Chapter 209 Book 5: Returning Home, To Weston

Chapter 209 Book 5: Returning Home, To Weston
A tired Isabella reached John F. Kennedy International Airport by evening to board her flight back to LA. The whole of last week she had been too busy with back-to-back book promotional events in Washington, New Jersey, and New York. However, the moment she landed here in New York, memories of what had happened five years back hit her with full force. She hated New York, but work being her priority, there was no escaping it.
She boarded her flight and closed her eyes to relax. She had never thought that ‘Faded Dreams’ would gain so much love and recognition when she wrote it. In fact, she had never dreamed of ever publishing it, but last year when Tiffany found her diary in her absence. She liked what she read and sent it to her uncle, who owned a publishing house. They published it without her permission and within a year it topped the list of bestsellers in the country. There has been no looking back since then. Although she had been furious with Tiffany when she found out with time, she forgave her.
Tiffany was her only friend and had stuck to her throughout their UCLA years, and even now. They still lived together in a rented apartment not in the dorm anymore, but in a decent residential neighborhood of LA. Tiffany worked at a law firm while studying law at UCLA. Isabella had been working at a publishing house for the last three years but had to quit six months back to become a full-time author.
She dozed off after take-off, catching up on her much-needed sleep. After four and a half hours, she finally reached LAX. Tiffany picked her up since it was late and drove her to their apartment. The moment they went inside, she jumped with joy. “Guess what, Bella?” she asked, jumping with excitement.
Isabella looked at her indulgently. “What? I’m too tired to guess. Just tell me already,” she said.
“I’m getting married,” she announced, making Isabella gape at her.
“What? Have you and Gary patched up?” she asked her.
“No silly. I’m marrying Sebastián,” she said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“What? But you hate him, don’t you?” she asked, with a baffled look on her face.
“He loves me, Bella. No one loves me the way he does. I’m bowled over by his true feelings for me.” Isabella saw the look on her face and knew that her friend was serious and whipped for life.
“I’m so happy for you, Tiffy. When’s the wedding?”
“Two months later. I need you to help me with the planning, girl.”
“Sure. Can I sleep now? I’ll start tomorrow, please,” she said, dragging herself to her room. She showered and changed into her pajamas and climbed into her bed to sleep. Unpacking could wait for the next day.
The next morning was a Sunday, and a tornado hit her when an excited Tiffany pulled her along to her house to plan her wedding. As expected, Travis and Sebastián were also there and the whole day, Travis tried his luck with her.
“Isabella, since you already have no hope with your Colton, can you give me a chance, please? I’ll open a publishing house for you and we’ll work as a team. Then we could get hitched and lead a happy married life. What do you say?” asked Travis, wiggling his eyebrows. Ever since her book became a hit, Travis had been pulling her leg with the male protagonist, Colton. She didn’t mind. Travis was a funny guy, and he meant no harm.
“You’ll be bored to death with me, Travis. Find yourself a Pernille Harder or a Vivianne Miedema,” said Isabella with a laugh. These were the world’s best female footballers, and the last time she had visited Tiffany’s house, Travis had shown her their pictures in some sports magazine. Travis laughed at her sassy answer. For the rest of the time, Tiffany updated Isabella about her own love story with Sebastián.
“You should write a book on us, girl,” she said. Isabella waved her off.
“Right now, I’m taking a break for a few weeks. I’m really exhausted.”
“Great then, take a break till my wedding,” she suggested.
Isabella nodded. “I’ll check my schedule and then decide,” she said, and Tiffany groaned.
Tiffany stayed back at her house while Travis dropped Isabella off at her apartment. “Good night, beautiful. Dream about me and think of my proposal,” he said before driving away.
Isabella entered her apartment and went straight to her room. After showering and changing, she sat down with her laptop. It had been nearly two weeks, and she hadn’t found the time to check her emails. There might be thousands accumulated in her inbox. She really needed a secretary now!
After checking ten emails, she felt like opening her fan page. That, too, should have thousands of notifications and messages. She had checked it a month ago! Seeing so many notifications, she didn’t feel like reading them anymore.
What was Weston doing now? The thought made her check his account. Nothing! No posts! Strange indeed for a happily married man. She then checked Hudson’s account and found pictures of Hudson’s twin boys. They were the most adorable little babies she’d ever seen. All the pictures had Anna Sophia in them, too. She looked so mature and beautiful after childbirth. But where were Fiona and Weston’s children?
She opened Fiona’s account, but a gasp escaped her mouth, seeing it flooded with Fiona’s wedding pictures. Fiona’s wedding pictures? After so many years? She looked closely and checked each and every picture, but to her utter astonishment; the groom was someone else and not Weston. Isabella sat dazed with disbelief. Weren’t Fiona and Weston married? Then whom did Weston marry if he hadn’t married Fiona?
Confused and shocked, she went through the notifications on her own account in a dazed and unfocused frame of mind. So did that mean that Weston hadn’t married Fiona at all? Had she committed a grave mistake by running away from her family without waiting to see what Weston actually did? She clutched at her heart, thinking and rethinking what it all meant when her eyes fell upon two messages from Arianna Willis Lennard. They were written two days back.
She gasped, recognizing the name of her friend immediately. Opening the messages, her world shattered, knowing that her dad suffered a heart attack and needed her beside him. Tears fell from her eyes after reading Arianna’s messages. She had been such a horrible daughter. After everything that her parents had done for her, she had only added to their worries. Now that they needed her, here she was busy with her own life. She really didn’t deserve their love.
However, it was the last line of the message that really pierced her heart.
‘You are away, enjoying the fruits of success without a thought for those who are crying and wasting their lives because of you.’
Did she mean Weston in that sentence? Who else could cry and waste their lives because of her? Her heart felt heavy and she shut her laptop. She couldn’t stay here any longer. She had to go home. Her duty towards her parents now that they needed her was her top priority. She was also curious about Weston now that she knew he wasn’t with Fiona anymore. So she packed up all her stuff and then booked herself a flight to Las Vegas. Her flight was in three hours, so she called her friend Tiffany to update her about her plans.
She explained to her everything since nothing was hidden from her. They knew each other inside out. “I’m going home, Tiffy. I might not return to LA. I’ve packed all my stuff. Keep in touch and send me details of your wedding. I’ll be there to attend it. Good luck with your future.” They talked a little more and then disconnected the call. Isabella looked around for the last time and then booked herself a cab to go to the airport.
At the airport, she checked in all her luggage and then boarded her flight eagerly. The thought of going home and meeting everyone made her excited, but her heart was pounding at the thought of seeing one person. Weston Gray.
There never went a minute in her life when she didn’t think about Weston. Finally, she knew she could see him, talk to him. Would he feel happy to see her? Her fingers touched the pendant that still hung around her neck. She was still his for life! Did he remember everything that they shared, or had he forgotten it all? Thousands of questions came to her mind, and she fidgeted restlessly all throughout the hour-long flight.
Finally, she reached Las Vegas, and loading all her luggage into a cab, she set towards home. At last, her mind was at peace to return to where she belonged. Her home, to Weston.