“How do you feel now?” I asked her, sitting on her side of the bed.
She smiled. “Relieved to be alive.”
This was my opportunity to tell her how I really felt. I had allowed a bad marriage to come between me and happiness. I refused to allow it to rule my life anymore.
“What?” she asked. “You’re staring at me without speaking.”
“I’m trying to come up with the right words,” I explained. “I don’t want to mess this up.”
Ella’s eyes twinkled with amusement. “The right words for what?”
“The right words to tell you how much I love you and what happiness you’ve brought into my life. You’ve turned me from a man who was cynical about love and happiness into one who now knows that love exists.”
She placed the bowl on the side table.
“My sweet Ella, I love you more than life itself. If I’d lost you…” I choked on my words.
She leaned forward and cupped my cheeks. “You didn’t and I’m here now. I love you too, Luke.” She laughed softly. “I don’t know how it happened. But I love you with all my heart. You and Molly.”
I slipped into bed where Molly had lain and gathered Ella into my arms. I must have held her too tightly because she started wriggling like an eel.
“You’ll squeeze the life out of me,” she said with a laugh.
I laughed too, and loosened my hold.
She tilted her gorgeous face to mine. “Kiss me Luke. Make love to me.”
“Yes ma’am,” I said and lowered my head to kiss my woman and soon to be wife, even if she didn’t know it yet.
Epilogue
Two years later
Ella
"That’s it. I’m done. I'm not speaking to Michelle anymore, she’s not my friend," Molly announced as Luke and I tucked her into bed.
I hid a smile. Recently, every day was a big drama with Molly and her friends, although they did have weeks when everything went smoothly.
"Can’t you all just get along?" Luke asked her.
I’d told him countless times that this was part of a girl growing up, but he always shook his head in bafflement.
Surprisingly, Penelope had gotten married to her boy toy and they came to see Molly when they were around and then disappeared for months at a time. The good thing was that she kept in touch with Molly via email and sent her countless pictures.
Molly seemed pleased with that arrangement and never seemed sad when her mom went off again.
"Maybe she's sorry she refused to give you a pencil," I said to Molly and smoothed her hair back. She was becoming so big so fast. It was easy to forget how she was when I first arrived at this house. Now she was a regular chatterbox, surpassing all the hopes we’d had for her.
She looked at me, her eyes wide with wonder. "Mommy, how did you know?" She’d taken to calling me Mommy and Penelope was mom.
I never tired of hearing her say the name. I chuckled mysteriously. No point in spoiling her awe by telling her it was always one of two. A pencil or an eraser. I’d just taken a lucky guess.
We tucked her in and said goodnight.
“I don’t understand little girls,” Luke said as we went downstairs. “But thankfully, I understand women. My woman… to be clear.”
“Yes, you do,” I said with a laugh.
The last two years had been full of wonder and joy. Luke had insisted on us getting married immediately. As he’d said it, he didn’t want to risk losing me and being married ensured that I would be bound to him for life.
Like there had been a chance of that happening.
I’d gone to college and finished faster than I had anticipated by doing the crash program. I was now working as an apprentice for a well-known designer and I loved it.
Luke as a husband was everything I dreamed of and never thought I’d ever find. He was thoughtful and kind as he showered me with more love than I deserved.
With his love, I’d been able to forget that awful day two years ago when Stan kidnapped me with the intention of raping me and then killing me. He’d been sentenced to thirty years in jail after the police found evidence that he had killed another woman before me and hidden her body on that same property he’d taken me to.
I trembled every time I thought of how close I’d come to losing my life. Luke had ensured that I felt safe by making the house super secure. A person would have to be superman to enter our house.
I’d found no real way to repay him for the life he had given me and the love he showered on me every day, but I knew my news would please him. Soon, Molly would have a little brother or sister. Luke thought he’d kept it from me, but every so often, I saw him staring at my belly with a wistful look on his face.
Now, I was about to gift him with another little human to love. I’d been bursting to tell him my news, but I waited until we were comfortable on the couch. We lay facing each other with Luke massaging my legs.
“Do you know how much I love you?” he asked while staring at me intently. “Sometimes, I think I love you so much my chest feels like it might just burst.”
“Oh, dear. Does that mean there’s no more space to love another little person besides Molly?” I asked with a look of fake horror.
Luke’s eyes widened. He glanced down to my flat belly then back up to my face. “Are you…?” he faltered, his voice full of hope.
I grinned. “Indeed, I am.”
He sat up, scooped me into his lap, and kissed me. “Oh my God, Ella! You’re the gift that just keeps giving.”
My grin got wider. “I am a bit of that, aren’t I?”
“Another little girl, I hope?”
“Or a little boy who looks just like you,” I
