My heart swells in my chest and nearly bursts from pride and gratitude. His dad stands and turns toward Reece, who draws himself to his full height. His father has more bulk but Reece is taller and looks mean. They stare at each other for several seconds, while I hold my breath.
“Niall, I think you’d better go,” Theresa says, and with a final sneer he walks out the room. Theresa follows, shutting the door behind her, and I hear muffled voices in the hall. Reece turns to me and I see the pain in his eyes. I launch myself at him and wrap my arms around him. He hugs me back.
“I’m so sorry you had to see that, baby.” His voice is muffled in my hair.
”You stood up for me,” I say, hugging him tighter.
“Always, baby,” he whispers.
Reece is silent for the whole of the journey to... well, wherever we’re going. Because he hasn’t told me; he just says it’s a surprise.
He looks wrapped up in his own thoughts, so I don’t try to make him talk, and instead I just look out of the window. At first it looks like we’re heading toward Yellow Branch Falls, but hedoesn’t take the turning and carries on to one a few miles up the road.
After his father left, Theresa had come back into the kitchen.
“I'm sorry. I didn’t think he’d react like that,” she’d said.
“I did,” Reece had huffed. He’d finished his coffee and disappeared for a few minutes, and when he came back he asked if I was ready to leave. He hasn’t spoken since.
He pulls up in a clearing at the end of a track and climbs out of the car. I follow him.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
“Can we just walk for a while? I need a bit of time to decompress.” He takes my hand and we walk along the path between the trees and wander deep into the woods. Again he doesn’t speak until eventually we come to another clearing, a cliff that looks down over the valley just a few hundred yards up from the falls. I can see them in the distance.
He stops and looks down, his brow creased, deep in thought. I can’t take it any longer, so I stand beside him and put my hand on his back, rubbing it up and down. He gives a deep sigh and rests his head on my shoulder.
“What’s the matter?” I ask.
He turns to me, his face almost stricken.
“I could’ve turned out like that.”
“But you didn’t, darling, did you? You managed to break away from him. And now you couldn’t be further from your father if you tried.”
He releases another deep sigh. “You’re right, baby. I’m sorry. That must have been hard for you too.”
“It did bring back a few memories I’d rather not remember, but then you stood up for me and that meant everything.”
He looks out over the valley a little bit longer until something like his old smile is back on his face.
“Are you ready for your surprise yet?”
“Absolutely.”
We walk back down toward the car hand in hand, but this time not silent.
“This place is nice. I’ve never been here before,” I say.
“I’ve known about it since I was a kid, coming up here and doing a few hikes with my mom and dad before they split up, but it doesn't have any bad memories and it’s usually deserted. Much better than Yellow Branch Falls.”
“We should come up here again. It’s really pretty and the views are wonderful, and remember we have to go hiking together.” I smile at him and he returns it.
“We’re going to hike the world, baby,” he says as we reach the car.
He gets a large blanket out of the car and spreads it on the ground, then he invites me to sit down.
“What’s my surprise?”
