Dedicated to @damsel_in_boredom for the cover at the top! Thank you💓💓

Ironic because I saw the person I based Maddy off of on Friday night :)

Chapter Thirty-Seven: "Your Town."

"THIS IS SO COOL." I said hours later, floating in the water of the indoor pool. On one side where the steps up to the upper platform near the door, on the other sides were windows that showed the land behind the castle; the trees, the covered outdoor pool and more. It was amazing. I could just tread water and stare at the view for hours.

"I know," I heard Sam say behind me. The motion of the water shifted as he moved, treading water beside me. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah it-oh my God." Suddenly I was dragged into his arms and I let out a small scream at the shock of movement.

Sam laughed and I put my hands on his  bare shoulders, his skin warm. I lifted myself up to give me an advantage over his height. "I caught you by surprise, didn't I?"

"Stop laughing." I told him, cracking a smile. I pushed back the curls that were flattened on his face. He could tie his hair back to create a top knot. I wonder how he would look like with that.

"Okay, okay," He turned us so we could both look at the view ahead and I rested my chin on his head letting out a sigh. "Let's stay like this forever."

I smiled against his head, tracing the surface of the water behind him. "If only we could."

"Thanks for the reminder," Sam muttered, looking up at me before flicking water in my face.

I twisted my head away, untangling myself from him. "Are we really going to play that game?"

"Of course." He winked playfully and I rolled my eyes, sending a splash of water in his direction before bolting the other way.

"Hazel," He yelled, swimming after me and just when I thought I was out of his reach I felt a hand on my leg pull me back. I resisted the urge to kick at him and let him hold me back into his arms.

"You really thought you could get away?" He asked.

"I could if I tried." I told him, linking my arms around his neck.

"But you didn't." Sam's hands lifted my legs up and wrapped them around his waist, the water up to his neck.

"Of course not." I whispered to him feel one of the hands against the string that held my bikini top together.

"Why?"

"Because I don't think Caleb would let me." I admitted, thinking back to the number of messages I had been getting from Caleb this morning.

Sam laughed. "He would have been here you know? Even though it's just be us two."

"Why didn't he come? I wouldn't have minded at all. I miss him."

"He told me it was better for us to be together and he had some type of conference in New York anyway."

"I see. This author revelation has been crazy, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, he hasn't had a break. He has people asking him questions left and right. Last week, he was in Matua, right? And all he did was walk out of the hotel he had been staying in and there were dozens of girls waiting for him outside."

"What did he do?"

"He spent the day with them. And there was more waiting to see him. He had been planning to go driving that day but stayed back for them."

I smiled. "Caleb's a great guy."

"Yeah, yeah, he's your prince charming." Sam said, his eyes going back to the windows.

"Don't brood," I cupped the side of his face. "You have a great role in my life of fairytales. You're the damsel in distress. Doesn't that count for something?"

"Should it really count for anything?" And the look he gave me was so funny I just had to burst out laughing.

"Relax. You're the king in another story."

"Does that mean you're my queen?"

"Yeah," I smiled. "I get to boss you around."

Sam narrowed his eyes at me. "What makes you think that because you're the queen means that you're going to be the one to control me?"

"In chess, the queen can go beyond the distance of the king. I have more moves in the kingdom."

"That's s true," Sam nodded slowly. "A king is nothing without his queen."

I made a face this time. "You're becoming really cheesy, you know?"

Sam laughed and there was silence between us before he started talking again. "I meant what I said about wanting to stay here forever." I heard Sam mumble.

"Yeah, I know," I said, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"I want to spend the rest of my life like this," I looked at him and his gaze drifted off, his thoughts somewhere else. "I want to feel like this every day."

"How do you feel like right now?"

"I don't feel like I'm carrying weights on my shoulders. I don't feel stressed out by school or football or anything. I feel free- almost liberating."

"You deserve to feel this way." I told him, pressing my hand on his jaw so I could tilt his head up for me to kiss him.

He kissed me back the way I wanted to be kissed by him. With love. His hands reaching higher up my legs to my thighs to press me closer to him. My fingers of one hand moved into his hair while the other covered over his heart. His heart that was beating as fast as mine in the heat and passion of the moment. The moment that made me feel like anything was possibly with him and only him.

His lips traced down to my jaw, to my neck, leaving a path of goosebumps in his wake. "Sam." I whispered, feeling his hands move higher up my body and we moved in the pool. My back was pressed against the wall and the passion was on overdrive. I dug my fingers back into his hair to press his lips back to mine when the kiss became frantic.

"Fuck," Sam pulled back just a fraction, brushing his lips against mine teasingly. "Do I kiss like your King?"

"Kiss me like you do, you doof." I smiled at him, about to bring him back to me when the sound of some clearing their throat interrupted us.

"Samuel. You could have at least called to let me know you were coming to visit again."

My face turned red and I moved to back away from Sam who only tightened his grip around me, a content smile on his face. "It's good to see you too, Grandpa."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Sorry you had to see us, in, um,-"

"A compromising position, you might say?" Sam's grandfather suggested as we moved walked down the spiral staircase. I moved slowly to talk to Sam's grandfather, following his pace down the stairs.

Sam, Vince and him all looked like an older version of one another. Although, there were clear differences between Vince and Sam's grandfather. They all had the dark hair and the intensity and intimidation but the thing that stuck out the most to me was the way that his eyes were the exact same as Sam's.

"Yeah." I answered, shaking my head out of my thoughts of all their appearances.

"He's spoken a lot about you. I was beginning to think that you didn't exist."

I laughed. "He's spoken a lot about you too. He really cares for you."

"I couldn't tell since he's only visited me once in the months he's moved back to England."

"I visited you twice. What are you talking about, old man?" Sam said with Soccer right behind him, running around his feet.

"Samuel."

Sam grinned, giving his grandfather a hug. "I didn't think you would be here."

"I fell a bit sick so I held off my plans. Any reason you planned to visit?"

"I just wanted to show Macy around."

"A trip down memory lane?"

Sam licked his lips, his eyes looking around the corridor. "Something like that."

"Off you go then," Sam's grandfather was already moving to another hallway. "I'll be in the east wing for now if you need me."

"East wing?" I mouthed at Sam when his grandfather had disappeared.

"You can explore the house later," He held my camera in his hands and picked up Soccer with the other. "Let's go out."

"I want a chocolate bar." I told Sam about an hour later, fixing the hat covering my head. My hands were in my pockets and I was sure my nose was red because of how cold it was outside. "Is there a convenience store around here or something?"

"We're about to go check out places and you get the chance to take aesthetic pictures but you want to go to a convenience store?"

"Yes." I stared at him. "Your photographer needs energy for the long day, right buddy?" I looked down at Soccer, watching him trot over to a clear spot next to a tree and started peeing against it.

"You really want a chocolate bar?" Sam asked me. I nodded and he sighed. "I'll be right back. Stay right here."

"Where else am I going to go? This is your town, not mine."

"Wherever Soccer drags you." Sam said as he walked away.

I watched Soccer move around and I let him trail after a kid who was walking. He tapped his paws against the boy's leg to get his attention. The kid's face lit up and he started petting Soccer as I walked over to him, holding onto the leash.

He looked up at me. "Is this your dog?"

"Yeah."

"What's his name?"

"Soccer."

The kid looked at me in confusion. Almost like everyone did whenever they learned of his name. "Soccer? Like the sport?"

"Exactly."

"Humph," The boy crouched down to Soccer. "I like it."

I laughed. "I like it too."

"Can he do any commands?" He asked, standing up and he taking a step back as he looked at Soccer. "Sit."

Soccer stayed in his position, wagging his tail. "He can't but he's pretty great anyway."

"Here's a chocolate bar." Sam said, coming up behind us and handing it over to me. He looked down at the boy for a second before he spoke up. "Hello there."

"Hi," The boy stared at Sam hard, tilting his head. "You look really familiar."

"Ever heard of the Cahills?"

"Yeah, they're the people who own that castle up north. Everyone knows them around here."

"There's you answer on why I look familiar," Sam put his hands in his pockets and before the kid could speak further on that he cut him off. "Shouldn't you be in school? It's Friday."

The boy nodded. "I go to a private school not far from here."

"Let me guess," Sam started. "You snuck out to get yourself same candy?"

The boy grinned. "They never notice."

Sam laughed. "I like you. Want one?" He handed the kid the chocolate bar and he gladly took it.

"Thanks."

"No problem. See you around." The boy nodded before walking away.

"You bought another one?" I asked Sam.

"I bought you another one in case you get hungry before we go out to eat but he seemed nice enough."

"Why did you ask about the school?"

"Because your boyfriend attended the very same school when he was younger. C'mon." He grabbed my hand and started pulling me along. We passed along buildings until we were standing in front of a school building, gates surrounding the land the large building occupied.

"This is the school you went to as a kid?" I said in awe.

"Yup."

"My old school looks like trash compared to this. This is like a part of Hogwarts." I commented hearing kids talking and laughing from a distance.

"May I remind you that this is a private school? C'mon, I can show you inside."

"How? The gate's locked and school is in session."

Sam raised an eyebrow at me. "Hazel, don't ever doubt me. There's an opening around the corner."

He was right and we literally walked inside the school like it was nothing. So much for security. Some of the kids looked at us as we walked past the hallway that Sam was dragging me down quickly. "What are you doing?" I whispered at him, looking back to see Soccer running right by my side and I kept a hand on his leash.

Sam laughed, looking around when a cluster of children stared at us. "Aren't you Sam Cahill?"

Sam nodded, smiling at them. "Yeah. If you'll excuse us for a second."

"Can I get a picture?" Another kid asked.

"Is this your girlfriend?" Another person asked and I bit my lip, wondering if he was going to answer the questions.

"Okay," Sam put his hands out. "How about I take a picture with all of you and we forget this meeting ever happened so we don't get in trouble? Is that good?"

They all nodded and once the picture was over with Sam smiled at them and continued dragging me down the hallway, trying not to be seen by students and teachers. "Here." He went through a hallway and stopped in front of a glass cabinet.

I stared at the picture frames inside and couldn't help the smile that came onto my face. "Is that you?" He was probably ten or so and he was smiling at the camera, a soccer ball in his hands. I read the words at the bottom of the plaque. "You won primary athlete of the year?"

"Yup," Sam said smugly before reaching down to grab Soccer. "You proud of me little guy? I know she is."

"You were probably the cutest kid I've ever seen." I said, looking at the other pictures in the frames of people I didn't recognize.

"Look at this one. Look who the senior athlete was." Sam pointed up to another picture and my jaw dropped.

"Is that Toby?"

"Yeah." Sam laughed loudly, staring at the picture.

"He looks so scrawny, oh my gosh." I took my phone out, taking pictures of practically fetus Toby.

"This place holds so many memories." I heard Sam say. I glanced at him and he was looking around the hallway with nostalgia possibly clouding his thoughts.

"Hey," I grabbed his hand positioning him in front of the cabinet, making sure he wasn't in the way of his picture. "Stand right here."

"You're taking a picture of me?" Sam asked.

I took it of him in mid-sentence anyway, looking at how it turned out. "Yeah, the young and the older."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When we were back to the castle-I mean house, I had found Sam's grandfather sitting on a bench beside a fountain outside. The fountain consisted of a statue angel, water spitting up from its mouth. The air outside was freezing but that didn't seem to bother Sam's grandfather because he looked like he enjoyed being outside.

He looked up at me, gesturing for me to come over and I took a seat next to him, shoving my hands into my jacket. He laughed. "Is it as cold as it is back home for you?"

I shook my head. "It's about the same. There's a lot more snow back where I'm from that's for sure."

"Really?"

"Yeah, although last year this time it was getting warmer and the weather was weird. Haven't you been before?"

Sam's grandfather laughed but there was nothing funny about the way he did it. "I'm not genuinely welcomed there most times. My grandchildren usually visit me here instead."

"Do they visit occasionally?"

He nodded. "James- my second eldest and his family used to live here for a while before their eldest moved to Manchester with Sam."

"Peter, right?"

"Yes Peter," Sam's grandfather chuckled and this time it was out of laughter. "He's an interesting boy."

"I know. He can be a little crazy but he's a good guy. Your family is really big, Mr. Cahill."

"Mr. Cahill? Don't call me that Macy. It's a title that is being carried among three of my children."

"What should I call you?"

"Charles, or if you feel like that is too formal you can call me Charlie."

"Charlie," I tested it out. "I like it."

"You don't come from a big family?" Charlie asked me.

"Um, it's just me and my younger brother. My dad has a brother and my mom was an only child."

"Was?"

"She passed away when I was nine. Car accident."

"My condolences. I lost my other half years back. Before we had any grandchildren, when Vincent was 18."

I knew that Sam's father and grandfather didn't have the greatest relationship but I didn't know that most of that was possibly caused by Sam's grandmother's death. Charlie didn't want Vincent to marry Elizabeth back then and I can't help but think that the reason he did that had to be with his wife. Maybe.

"What happened?" I asked quietly.

"Cancer. I suppose it made me a bitter man." It probably did.

"The way Sam speaks of you doesn't make it seem like you're a bitter man." I said.

"Samuel is different. That boy has always been different when he was younger in comparison of his family."

"I heard that he is kind of like you."

"He is. He calls me more than my own sons and daughters do."

"He cares for you."

"And I him. I wish that one day he'll be at the highest peak of his life."

"Doing what? Playing soccer? In the Olympics? On a team? Living his dream?"

"No. Being happy. Every time he's come here before-around last year and the year before that he has never been happy. But then he brings you along and I'm certain now he'll reach it. He's been holding himself back from ever living his life to the fullest," Charlie started coughing for a second before clearing his throat. "He's has never gone to her grave. Did you know that?"

"Never?"

"Never. He could go anywhere. Her old room, his old room, retrace the steps of the last time he saw her living, anywhere but her grave. But he's been doing better."

I nodded. "He has."

"Macy, the one thing that is obvious about Samuel is that after almost three years he had finally allowed himself to grieve and move on. Have you noticed that?"

"I have and I'm proud of him." I told him.

"How was she like?" I asked Charles. Charles suited him better than Charlie, I decided. 

"Bethany? Ever since she was a child she was jubilant. A bright girl. She had such a bright future ahead of her. Don't tell anyone but," He leaned in closer to me. "She was my favorite grandchild."

I cracked a smile and Charles laughed before he sighed. "Everyone loved her. It was hard not to."

"What are you two talking about?" A voice came out and Sam stared at the both of us on the other side of the bench, looking like he had just thrown on his jacket as he came out.

"Nothing." Charles smiled at the both of us and stood carefully. "Alright children-"

"We aren't kids, Grandfather." Sam interrupted.

"Shut up," Charles told him and I held in my laughter at the irritated look on Sam's face. "And just because you said that, Macy?"

"Yes?" I asked him with a smile on my face.

"Would you like to see some of Sam's baby photos?"

"She's already seen some." Sam rolled his eyes.

Charles was already moving towards the house. "She hasn't seen the embarrassing ones we have of you here."

____

SHAMELESS SELF PROMO:

I started that rant book I was talking about last chapter because I could :)

It's called Nikki's Knickers In A Twist (don't ask about the title)

-nikki✨