Chapter 55

A whole day yesterday, spent of doing a pre wedding photoshoot. Keith was such a diva about it that every other plan was pushed back, being replaced by the photoshoot.

We even went to different places, and I have to say,  I had such a fun but tiring time.

Keith can be such a perfectionist. We had to redo a lot of pictures  until I put my foot down and said no more. He made it up to me with a nice foot massage, it literally lulled me into sleep.

So tonight was my bachelorette party, the girls were adamant on it, specifically Theresa. The rest of the day belonged to Keith and I, because sadly, tomorrow we weren't going to see each other. Everyone forbid us from seeing each other.

I was going to miss him that's for sure, but we needed a day apart, so we could miss each other terribly and on the day, it'll be more worth it.

And how we planned to spend the day, we were cuddling against the couch with a warm blanket, since it was a bit chilly today. We sat on the floor, listening to music and eating pizza. Keith pushed my hair to the side, placing soft kisses on my neck.

I was seated in between his legs, leaned against his chest and loving his arms around me.

" Do you sometimes think about how we started? " Keith asks me.

" Well yes, it has crossed my mind a couple of times why?"

"No reason, just thinking about it now."



" If things didn't turn out the way they did, you know with your mom, do you think our paths would have crossed?"

He doesn't say anything, making me to semi turn, my side against him now as I look at him.

I notice that he's far gone into his thoughts.

" Keith?"

He snaps out of his thoughts, blinking at me." Yes, I truly believe our paths would have crossed and I would have been a better man to you then. Maybe I would have been resisting love but I definitely would have never let you go."

I rest my palm against the side of his face.

"Do you know what I thought the first time I saw you?"

" What?"

" I thought this man is the most handsome man I've ever seen, but I want to hear his story."

He leans his head close to mine, connecting our lips for a sweet kiss.

" I'm thankful everyday for you." He says against my lips, making me smile.

" Me too." I start humming along to John Legends ' This Time' .

Keith rises to his feet, pulling me up with him. He leads me to a more clear space where we start moving along with the music, his one hand at the small of my back while the other is joined with my own.

" The day after, we will be dancing like this." He says.

" Everyone will be watching."

" I won't see them."

" They'll join in."

" I won't notice."

I try suppress a grin.

" The day will be ours."

" The day will be about my declaration in front of everyone, telling them I'm yours as you are mine."

" This time - "

" This time everyone will know who has captured my heart."

" I think they do." I smile at him.

" Nope, the whole world needs to know." I chuckle at that, stepping closer to him and resting my chin on his shoulder.

My eyes catch Sarah, Maria and Nia standing by the doorway, watching us with gushing faces. I blush, when Sarah throws a thumbs up my way, making me to hide my face in his shoulder.

I feel him lean close to my temple." Come with me."

" Where are we going?" I ask.

" I need to do something I should have done a long time ago." He takes a step back, both my hands raised up against his chest.

"Do we need to do it now?" I ask.

" It's important to me." He says, kissing my knuckles.

" Okay, lead the way." He nods, leading me towards the exit.

" Wait, wait." I stop him, pulling away.

" What?"

" Shoes." I rush back to the living room, collecting my boots and a slice of pizza, apologizing to the ladies for the mess along the way.

Keith gives me a 'really' look, when he notices the pizza in my mouth.

" What, it's good." I try explain around the pizza.

He takes my shoes from my hand , getting down on one knee and putting on my shoes for me.

" Thank you." I hum at the taste of the pizza.

Once done, he picks me up, carrying me bridal style and walking us out of the house. When we reach the car, he places me in the passenger seat, putting on a seatbelt before closing the door and walking over to the drivers side , joining me.

I switch on the radio and my favourite song comes on. A thousand miles. I start moving my head along to the song.

Keith snickers at me as he pulls out of the gate, entering into the road. Soon he joins me, surprising me. There's singing, laughter, giggles and teasing, everything about this trip is fun.

A fun, carefree Keith has come out to play and I love it.

As time passes, we resort to listening to the rest of the music playing, I perk up when things start clicking in mind, noticing the neighbourhood we are in.

It's my old neighbourhood.

I'm not given chance to ask Keith anything, when he soon parks in front of my old house. My childhood home.

I turn to Keith, giving him a questioning look.

He faces me, face serious, eyes sincere.

" Why are we here Keith?"

" I need to do something, which I should have done a long time ago."

" What is that?"

" Get to know my wife." He says right before getting out of the car.

I get out too, closing the door and joining him in front of the car, facing my childhood home .

" Come on." He takes my hand, heading forward.

" Aren't we trespassing?" I ask.

"No, we are not."

" Did anyone ever want to buy it?"

" Yes, but I refused. I bought it and got people to look over it."

" Why didn't you tell me this?"

" Because as selfish as it was, I didn't want you to have a reason to leave me."

I stop just by the door, pulling my hand back." That was mean." I tell him, looking down at my feet with my fingers wriggling together.

" I know."

" And wrong." I look up at him again, seeing regret in his eyes.

" I know and I'm sorry." He rests his palm against the side of my face, planting a kiss on my forehead. My eyes close on their own accord at the feel of his lips, against my skin.

" Are you going to open?" He nods, turning to unlock the door.

He pushes the door open and our noses are hit with that almost old smell, though that recent paint smell is more dominant.

I step in first, being taken back to old memories.

" My home." I murmur, tracing my fingers along the wall beside the door.

" Do you miss being here?"

" Sometimes, with my mom present."

He steps in further, his eyes surveying his surroundings.

" Would you like me to show you around?" I ask him.

" I'd love that." He nods to me.

I smile, leading the way.

I take him around the house, covering every inch of the house.

The last room is my room, and soon a fond smile makes it's way onto my face.

" And this is my room." I say, gesturing with my hand.

" This is where my baby grew up."

I blush at that.

" I was quite colourful when I was a teen." I tell him, pointing at my mix of colours on the wall.

" You're full of life, that's who you are."

"So, disappointed?"

" What for?"

" My life has been pretty much simple, nothing really exciting."

" You are more then enough for me, you compliment me and your simplisity is refreshing to me."

"Good, because the day after, you're stuck with me."

"Oh Lord help me." He staggers back as if in shock.

"Stop." I swat at his arm, giggling.

"So were you one of those teen girls, who stalked their neighbours through a window?" He smirks at me.

" You mean my neighbour, Joe?"

The smirk slips off his face.

" You had a crush on Joe?"

I laugh at him." No, I never did. And I've never had any real crush, I was pretty much a loner." I shrug, walking past him and out of my room.

I settle down on the stairway, memorising the times when I was young, I would sit on the very stairway, waiting for my mother to come home from work.

I feel Keith settle down next to me. Shoulders touching.

"Tell me something, a memory, anything."

" Okay, on every Friday night, whilst my mother would come home late, I would spend my time dancing all around the house in only my knee high polka dot socks, granny panties and my old blue T-shirt."

" I can just see it." He leans back on his elbows. " What type of music did you listen to?"

"Golden oldies, a bit of rock and sometimes powerful love songs, imagining singing to my Prince charming."

" I liked the Bee Gees."

I chuckle at that.

"Staying alive." I sing in a high pitched tone.

He laughs at me.

"You know, I might just ask you to play out the whole scene for me right?"

"Not a chance mister." He bumps his shoulder against mine, a soft smile on his face and I return it.

Evening........



" I can't believe you guys have dragged me throughout the city and now you won't let me go and rest." I tell the girls, leaning back on the couch.

" Oh come on, we are young and this night is about our youth, tonight you're a free woman!" Theresa tells me, drinking her champagne.

" And where would that be?" I roll my eyes at her.

" Well we're going to crash the guys night."

" What?"

" Yeah and I overhead Mr Salvatore talk about racing?" Nia says.

Racing?...... That's why he used his bike tonight. Oh gosh, Keith's probably racing tonight.

"What if he gets hurt?" I ask worriedly.

"Don't worry, Keith's a big boy. He can take care of himself."

"You say that now, but if so much as a scratch is on him, I'm breaking all rules tomorrow and keeping him under my watch, with no outside contact, until the wedding day."

"Ooh someone's eager." Theresa wiggles her brows at me and I roll my eyes at her, for the second time now.

So we'd had my Bachelorette party, we hired a special bus to take us around. They literally dragged me to a club, which I was uncomfortable about, we bought second hand disguises and crashed a wedding, went to a bar full of scary and big bikers, had a small Karaoke night where we won a lot of money because we ended up dancing on the bar.

Thank God we still had our disguises on and no one recognised me. I would have never forgiven myself if Keith ever found out.

And now I'm already keeping secrets from him.

Good thing I'm never doing that ever again .

We finally arrive at our destination. We've changed back to the clothes we first wore for the night. We stepped out of the bus, telling the bus driver to wait up for us.



I notice that we are at an abandoned dirt site and we are separated by a wire fence, from where there's activity.

We are not stood too far, therefore I'm able to see Keith in his leather jacket and standing by his blue bike.

I watch him get on it, putting on his helmet  just like the rest of the four guys beside him. There's a small audience watching, their drinks raised up high into the sky.



A female in black tights and a tight bra like top, with knee high boots walks right into the front of the racers.

She's basically strutting to the front.

"She'll arrive tomorrow." Riley rolls her eyes at the woman, who now swings her hips side to side, slowly turning and wanting everyone's attention on her.

We watch her play with her hair, the scarf in hand and do some serious moves, I don't know who she's trying to seduce.

"This is so exciting, do you think Keith will win?"

" I just hope he'll be fine." I say anxiously, biting at my thumbnail.

The lady raises the scarf and soon drops it. Given the go ahead, the bikes take off and dust trails behind. I'm not able to see much but am able to hear the bike noises.

My heart could leap out of my chest at any moment, I'm gripping the fence with all my strength and biting at my lips.

I just want this to be over already.

The bikes make a circling movement around, coming back again to the start, finishing the race. A smile of relief threatens to take over, watching Keith take the lead and sweep right through the finish line. As cheers erupt, all of a sudden Keith makes no move to stop and his bike heads straight for a fenced wall.

Dust makes it hard to see anything, that the only thing I can do is listen, with my heart in my throat.

"Oh no." Theresa murmurs.

All I hear is a big crash and that's all it takes for me to scream.