Rent-A-Bride by Elaine Overton

between them was strangely peaceful and Amelia suddenly realized that over the past week she’d grown closer to this man than pretty much anyone else in her life. They had shared more in a few days than most people did in a lifetime.
    “You just gonna stand there all day?” He asked, never turning away from the window.
    “Not all day.”
    He finally glanced at her over his shoulder. “You don’t have to watch over me, really, I’m okay.”
    She pushed away from the door and walked toward him. “No, you’re not. But you’re not supposed to be.” She rounded the bed and came to stand beside him.
    He chuckled. “Things didn’t exactly work out as planned, did they?”
    “Not exactly.”
    He reached over and took her hand in his. “Amelia, I just wanted to say…I know all this is more than you signed on for but thank you.”
    “I want to tell you everything is going to be alright, but…”
    “It’s okay. I accepted the truth a long time ago. I just wanted him to be happy in his final days, you know? I wanted him to believe I would be okay. That’s so important to him.”
    “Will you?”
    “What?”
    “Will you be okay?”
    He stared out the window for several long seconds, and Amelia was beginning to wonder if he was going to answer the question when he finally said. “I think so, eventually”
    Tugging on her hand he pulled her to sit down beside him on the stretch. “When I was nine years old I lost my whole family in a car crash. My mom and dad and my little sister, Francis.”
    Amelia gasped. “I’m so sorry, Ed. I had no idea.”
    “That’s how Stanley became my guardian. And since then it‘s been he and I against the world.”
    She leaned her head on his shoulder. “You and Stanley against the world? The world didn’t stand a chance.”
    “I just thought if I could do this for him, fulfill this final wish…make him think that when he died I wouldn’t be alone, I just thought it would in some way pay him back.”
    “You can’t.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “The love someone gives you, you can’t
pay it back
. You can love them in return, but that’s not the same.”
    She felt his arm slide around her waist. “This whole charade was ridiculous. What was I thinking?”
    “You were trying to help, I’m sure he knows that.”
    “I hope you’re right. God, how I hope you‘re right.”
    “Look, I’m not saying…I think I can kinda understand what you’re going through. You see, when I was thirteen my father died and my mother remarried. Her new husband would…”
    Ed turned his head to look at her. “Would what?” He asked, but the frown on his face said he already had a pretty good idea
what
.
    “Anyway, I ended up going to live with my great Aunt. She was elderly, and lived on a fixed income, but still she took me in and did the best she could for me. At the time I was resentful and I don’t think I ever told her how much I really appreciated everything she did for me.” She tilted her head until she was looking up into his eyes. “After she died, I felt guilty about that for a long time.”
    “No longer?”
    She shook her head slightly where it was resting on his shoulder. “I finally realized that she did what she did because she wanted to, not because she expected something in return. Now, all I can do is try to pay it forward.”
    “If you had the chance to go back in time and make it up to her wouldn’t you?”
    “Yes, of course.”
    “Well, Stanley is still alive.” He turned his attention back to the window and the sun setting in the distance. “For now.”
    Amelia could almost feel the pain and desperation radiating off his body. There was so much she could say, so much she wanted to say and none of it would mean a thing.
    She felt his light kiss on her forehead, it was soft and warm and she closed her eyes to savor it. Then there was another. And then another. She lifted her head to look into his eyes and her heart broke.
    She’d only known this man a