shape with what looked like two sideways hearts interwoven on each end. She could tell it was old.

"It's beautiful." She said.

"It was my mother's. She wore it every single day of her life, never took it off, then wanted me to have it after she died."

"What do the knots mean?" She asked.

"It's a Celtic love knot. It represents the love between two people. It is believed that the Celts exchanged these knots in much the same way as we exchange rings in the modern age, or so I've been told. My father gave it to my mum when he swore her his heart forever, when they were only fifteen years old." He said.

"It's so beautiful. But I can't accept this. It was your mother's." Pearl said.

"And now, it's yours. All of it, all of me, is yours." He said. "If you want it."

She looked down at the simple gold necklace and then over at the simple and good man sitting beside her. This was one of those good decisions Gail and Jim tried to make her clearly see that before, she wouldn't have. She should have chose him the first time. She wasn't going to make that mistake again.

"I want it." She said. "All of it." She took the necklace out of the box and put it on.

"I am saying when." She said.

He slowed down and pulled the car over to the side of the road. He looked at her with his bright, young face and brilliant eyes lit up by the dashboard lights, leaned in and kissed her. "This is going to be the best decision of your life." He said.

"I know." She said, smiling.

"I have no secrets. Nothing to hide. Nothing you don't know. There are no other women or lies or anything that would cause harm to you for being in my life. I will never, ever hurt you. Ever. Nor will I allow anyone else to, either. Including yourself. I know we haven't had the best beginning, but I promise you, we will have the best ending." He said.

"I know, Bash. Believe me, I know." Better late than never, she thought.

And he put the car back in drive, took her hand in his, and they were off again.