Unlocking Adeline (Skeleton Key) (31 page)

“Every day that my heart beats in this life, she will be loved and cherished. I give ye my word.”

My father nods. He hugs Faith and William and as he bends down to hug Greta, I watch her whisper something into his ear. He nods and then stands straight. As Locke wraps his arms around me, we all watch as my dad, for the last time, use the skeleton key and walk through the door.

Just before it closes, he turns and with one final blow to my heart, he waves goodbye.

“Y
es.”

“No.”

“I said, yes!”

“And I told ye, no!”

“Well then, you better change your answer!” I yell, throwing the candlestick at his head. If he hasn’t learned by now, he is not going to boss me around. I go for another object but he beats me to it.

“Ah, ye think yer going to bash my head in? Just to get yer way? I don’t think so, lass.” He takes the candle and tosses it across the room. It knocks over my bouquet from our wedding, taking it to the ground. He knows instantly he’s done wrong, and he sees the tears well up in my eyes.

“How… how could you do that?” I whimper, my lower lip quivering.

“Come on now, I didn’t mean to hit that. Ye were trying to go to Greta’s, and ye know ye cannot.”

“But I WANT to go to Greta’s! She’s my friend!”

“And she is making ye crazy with all those reality shows she forces ye to watch! Every time ye come home yer babbling about men handing out roses, mob wives, or how I’m going to leave ye for a blasted real house wife, which, may I add, have no idea what any of that is! Yer hormones are out of control and ye are a second away from losing yer blasted mind!”

I go to swing at him again. Sadly, he catches my arm as if he knew it was coming.

Shame.

“Did I just prove my point?”

“You can’t keep me captive in this castle, Locke! I’ll find a way out! You can’t stop me!”

“Aye I will. And if ye want out, I can always take ye to the lake.” He grins, his devious smile angering me more.

“If you even think about throwing me into that lake one more time, I will take your balls and feed them to your horse!” He doesn’t show the fear that I had hoped, but only laughs at me. Since we married and he knocked me up, I have been thrown into the lake more times than I can count on my hands, fingers, and toes.

I started to learn that it was Locke’s way of, first and foremost, shutting me up, calming me down, or in the one special way, which I will never forget, forcing me to confess.

Some of you are probably gagging thinking how perfectly our story ended up. But you see,
this
story wasn’t about insta-love. The prince didn’t snatch up his willing princess, and on the way back to their big, almighty castle confess their love for one another. That only happens in fairy tales. For Locke and me, yeah we shared something. We were bonded by the mark. The two chosen. But that didn’t mean we were instantly in love. I mean maybe we had been. Okay, whatever insta-haters, we
totally
were! The problem was that neither one of us budged on the topic or admitted it. Two stubborn people waiting for the other one to say it first. Childish. I know. I’m tsking at myself with you.

I loved Locke and I know he loved me. I sound pretty sure of myself, right? But with Locke, there was no doubt. It’s just that he preferred using actions instead of words. Whether he was taking things slow and cherishing me, or consuming every part of me and making me want to explode, he told me. Just never in words. So therefore, I still refused to say it. I didn’t want to be one of those cliché insta-love stories everyone hated. I also wanted to be sure. But the longer I held out, the more irritable Locke became. He would push me a little further each time, trying to get me to break, but it was him who one day finally snapped. And by snapped, I mean lost it.

One day, while I was working on lesson plans for Maria, he stormed into the library about ready to murder someone. Concerned something had happened, “What? What’s wrong?” I stood, instantly worried.

Throwing his hands in the air, “Everything is bloody wrong!”

“Well, that’s being very specific, Locke. Wanna break it down a bit more for me?”

Locke grunts, a childish pout covering his face. “This morning, did I not please ye?”

I stop, trying to understand his question. “Um, we scared Ellie into thinking I was screaming for dear life. I think that is a clear indication you pleased me.”

“But how did I please ye?” Now I’m giving a peculiar look.

“Where are you going with this, Locke? Seriously, I’m in the middle of these lesson plans for Maria—”

“Jesus woman, just SAY IT!”

“Say what, Locke? What’s gotten into you? Maybe you should go cool off and come back and start over with this conver—”

He cuts me off by charging at me, and I squeal as he throws me over his shoulder. “Jesus what are you doing? Put me down!”

“Ye suggested I cool off. I find that to be a grand idea.”

As I’m slumped over his shoulder, I see suspicious eyes of the castle keep staring at us. “Yeah, I meant leave me where I was and come back later.”

“No, ye need to cool off, as well.”
What is he talking about?
Then it suddenly hit me.

“Locke, put me down.”

“I plan on it.”

“No, Locke, put me down NOW!” I see us approaching the lake. “I swear—”

He tosses me straight into the lake. As I pop my head back above the water, I wipe my now sopping wet hair away from my eyes. You’re gonna—”

“I LOVE YE.”

What? “Huh?”

“I said, I love ye, dammit. Why won’t ye say it to me?”

“I… I…”

“I have done everything. Shown ye. And ye won’t say it. Do ye not love me?” he asks, looking completely disheveled. It’s then I begin to laugh. Not just giggle laugh, but all out bellow.

“What is so funny?” Now he is fuming, which causes me to laugh even harder. “Oh that’s it,” he barks and takes off his shoes. He whips his shirt over his head, exposing his muscular chest. A squeal escapes me as he dives in. I try and swim away, but his arms wrap around my waist and he brings our wet bodies together. As our noses brush, Locke presses his hard self into me. He grazes his lips slowly against mine and pulls away. “Tell me that ye love me. Or I will go insane. I know ye do. Why are ye torturing me?” His face almost childlike. My heart swells and I lift my arms, wrapping them around his neck.

“Because I wanted you to say it first. To make sure you loved
me
. I wanted to know you meant everything you said that day. I needed to make sure it wasn’t out of guilt for what happened to me.”

“Ah, Addie, I would have never kept ye out of guilt. I have loved ye my whole life. I just didn’t understand it. Sometimes there aren’t words to explain people like us. The special bond we share. I know love is the proper word, but it just feels like more. I want to tell ye I feel more than just love. I just don’t know how.”

How does a man so rough on the outside have such tender words? Such power over me and my heart? I lean in and press my lips to his. As I release them, I offer him my full attention, staring into his eyes.

“I’ve always loved you. Since the first time my dad spoke of you, I knew it. That feeling never faded, and the older I got, the more attached I became to a man who I dreamt about. The one who would one day, come for me. And you did.”

“Don’t ever leave me again, Addie. I am scared out of my mind ye will get sick of my moods and want to go home. I fear the day. Because I won’t be able to go on without ye.”

Tears instantly well up in my eyes. After everything, I could never think about leaving him. I made a choice that day. I knew, no matter the sadness I would live with for not being able to see my family again, I knew it was the right decision. I knew Locke was my future. My forever. My destiny.

“I promise I will never leave you. Unless…” I pause, causing a look of panic on his face.

“… If you ever throw me in this damn lake again, you will regret it.”

And from there, it all started. Locke wouldn’t be Locke if he didn’t test me and enjoy every loving minute of it.

Our wedding was something I can only describe as, wait for it… magical. Because it was the whole package. We did marry quickly after I recovered, but that was because Locke refused to give any opportunity to allow me cold feet. If you passed high school Sex Ed, you know when two people have tons and tons of sex, things happen. And quickly. I didn’t realize it at first. Ellie did and that traitor spilled the beans to Locke. When I went to swing at him left and right for getting me pregnant, he demanded that I calm down. Hence, another episode of throwing me in the lake.

A clear indication Locke did
not
take my threat seriously.

I learned quickly that hormones were the devil. I would manage to cry and think about committing murder at the silliest things. Of course, I took it all out on Locke
. I mean he did put me in this position.
That whole takes two to tango, my ass. Yeah, I was tangoing and moaning the whole entire time, but dammit, he should have warned me. I thought we had more time before we had to bear
anything
! Either way, any chance I got, my hormones went berserk and I went off. This of course only earned me more trips in the lake.

The later in my pregnancy I got, the smarter I got. I recognized that look Locke would get when I knew it was coming. I would search out that look. Wait for it, so I knew when to run the opposite direction. But he was quick. Before the thought even passed me, I was over his shoulder, or when I got too large, cradled in his arms and I knew. I was being tossed.

And he knew I hated it.

The one thing I never stopped nagging about was the key. I missed my family terribly. I spent so much time with Greta, begging her to try, and try, and try to create a spell. Anything to conjure up that damn key. I hoped that she would have done it at our wedding. But as the day came and went, no sounds of thunder were heard. And no matter how sad I was that my parents couldn’t be with me, I married.

If you haven’t heard enough about the Book of Wren, then you’re about to hear more.
Because that bad boy does NOT lie.
The moment I was back up and walking, I demanded authority. I embraced my status in Wren. First things first, I dealt with Farah. I wasn’t some savage murderer, so I wasn’t going to request that she was beheaded. To be honest, I didn’t even know if that was possible. I just saw it on a movie once. But I did demand she leave Wren and never return. It was something that I could live with. Locke surprisingly was not happy with my easy sentence, but then again, he almost lost a valuable thing because of her.
Me, duh.
Because we are taught in
my
realm about cost saving, I summoned the same sentence on Clara, my dad’s bitter betrothed. It turned out she was in some sort of way working with Farah on sending me to the death house, hence her failed mission on freezing me. So I sent her on her lonely way to no man’s land. Told them they could share a carriage to the edge of nowhere, but it was away from here.

Once I wiped my hands of the negative, I focused on the positive. I spent every waking minute in Ferrow and helped Maria with the children. She welcomed me with open arms to help in the schools. I worked with Locke to make sure nothing like what happened with the armory in Drumberg would ever happen again. And that’s just the beginning of what I have planned for this place.

I was making a difference and it felt damn good. But the one thing I felt lacking though, was family. When Locke was off doing his duties, and I wasn’t in Ferrow, I spent my time with Greta and Ellie. The problem was, the more emotional I got, the more eating sweets and watching reality shows consumed me. And Locke felt the brunt of it. So after the cat was out of the bag with the pregnancy and I became crazier, he began shortening my visits. I was summoned to stay away from Greta, unless she cracked the code. But if you haven’t caught on by now, I don’t listen well, which I also blamed on the hormones. So I tried to sneak off any chance I got. I just wanted to see Greta. I wanted her to tell me she’s figured out a plan.

I also wanted to eat my damn weight in those delicious chocolate covered peanut butter cake pops.

“Alright, lass, no more throwing ye in the lake. But ye know ye cannot go to Greta’s. Ye are in no shape to walk that far.”

“Well, you can carry me!” I pout.

“My love, I would but ye know she will tell ye if she has come up with anything.”

“I’m just scared, Locke. I’m scared about having this baby and I want my mom. I know I have Faith, but it’s different.”

“I know, love.”

Locke brings me into one of his bear hugs and I rest my head against his chest. I do what I always do and inhale a huge gust of his scent. It always seems to soothe me. I lift my hands, slowly grazing them up his chest, knowing this is something he enjoys. With my hands doing their job, I lift my head and place a tiny kiss to the open part of his shirt. I trail soft kisses onto his bare chest, listening for his breathing to speed up. Taking one hand and sliding it downward, I know I’ve got him. He wraps his arms tightly around me, bringing our bodies as close as they can with my large stomach. His head dips and his breath assaults my earlobe.