"Fin. I'm so sorry for what I did to you."

"I know," she whispered and took hold of his hand. "It wasn't you. Doctor Green explained about the blacking out."

The relief Beau felt was so intense that he needed to close his eyes. He sat on the bed and pulled Fin beside him. She was dressed in a pair of her ugly pants and shirt. He smiled as the memory of seeing her face for the first time came to him.

Beau pushed his hand into her hair and kissed her. "I love you, Fin. I love you so much. I'm sorry I reacted like I did. There's no excuse for it. I should have told you the truth about myself, but I found it painful. I wanted to forget who I was and all the terrible things I'd done to people I love. Instead, I just made everything worse."

"Will you tell me about Cody?"

"Yes..." Beau smiled. "I can do that now." He took another breath and said, "He is my twin. We're identical."

Fin grinned and ran her hand down his face. "I couldn't tell which one you were in the photo."

"We are... were builders. We did our apprenticeships at the same time and worked together. We had our own business. Our mother did the books for us. On the day he died, we were working on a two-story pole home that teetered over the edge of a dry creek. I was using a nail gun to put timber onto the external walls."

Beau sucked in a breath of courage, and then continued, "We were working on scaffolding that we didn't know hadn't been put together properly. Cody was on the other end of the building but came to my side. I didn't realise he was there until he spoke."

He drew in more air as he said, "Without thinking I had left my finger on the trigger of the nail gun. Because he startled me it went off as I turned around. Cody had knelt and was digging into my tool bag. The nail got him in the forehead but that wasn't what killed him. I wasn't close enough for it to go right into his skull. The shock of it made him unbalance and fall backwards. The scaffold rail came away and he fell into the rocky creek bed. He hit his head and fractured his skull. They said he broke his back."

Fin lifted her finger and wiped away a tear from Beau's cheek.

"He died the next day from bleeding on the brain that they hadn't been able to stop. If he'd lived, they said he would be paralysed and have some form of brain damage. They said he wouldn't be the same."

"So, it was better that he died?"

Her words were a question. One that Beau had never thought about before. Vibrant fun-loving, risk-taking Cody, who was more into sport than music, would have hated living as a cripple or worse. "Yes, now that you say that, I think it is better that he died."

"Why did you use his name?"

Beau smiled and touched her lips with his finger. Without her knowing it she was healing him further. His expensive psychotherapists hadn't been able to get him to open up about Cody the way Fin was getting him to do right now.

"I blamed myself for his death. If I hadn't let off the nail and hit him, he wouldn't have fallen backwards."

"You don't know that, Beau." Fin stroked his face again. "He might have leaned against the rail to talk to you when he found what he was looking for and the same thing could have happened."

Her gentle words were said with so much wisdom that more tears ran down his cheeks. How could someone so isolated, as she had been, come out with such a logical possibility?

"Yes, that's true, but I couldn't get past that it was my fault. I did a lot of bad things after he died. Most to myself. Drugs. Alcohol. I hurt other people. I smashed my car and my room in my parent's house. I put them all through a lot of heartache."

He scowled as he added, "As if I hadn't done enough to them already. I was selfish and thought of my pain and grief, no one else's. Mum took me to every doctor going. They put me on antidepressants. I took a drug overdose. They had me committed to a mental health and drug rehabilitation centre. They did that twice for me." Beau looked into her eyes and brushed hair behind her ear. "After the last time, I realised what I was doing. I disappeared so they didn't have to deal with me. I bought the shack with the money I'd made illegally and called myself Cody so I wouldn't forget him."

Beau gave her a gentle smile as he said, "And I took the name Compton from the vampire book because Snake had asked me what my last name was." He touched her nose with pride. "I didn't think about that when we chose that book to read. You found it. I was scared you'd work it out."

"So, your real name is Beau?"

"Yes. Beau Hawkins."

"Will you show me the pictures, Beau, and tell me about your family? Tell me their names."

"Yes. As soon as we get home." He thought about his family and Findlay's stressed-filled face. "I went home to set things right with my family, Fin. I needed to go to my family's home and make it up to them."

He touched her face and smiled. "I wanted to come and see you but Roy said you didn't want to see me. Ben told me your father had given up the drink and was looking after himself. I thought it was best if we both fixed things with our families. That's why I left you here. I wouldn't have if he still drank. You needed to spend some time with him, Fin. To let him be a good father to you." Beau smiled and said, "I think he has been, hasn't he?"

Fin nodded. "He has."

"I want to start my own business here and make a life for us. I need to know if you want us to be a family." Beau touched her swollen stomach and looked into her eyes. "I need you to trust me, Fin."

"I do trust you," Fin whispered and then kissed him.

He lay her on the bed. Beau was overwhelmed by love for her. All the misery and fear he had felt lifted from him at once.

Beau kissed Fin and buried his face into her neck. He was so sorry for all the stress and worry he had put her through. Sorry for the way he had treated her. Sorry for lying to her. Sorry for leaving her. He trembled against her, rolled onto his back and covered his eyes with his forearm as he fought to control the flow of tears.

Fin cradled his head against her breasts. Beau rolled towards her. She ran her hand through his hair and held him until he quietened.

He moved his large hand over her body; slid down the bed, put his lips on her stomach and kissed her there. "This is the best gift a man could have. I love you, woman."

Fin grinned at the ceiling. He was calling her woman again. She loved it when he did that. "I love you too," she said.

He drew her down so they lay face to face. Beau kissed her and murmured, "Fin..."

Hearing her name on his lips filled Fin with immense pride. This was how it was meant to be, how she had seen lovers on the television, lying in each other's arms and whispering words of affection. It felt so good. Fin clutched his biceps and ran her hands over the muscles. She watched his face, his half-closed eyes, his intake of deep breath as she touched him.

"Fin..." he whispered again. "I want to make love with you. Do you want me?"

She put her lips to his in answer.

As they came together a deep feeling harnessed her body. She whimpered. It felt amazing. She was scared it would stop but it got stronger and stronger until an explosion of ripples ran through her body and made her cry out.

He put his lips on hers. Fin gripped the back of his head and kissed him hard while she struggled to breathe. Beau released a heavy breath against her mouth. She felt him throb inside of her.

He lay beside her, then propped himself onto his elbow and ran his hand over her face.

Fin knew she was crying but it wasn't tears of sadness. It was tears of joy. She hadn't lost him. She had found him and so much more.

"Oh... honey. Tell me I didn't hurt you?"

She smiled at his words and shook her head. "No... you made me feel beautiful." Fin ran her hand through his hair and looked into his tender brown eyes. "Beau," she whispered, smiled, and then repeated his name, "Beau. I like it. I like your real name, Cody."

Beau ran his hand over her stomach and laughed. "Then you better call me Beau instead of Cody."

She grinned and kissed him. "I'm sorry I snooped into your things. I didn't mean it."

"Shh... I know." Beau pushed his finger against her lips. "It's okay. I'm the one who's sorry. I didn't mean to react the way I did. I'm sorry that I scared you."

Fin supported her head in her hand and ran her finger over his eyebrows. "And I'm sorry Dad hit you."

"I'm glad he did." Beau laughed. "He knocked some sense into me."

"Why did you let him?"

"Because I hurt you. I wanted to be punished. Findlay needed to be the one to do it to me. He's your father, Fin. He needed to show you he could protect you."

Fin nodded and smiled as she said, "I think he liked hitting you."

"Yeah..." Beau laughed with her. "He's got a mean punch."

Beau couldn't take his eyes off Fin's face. Because of her he had healed and no longer blamed himself the way he had. She had done this. Fin had lifted the torturous weight of blame from his shoulders by forcing him to confront it. It made him realise what a senseless accident Cody's death had been.

Cody was dead but Fin and his family were alive. He wasn't going to waste another minute of his life. Beau ran his hand over her stomach. "Do you think it's a boy or a girl?"

Fin grinned and put her hand on his. "Maybe it's one of each."

Beau's jaw went slack as he stared at her and gushed, "There's two?"

"Doctor Green says there is." Fin laughed and looked at her stomach. "That's why my belly's so big."

Beau beamed; his eyes wide. "We made two babies, Fin?"

She kissed him and laughed some more. "Yes, Beau. We made two babies."

Please turn the page to see how Beau and Fin are getting along. ♥♥♥