Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 138003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 690(@200wpm)___ 552(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138003 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 690(@200wpm)___ 552(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
Lavender, my love, I vow to love you passionately. Fiercely. With everything I am and everything I have, for now and forever. This once in a lifetime love will be the focus of my exsitence and I promise to choose you every day, over and over, and forever.
She’d cried. And then she punched me in the shoulder. But the highlight was when she threw herself into my arms.
“You’re sneaky,” she’d whispered, pressing her lips into my neck. “But I’m glad you chose to do this here. In our home.”
Our home.
A place that used to stand empty much of the year, but now teems with life and family. Those of us who live there and those who just drop by. Polly calling in for Daisy’s weekly knitting lesson or Primrose “I was just in the neighborhood” when in reality it’s about snacks and the use the basement pool.
Whit and Mimi, Archer and Heather and their broods are often here, sometimes picking up when Daisy is invited to cinema trips and playdates. And sometimes, they’re just dropping off. Those are the days when the house is noisiest. The days when a full larder, fridge, and wine cellar are useful to feed the Whittington army dinner.
Sam is always more than up for the challenge, though Lavender likes to cook too, often insisting on making me her sous chef.
She loves when I play the subordinate.
The house is rarely quiet and Lavender is rarely still, but when the door closes to our bedroom in the evening, I get her once more all to myself.
Not that I mind sharing. Lavender’s family love her, and she loves them in return. By extension, I do the same. Of course, there are some family members I prefer over others… naming no names.
I never realized I was lonely before Lavender. I only know now because I feel her loss every time she isn’t near.
And there go my pretty flowers, walking across the lawn, hand in hand. Daisy, the first girl to change my life. And Lavender, my sweet, pricky cactus, who ultimately changed it forever.
She is a picture. A work of art, her dress very different to the one she wore a year ago. She looks like a woodland fairy, all billowing gauzy lace and seed pearls, her thick, dark hair curling in soft waves down her back. I close my hand around the phantom sensation of it wrapped in my fist, my cock pulsing as though the recipient of its feathering caress.
I can’t wait to see what my love is wearing under her dress this time.
Can’t wait to peel her out of it, more like.
Her eye catches mine and she smiles a secret smile. I raise my glass to her across the garden and swallow a mouthful of elderflower spritz; Polly’s signature drink for the event.
Fuck.
Tastes like flowers and fizz. Medicinal, almost. Turning, I furtively tip my glass over a pot of Gypsophila.
“Uncle Raif. Are you peeing on the plants?”
I turn to the strident voice for one so small.
“No, Gus. I was not.”
“Daddy and me pee on the plants. We call it watering the garden.”
“That’s… a visual I didn’t think I’d be cursed with today.” Lifting my gaze, I scan the garden for Whit, Gus’s father. “Remind me to decline your dad’s next invitation when he fires up the grill.”
“We don’t pee on the barbeque,” he says in a tone that suggests I’m a deviant. “Anyway, I gots a question for you.”
“Sure, kid. Shoot.”
“Are you gunna to have a baby now that you’re prop’ly married.”
“Properly.”
“‘’Swat I said.” His face scrunches. “Aunty Lala has the dress and flowers, and you said the boring words. And Daisy got flowers, too. Weddings.” He shrugs. “They’re as boring as batships. No pass the parcel,” he says, throwing up his hands. “No bouncing castle or clowns or race cars. No party bags, neither. And you’re not even allowed to touch the cake.”
“Did you touch the cake?”
“Just this much,” he says, holding up his finger. “But don’t worry.” He licks his knuckle. “I don’t pick my nose anymore.”
“Good to know.” Looks like I’m sticking to savory today.
When Daisy appears and Gus looks perturbed.
“I haven’t asked him yet,” he whisper-shouts. Over his hand, not behind. I wonder where this kid got his lack of smarts sometimes.
“But you’ve been talking ages,” she whispers back, her eyes avoiding mine.
“I was gettin’ to it!”
“Okay, you guys. What’s the problem?”
“Daisy wants a little sister. But not mine. I already asked.”
“Well, honey…”
“I know if Lavender has a baby, it won’t really be my sister. But Lavender said that doesn’t really matter because the family you choose is just as important as any other.”
“Lavender’s right,” I say, taking her sweet face in my hand. “You are just as special as any son or daughter we might have.”
“You mean, you might have a baby?” Her expression scrunches. “I mean, Lavender might?”