Holly dropped her suitcase onto the bench at the end of the bed with a grunt. Each time she moved, the case got a little heavier. She supposed that was a good sign.
She slid the zipper around the case and flipped the lid open.
“Would you like any help?”
She turned and saw a very smug-looking Victoria in the doorway.
“No, thank you. You’ll only critique my clothes.” Holly returned to what she was doing.
“I’m getting better at that,” Victoria sought praise.
“You are,” Holly confessed. “I’m fine to unpack by myself, but I’d like the company though.”
Victoria entered the guestroom and sat in the armchair by the window.
“Amazing that my house was suddenly bought by some anonymous developer,” Holly mused.
Victoria turned to look out of the window. “Not surprising, it was practically falling down. I’m sure a new property there would turn a good profit. For whoever purchased it.”
Holly knew that Victoria had bought the property. It was such a Victoria way to ask her to move in. She was secretly pleased, being back under the Hastings roof was a dream. But she wouldn’t let Victoria off the hook too easily.
“Thank goodness your guestroom was still available,” Holly said.
Victoria turned to look at her seriously. “You’ll always have a place here, no matter what happens.”
She knew Victoria meant it, too.
“I appreciate that.”
Holly picked up a stack of clothes and piled them into the chest of drawers, ignoring Victoria’s sigh. She didn’t know if that was because Holly was bunching up clothes and shoving them into a drawer, or because of the low-quality clothing she preferred over the designer couture that Victoria bought her.
Of course, Victoria was doing remarkably well in other ways at accepting that Holly wanted to be independent in many things.
“What time is the gala tonight?” Holly asked.
“Eight. I intend to arrive at nine.”
“And you’re sure you want to go together?”
Victoria chuckled. “Of course. We’ve been seen out several times. Tongues are already wagging, we may as well confirm suspicions. As long as you’re sure?”
Victoria’s doubts crept up every now and then, and Holly was always quick to quash them. She dropped a handful of socks back into the suitcase and walked over to the armchair where she knelt in front of Victoria and looked up at her.
“Am I sure that I want to be seen with and linked to the most beautiful woman in New York?” Holly asked with a grin.
Victoria blushed and looked away. “Stop,” she muttered, but it was obvious she enjoyed the compliment.
Holly stood up and pressed a soft kiss to Victoria’s cheek before returning to her unpacking. She’d need to hurry if she was going to unpack, eat, and get herself ready for a gala.
“You know what they’ll say?” Victoria attempted to sound disinterested, but it didn’t fool Holly.
“That I’m a gold digger?” Holly asked.
“That I’m a cradle robber,” Victoria said.
“I don’t care what they say,” Holly confessed. “I just pity anyone who doesn’t feel as happy as I feel every day.”
It was true. She was happy every day. Overwhelmingly so. They’d been dating for just over two months. They’d quickly undone the power of attorney to provide Holly with the autonomy that she desperately sought. As far as she was concerned, Victoria still owned her heart.
Victoria had used her contacts to provide Holly with the opportunity to write for a couple of large lifestyle websites. She still worked part-time as a receptionist, but the side income was steadily growing, and she knew that before long she’d be able to work from home and focus on her writing.
While Victoria had used her network, Holly knew that she had only been accepted based on her skills. Most significantly, Victoria had understood how important that was to Holly. It would have been easy to just click into Victoria’s family and live a life of luxury without having to lift a finger. But Holly would have been miserable. She had to find her own success.
She realised that she had been caught in her own little dream world for a while, and Victoria had yet to speak. She looked up and caught the older woman staring at her with a slack jaw.
“What?” Holly asked.
“I… I’m just surprised to hear you say that. I feel the same way,” she admitted.
“I know. I can read you like a book.” Holly winked.
Victoria rolled her eyes. “Hardly.”
Nearly, Holly thought. She’d gotten very good at reading Victoria over recent weeks.
“How much will the house cost to renovate?” Holly asked.
“We’re not renovating, we’re tearing it down and—” Victoria’s eyes widened and she stopped her mouth immediately.
“I knew it!” Holly jumped for glee at being able to trick her. “I knew it was you. I told you that my room was cold, that I saw one cockroach in the yard, and suddenly the landlord has an offer he can’t refuse and gives us all one-week notice. I knew it was you.”
“You were living in third-world conditions,” Victoria defended her actions. “I couldn’t, in good conscience, allow you to carry on your recovery there.”
“You know I’m all but recovered, right? My physio is next to nothing, it’s basically an exercise class these days. And my memory, well, nothing’s changing there.”
“How do you feel about that?” Victoria asked.
“About my memories not returning?”
Victoria nodded.
Holly shrugged. “It’s fine. If I remember things, then that’s great, but if I don’t, that’s fine, too. I’m more invested in the new memories that I have now. And my journals have given me loads of information on things that happened before.”
She knew that Victoria still worried about Holly’s memories returning and Holly running for the hills. Holly did everything she could to reassure Victoria that would never happen.
It was remarkable how sensitive Victoria was. Holly would never have guessed that beneath the cool exterior lived a very insecure woman. But she loved it. It gave her the opportunity to constantly offer love and support, and Victoria lapped it up.
“Knock knock.” Gideon’s voice floated down the stairs from the main hallway. “Can I come down? Are you all decent?”
Victoria rolled her eyes and shook her head. Gideon had been teasing them about their relationship since the moment Holly accidentally let it slip.
Holly chuckled. “Come on down,” she called back.
He entered the guestroom and looked at them both with a cocky grin.
“Moving in together already, so sweet,” he drawled. “Though you are taking the separate bedrooms thing to a whole new level.”
Holly noticed the light tint of a blush on Victoria’s cheeks.
“I’m sure I won’t be down here for long,” Holly said. “When you’ve found someone you want to be with, it’s hard to stay away. Even if you feel you should for the sake of respectability.”
Victoria looked mightily pleased with herself. She raised her chin and looked towards the window. “To hell with respectability,” she murmured.
Gideon looked as surprised as Holly felt, but he gathered himself together quickly enough.
“Hear, hear,” he said. He turned to Holly. “Now, what are you wearing for the gala? The Valentino, surely?”
Although he was facing Holly, it was obvious that the question was directed to Victoria.
“Of course,” she said. “She’ll be the talk of the town.”
“She will,” Gideon agreed. “You both will.”
“I’ve been trying to convince her to stay home,” Victoria said. “To save herself.”
Holly chuckled. She walked over to the armchair where Victoria sat like a queen and deposited herself in her lap. She wrapped her arms around Victoria’s shoulders.
“And I’ve been trying to tell her that it’s all worth it and that I’ve never been happier.”
“One day, I’ll convince you how wrong I am for you,” Victoria joked.
“Never,” Holly said adamantly. “You’re the person who found me when I had nothing, you breathed life back into me. And then I found out that I’d been in love with you before I even knew who you were. I’m never letting you go.”
“Good, because listening to you both complaining about each other was such a dreary pity party,” Gideon said.
Holly looked at Victoria and raised her eyebrow. “Shall I?”
“Yes, do.”
Holly reached down, pulled her Converse Low Top off her foot, and threw it at him.
It just missed him as he rushed out into the hallway.
“I’ll be upstairs when you can behave yourselves,” he said between fits of laughter.
Holly giggled. She turned to Victoria. “I don’t think I can behave myself,” she said seriously.
“Me neither,” Victoria admitted as she reached up for a kiss.