Silently Falling

Chapter Forty Two (Edited 6/13/2022)

6/13/2022 - Alright everyone, here is the final chapter of the newly edited version of Silently Falling! I took this challenge on nearly two years ago, realizing I had a good story that needed a lot of maturing. Thanks for sticking by me with all of the edits :) There will still be an epilogue posted eventually, but this is the end of the book for now!

Be sure to check out the bonus chapters I added today! You all were asking for a spin-off for Toby and Alyse, and I wrote a 3 chapters bonus story at the very end of this book for them! Be sure to give it a read :) 

Silently Falling: Chapter Forty Two

As we follow Toby and Alyse out of Finch Street, my mind wanders back to Libba and I quickly lock my phone without responding to Alyse and turn my attention to West.

"We should probably go see your-"

"I'm way ahead of you."

As Toby and Alyse continue straight to head towards my house, West takes a left turn to head towards his house. As he drives down the bumpy roads, he grows a faraway look in his eye, a telltale sign that his mind is buzzing with something upsetting. When I asked he admitted how horrible he had acted towards Libba. He admitted to tearing the house apart, yelling at her for never telling him who his father was, and that he left her crying there. 

"I was horrible, Sunshine," he says as we pull into his driveway. His hands clench the steering wheel as he stares at the house with solemn eyes.

"It's okay, you were just reacting to what you found out," I say softly.

"I should have controlled my reaction. Instead, I made my mom cry and made you drive out to the worst part of town just to try and calm me down and-"

I unbuckle my seatbelt as West rants on about how he should have better handled the situation so that I can lean over the middle console and gently take his face in my hands. It works and his ramble gets cut short, mainly out of shock.

"You did nothing wrong," I say firmly.

His eyes stick to mine as he swallows, "Yeah, but what would I have done if he had been there?"

My thumb gently strokes his cheek and I shake my head. He's right. If his biological father had been there, West may have done something he could never come back from. I was never there to see what West had done to Jason, but I know that that monster deserved it. Here West was faced with yet another monster that he thought he had to deal with alone, and I know how scary that can be. Even so, I've never seen what West is capable of in terms of anger, but I have seen how capable he is of loving.

"You'd do anything for your family, there's no questioning that," I finally respond. "But you wouldn't have done something that could have taken you away from Casper or Libba."

West shakes his head, the best he can with my hands on either side of his face, and reaches one hand up to hold mine, giving it a small squeeze.

"I think you're forgetting someone in that mix."

I grin, glancing down to hide my stupid oncoming blush.

"Who might that be?"

West raises an amused brow, "Do you want to do the whole 'let me know when you figure it out' thing again?"

I scowl at him and draws out a chuckle.

West's light laughter dances around the Jeep, warming my heart as if he's the sunshine in this relationship. And, in so many ways, he is. 

"You, Sunshine. I would never do anything that would risk losing you. But...for a moment I really did think that having that man be my father meant I had lost you. Hell, for a second or two I think it made me lose myself."