11%8\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 57\u00a0<\/p>\n
e My Second Chance Mate\u00a0<\/p>\n
I knew this wasn\u2019t the first time I\u2019d made promises like this, but something felt different now. Final. Like I was truly ready to let go of the guilt that had been poisoning me from the inside out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I would never again let anyone steal my joy. This was my life, and I was going to take charge of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I\u2019d finally cried myself empty, when the last tremor had left my shoulders, Tristan held me until my breathing steadied. Only then did he gently pull back and nod toward another part of the cemetery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAre you ready?\u201d he asked softly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I followed his gaze and saw another headstone, smaller and newer than the others, standing alone beneath a young maple tree. My heart clenched as I realized what, who, was waiting there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jess.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We walked over together, our footsteps seeming too loud in the reverent silence. The headstone was simple but elegant, rose granite polished to a mirror shine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fresh flowers lay at its base, white roses and baby\u2019s breath that couldn\u2019t have been there more than a day or two.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan moved closer to the grave first, his movements careful and deliberate, like he was approaching something sacred and fragile.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBaby,\u201d he said, his voice breaking on the endearment, \u201cI want you to meet my\u2026 sister, Athena.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The word \u2018sister\u2018 came out strained, like it physically hurt him to say it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I watched as pain flickered across his features, raw and unguarded in a way that made my chest ache. He looked like his world was crumbling all over again, like this was the first time he was truly accepting\u00a0<\/p>\n
that she was gone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It made me wonder if he\u2019d actually been avoiding this place, if tonight was as much about his healing\u00a0<\/p>\n
as it was about mine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve always wanted to meet her,\u201d he continued, and I looked up in surprise. She\u2019d known about me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
that mattered. Of course she had, she\u2019d been his mate, his partner in every wa\u00a0<\/p>\n
They\u2019d shared everything, including stories about the girl who\u2019d been like a sister to him since\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/3\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 57\u00a0<\/p>\n
childhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While I\u2019d known nothing about her. The familiar gult started to rise, but I pushed it down firmly. I\u2019d made a promise to our parents, and I was going to keep it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know you\u2019d love to hear from her,\u201d Tristan said, looking at me with eyes that held a desperate kind of hope, \u201cso I\u2019ll let her talk to you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
What could I possibly say to this woman? How do you address the grave of someone who\u2019d been everything you\u2019d once dreamed of being?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hey, it\u2019s me. The girl who was once madly in love with your mate, who still can\u2019t control her feelings around him even though he\u2019ll never be mine.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The thought made me feel sick, but Tristan was waiting, and I could see how much this meant to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I cleared my throat and stepped closer to the headstone, running my fingers over the cool granite.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u201cHi, Jess,\u201d I said, my voice steadier than I\u2019d expected. \u201cIt\u2019s me, Athena. You probably know all about me\u00a0<\/p>\n
already, I\u2019m sure Tristan talked about me every day. He\u2019s never been able to go more than five minutes\u00a0<\/p>\n
without bragging about something I\u2019ve done.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan\u2019s laugh was watery but genuine, and the sound gave me courage to continue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sorry it took me so long to come see you. Tristan\u2019s been so greedy, keeping your memory all to himself. He wanted to hoard all your perfection instead of sharing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
His smile became more real then, less painful and more fond.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still shocked that someone as perfect as you ended up with someone like him,\u201d I continued, glancing at Tristan with mock severity. \u201cBut I\u2019m so glad you came into his life. Thank you for loving him the way he deserved to be loved.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I reached out and took his hand, squeezing gently. \u201cI promise I\u2019ll make sure he doesn\u2019t destroy himself grieving for you. I\u2019ll try my best to make sure he keeps smiling, because I know that\u2019s what you\u2019d want. Keep resting, love.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tristan\u2019s lips moved silently, and I read \u201cthank you in the shape of them. I mouthed \u201cyou\u2019re welcome\u201d back and stepped away to give him privacy for whatever he needed to say.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I watched him from a distance as he knelt beside the grave, his shoulders bowed with the weight of\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 57\u00a0<\/p>\n
everything he was carrying.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His lips moved in what looked like a long, complicated conversation, and I found myself wondering what promises he was making, what guilt he was confessing, what love he was declaring to the woman who would never answer him again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When he finally stood and walked back to me, his eyes were red\u2013rimmed but somehow lighter, like he\u2019d set down a burden he\u2019d been carrying too long.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cReady to go?\u201d I asked gently.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He nodded and took my hand, his fingers intertwining with mine as we walked back toward his\u00a0<\/p>\n
motorcycle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When we reached the bike, he handed me the spare helmet, but instead of putting on his own, he stood there looking at me with an expression I couldn\u2019t quite read.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe still have one more stop,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 57 11%8\u00a0 Chapter 57\u00a0 e My Second Chance Mate\u00a0 I knew this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}