The streets were quiet, and when Sullivan's car drew to a halt by the curb, Ophelia and Polly were waiting. He got out of the car, dropped a quick kiss on Ophelia's cheek, and then placed her bag in the trunk while Ophelia loaded Polly into the car. The entire thing was done without a word being said, and it amazed Ophelia that she and Sullivan moved together as a team without speaking.

"There is a thermos of coffee if you would like some," Sullivan informed her as he pulled away from the curb. "Did you tell the others you would be away for a few days?" He looked over at her.

Ophelia gave a slight smile. "You don't want them to think I'm running away?"

"You've been known to do that very thing," Sullivan smiled in return.

"Yes, they were still awake when I got in last night, and I informed them that I needed to go home for a few days. I also told them that they were at the top of the list for the premier. I hope that was alright."

"Considering that it's the only place we are considering at the moment, I think it was a factual statement." Sullivan drew to a halt at a red light and looked over at her as she yawned.

"Go to sleep. It's a long drive. I thought I would take the first four hours. Then you could take the next."

Ophelia nodded. They had a lot to talk about, but she could take a few hours for a nap.

When she awoke, the sun was shining, and they had been traveling for a little over three hours. "Did I miss anything?" she asked as she stretched.

"No. What did you feed Polly last night for dinner, by the way?" Sullivan met the dog's eyes in the rearview mirror, and Ophelia looked over at her with a grin.

"Yeah, I forgot to mention that long road trips and Polly is a stinky business." Polly heard her name and thumped her tail. "Are you ready for me to take over?" she asked as she looked out the window to try to identify their location.

"We're almost through Maryland. I thought we could stop in Virginia," Sullivan informed her, reading her mind.

Ophelia nodded and settled back into her seat. "Can I ask you a question? It's something that's been bothering me since last night." She watched Sullivan tense, and she hated that. They still had a long way to go.

"Sure." He said, pulling from the fast lane into the slow lane.

"Why does Reyna keep Melanie if she doesn't trust her?" Ophelia reached for the thermos and poured herself some coffee.

"That's your question?" Sullivan looked over at her, surprised.

Ophelia nodded as she sipped the lukewarm beverage.

"I don't think you understand how rare you are, Ophelia. Momma has had many assistants over the years, and the only one she, we, ever trusted was you. The others were alright in general, but when it came to personal things, we did and do, do our best to keep that private." Sullivan took a deep breath. "That's why I didn't want to screw it all up with you. I thought I was doing a good job of hiding my attraction to you, and when Sawyer confronted me..." he shrugged. "It angered me that I had failed. Then I had the dumbass idea that if we talked about it, it might make it easier."

"It didn't," Ophelia whispered. "I didn't know you were attracted to me. When I found out you were, it made it so much more difficult to ignore."

"For me as well. When I kissed you the first time, it was not enough. I wanted to know what a real kiss with you would be like. I wanted to kiss you. I wanted to hurt those that had hurt you. I wanted Marc and Giselle to know the passion I wanted from them. So, I had another dumbass idea to kiss you in front of everyone, thinking it would make me less likely to lose control." Sullivan frowned. "But I did lose control. The only thing that made me break that kiss was my phone vibrating in my pocket. Sawyer decided it had gone on long enough."

"Sawyer?!" Ophelia looked at him in surprise. "I believed that our kiss had barely affected you!"

"It affected me greatly, Ophelia. I was also upset that I had hurt you. I could see it when you pulled away." He nodded. "Hearing at dinner that night that you were deeply in love with someone didn't help my anger issues either."

"It was you I was talking about!" Ophelia defended.

"I know that now, but at the time, I didn't." Sullivan took a deep breath. "Sawyer and I have learned the hard way to hide our emotions and secrets. Shay a little bit as well. We hide them in different ways but trust me. We all have our secrets that we don't even share even with each other, and the fact that they all saw my attraction to you and knew that I was in love with you before I even admitted it to myself was a hard thing to handle."

Ophelia's heart skipped when he said that he was in love with her.

Sullivan pulled into a gas station. "I do love you, Ophelia. This isn't the place I would have picked to make such a declaration, but..." he shrugged.

"You said you couldn't tell me how you felt that night on Oak Island." Ophelia swallowed back her happy tears.

"I was mad. I was mad that someone caught our real first kiss. I was mad that everything I had done to try to keep you safe, to keep Giselle under control, had failed. It was not the time to tell you how I felt." He shook his head.

"If you had, I wouldn't have left. I would have stayed and fought with you!" Ophelia was angry and frustrated about the year they had lost. "The words matter!"

Sullivan nodded. "I know, but for me, they are hard."

"So, you also knew what Giselle was up to?" Ophelia turned her mind away from her anger for a moment and focused on the facts.

"Yes, she was angry when she found out I had brought in Paloma. I underestimated her and Kaylee's friendship. She told me that you had a history, that you had been involved with half the town, and she had even seen you in my father's arms. I informed her that her contract had been honored and that her name would be in the credits, even if her scenes didn't make it into the film." Sullivan looked out the window for a moment as he gathered his thoughts. "Even she knew you were my weakness, and she hit me where it hurt by hurting you."

"I'm not perfect, Ophelia, but I do love you so very much. This past year without you has been horrible. I did everything I could think of to find you."

Ophelia felt she had to let him know that she didn't expect him to be perfect, and the best way she could do that was to share her feelings and insecurities. "I'm not perfect either, Sullivan. I love you too, but I'm so insecure about that love. Sometimes I would dream that you would realize you loved me too and would fall in my arms, begging me to forgive you for not seeing it sooner." Ophelia shook her head at the romantic dream.

"That's what I am doing, Ophelia. I'm begging you to forgive me for making stupid mistakes and not seeing it sooner, especially when everyone around me could." Sullivan looked at her, and she could see tears in his eyes.

Unable to resist, Ophelia reached out and rubbed his cheek.

"Then I would think about how many other women have told you they desired you, that they loved you. I would be one of the millions of adoring fans. You would say that's nice and move on. You can have any woman in the world you want, someone like Paloma. Why on earth would you want me?" Ophelia felt the tears.

"Why on earth would someone as beautiful, trusting, loyal, and caring as you want someone as broken as me?" he asked in return.

"Because we love each other," Ophelia stroked his cheek.

"Because we love each other," he agreed, then placed a gentle kiss on her lips, which Polly rudely interrupted with a kiss of her own.

Ophelia smiled. "I think she's trying to tell us something."

"And we need gas," Sullivan agreed. "You take Polly, and I'll get the gas."

Ophelia nodded, and they worked together to get back on the road as quickly as possible. Stopping for breakfast by driving through a drive thru. She couldn't help but think that their love was one that was based in reality. There were no stars in their eyes. Life moved on despite their declarations of love.

Ophelia drove for the next four hours while Sullivan slept. She thought about everything they had talked about, concluding that it was not a perfect romance, but it was theirs.

They stopped again in North Carolina, grabbing a quick lunch and changing drivers.

Ophelia had downloaded the movie that he had been in with Miranda Stewart, and she watched it with her earbuds while he drove. He looked so young, and she kept sneaking looks at him, comparing how he used to look to how he looked currently. Miranda Stewart was beautiful, and she could see how an impressionable young man could fall for her.

"What are you watching?" Sullivan asked, meeting her gaze on one of her quick peeks at him.

"The movie with you and Miranda Stewart," Ophelia answered, biting her lip as she waited for his response.

"Don't bit your lip Ophelia unless you want me to kiss you." His voice was husky as he said it.

Ophelia blushed at his words, still not used to the fact that he desired her. "Are you mad?" she asked.

"About you watching the movie?" he frowned. "No, I'd be surprised if you didn't watch it after everything I told you, but why do you keep looking at me so much while you're watching it?"

Ophelia was relieved that he wasn't mad. "I keep thinking about how young you looked and that you're much more handsome now. Miranda Stewart must be kicking herself when she sees you at parties. I also get why you fell for her. She's beautiful."

Sullivan's lips twitched. "I doubt it, but I'm glad you think I'm aging well." He took her hand and kissed it. "And she's not as beautiful as you. If you had been around then, I definitely would have gone for you instead."

"I was fifteen and had pimples!"

"I'm sure you were charming, but perhaps a little too young for a nineteen-year-old," he agreed.

Ophelia took the hand he had kissed and traced the lines around his eyes and face, feeling the stubble on his jaw, reveling in the fact that she could touch him.

He grabbed her hand and held it. "You're distracting the driver. Finish your movie."

Ophelia did and told him when she was though that it was only alright.

The rest of the trip went quickly, and they arrived on Oak Island at about 8 PM. Just in time for dinner. Sullivan was able to book them two rooms at the resort, and Ophelia was disappointed that he hadn't gotten them a room to share.

Dinner was uneventful because no one was expecting them, and they both decided to go to bed early because it had been a long trip. Sullivan walked her to her room and gave her a long lingering kiss outside her door before telling her to meet him in the lobby just before sunrise.

He still hadn't told her why they were there.