Young Revelations (Young Series) (54 page)

I have to admit, though, I’m giving a lot of thought to my father and his attempts to reach out to Samantha and me today. The way he was speaking was like a man on his deathbed apologizing for all his wrong doings in life. I tried pulling him aside several more times today to ask him what the hell was going on, but I think he realized what I was trying to do and avoided being alone with me. Even Claire approached and asked me what was wrong with him and why he’s smiling so much, which leads me to believe whatever is wrong with him, he’s the only one who knows. Possibly my mother, but he’s always tended to keep things like illness to himself.

The table in the formal dining room where I spent time planning our wedding is full of wedding gifts. I roll my eyes at the number of blenders and toasters on the pile and have to wonder what people think when they choose some of these things. Seriously, who needs three bread makers? I’ve never had the urge to make my own bread in my life and I don’t see that changing. My parents gave us a honeymoon cruise, which I think we’ll use in the springtime or early summer, after our daughter is born. Neither of us is eager to leave Tyler for a prolonged period of time with everything that’s happened and I want us to be able to enjoy our time alone.

My eye catches something I didn’t see earlier. It’s a box wrapped in white paper with golden sparkly leaves decorating it and is tied with a matching lace ribbon. There’s no card attached, no indication of who it’s from, and I have no idea what it might be. I untie the ribbon and remove the paper, leaving me looking at a plain white clothing box, and I remove the lid. Confusion has returned when all I find inside is a manila envelope with no markings to indicate who it’s from. Alarm bells are ringing in my head right now and though I know I should trust my instincts and wait until Marcus is here, just in case, I slide a finger beneath the flap and turn the envelope upside down, dumping what looks to be a stack of photographs in the box. Hardly breathing, I grab the first one and feel the breath being knocked out of me. And it’s worse from there; the more I look at the photos, the more my chest constricts.

It’s photo after photo of Samantha in a variety of places, times, and moods. The bookstore. At Claire’s. Tyler’s school. The grocery store. There are even a couple of the two of us—one from inside Samantha’s doctor’s office waiting room; another taken the night of our date. Someone has been following us and they want us to know we’re not safe, that the problems didn’t end with Leo’s death and Natalie’s arrest. Of course Frank Marone is my number one suspect, but I don’t know how he possibly got so close to us without my security noticing.

“Fuck,” I breathe, dropping the photos back into the box.

“Matt!” Samantha yells from upstairs. In my horrified daze, I hear utter panic in her voice and I don’t waste a second bolting up the stairs and bursting into our bedroom, looking around for the person who’s broken in and attacked her. Instead if find her standing in the middle of the room in one of my t-shirts, smiling hugely with her hands on her belly.

My brow furrows. “What’s the matter?” I ask her.

She frowns slightly. “Nothing’s the matter,” she says, walking towards me rapidly. “Give me your hand.”

“What?”

She rolls her eyes when my hands remain at my side and reaches for one, pressing it right against her belly. She watches me expectantly for a few moments while I try to work out what we’re doing, and then I feel it. My eyes shoot up to meet hers, wide in shock and wonder. Something pressed against my hand. She smiles. “Did you feel it?” she whispers, beaming.

I nod faintly, pressing my other hand against her as well. “Is that what I think it is?” I breathe when it happens again.

“That would be our daughter saying hello,” she confirms, her eyes filling with tears.

I laugh in wonder, completely forgetting anything that happened before this moment. I never had the opportunity to feel my child moving when Samantha was pregnant with Tyler—even if he had been more active, he was born too early for us to experience it together. “Does it hurt?” I whisper, moving my hands in an attempt to feel it again.

She shakes her head. “No,” she says. “It’s just kind of a bit of a pressure. She hasn’t done this before, not like this; I wanted you to feel it.”

I nod, leading her over to the bed and sitting down with her. “That’s amazing.”

The next several minutes are spent trying to get Olivia to move again, but apparently she’s done putting on a show for us. I glance over to Samantha’s other side and feel my eyes widen again, a grin spreading across my face. “And what is this…” I reach over her to pick up the lacy white lingerie that’s spread out over the bed.

She rolls her eyes, blushing adorably again. “That’s what I was going to wear tonight,” she mutters. “It was supposed to be a surprise, but…”

I chuckle. “Well, perhaps we can use this another night,” I say, moving the underwear to a chair near the bed and returning to her, cupping her face in my hands. “Tonight I think I’m a little too impatient to deal with figuring out how to remove something that complicated.”

She giggles and my smile widens at the sound as I lean in to kiss her deeply. Within minutes, we’ve both shed our clothing—not that she had much aside from my t-shirt to remove—and we’re losing ourselves in one another again.

It’s clear the danger is far from over, but this is our wedding night and I intend to forget about everything but my wife. We deserve one night of pure bliss. The rest of this can be dealt with tomorrow.

After 20-plus years of writing in notebooks, I’ve finally gotten enough nerve to do something with my hobby. Having spent my life reading everything from fantasy to horror to romance and everything in between, and the only thing I ever really wanted to do was write a book and publish it. Samantha and Matthew have provided the inspiration for me to finally see that dream through, and now I don’t see anything stopping me. Whether it’s pen and paper or typing on a computer, my imagination will never let me stop until I get my ideas out.

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The conclusion of the Youngs’ story,
Young Truths
, will be available February 11
th
, 2014!

Newly remarried, Matthew and Samantha Young face old threats and discover new ones along the way. Not even the most dedicated of friendships are sacred and nobody can be trusted. When it seems like the entire world is conspiring against them, the only thing Matthew and Samantha can trust is one another and their love. But will that be enough to save them when everything they thought to be truth turns out to be wrong?