A 68\u00a0<\/p>\n
Relief flooded through me so intense it made me dizzy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you,\u201d I said, pulling her into my arms and holding her close. \u201cThank you baby, I promise I\u2019ll do better, I promise I\u2019ll be better.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She wrapped her arms around me and I felt her relax slightly against my chest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou better keep that promise,\u201d she mumbled into my shirt.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI will,\u201d I said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. \u201cI swear I will.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
We stood there holding each other and I felt the pieces of my broken heart starting to come back together, felt hope replacing the\u00a0<\/p>\n
fear that had been consuming me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d almost lost her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d almost thrown away the best thing that ever happened to me because I couldn\u2019t control my fear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But she\u2019d given me another chance and I wasn\u2019t going to waste it, I was going to spend every day proving to her that her faith in me\u00a0<\/p>\n
wasn\u2019t misplaced, that I could be the man she deserved.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI love you,\u201d I whispered against her hair.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI love you too,\u201d she said. \u201cEven when you\u2019re being an idiot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I laughed and it felt good, felt like maybe everything was going to be okay after all.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEspecially when I\u2019m being an idiot apparently,\u201d I said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She pulled back slightly to look up at me and I saw a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t push your luck,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWouldn\u2019t dream of it,\u201d I said, and then I kissed her because I couldn\u2019t not kiss her anymore, couldn\u2019t stand another second without\u00a0<\/p>\n
my lips on hers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She kissed me back and I tasted salt from her tears but also something sweeter, something that felt like forgiveness and new\u00a0<\/p>\n
beginnings and second chances.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When we finally pulled apart we were both breathing hard and I rested my forehead against hers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI really am sorry,\u201d I said one more time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
18:33 Thu, Jan 29\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 352\u00a0<\/p>\n
&\u00a0<\/p>\n
68\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI know,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I really do forgive you, but Tristan, you have to work on this, you have to find a way to deal with your fear\u00a0<\/p>\n
that doesn\u2019t involve taking it out on me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI will,\u201d I promised. \u201cI\u2019ll talk to someone if I need to, I\u2019ll do whatever it takes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She nodded and I could see she believed me, could see that she was willing to trust me again even though I\u2019d given her every reason\u00a0<\/p>\n
not to.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNow can you please eat something?\u201d I asked. \u201cYou haven\u2019t had anything all day and I\u2019m worried about you and the babies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She smiled then, a real genuine smile that made her whole face light up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI could eat, she admitted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I took her hand and led her toward the kitchen, grateful beyond words that she was giving me another chance, determined not to\u00a0<\/p>\n
screw it up this time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As we walked past the living room I saw Orion and Sarah watching us with matching expressions of relief.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you,\u201d I mouthed to them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sarah nodded but her expression was still stern, still warning me that she\u2019d be watching to make sure I kept my promises.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orion just raised his coffee cup in a small salute.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I squeezed Athena\u2019s hand and she squeezed back and I made a promise to be better.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To chase her and show her how much she means to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Promise to not compare Jess to her, because she was Athena and she could hold her ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She\u2019d proved it countless times and I\u2019m proud and grateful that I got to love for the rest of my life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Into Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 352 A 68\u00a0 Relief flooded through me so intense it made me […]<\/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-26509","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\/26509","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=26509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26509\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}