The Story of Us (Carnage #1)

by Lesley Jones

I was eleven years old, but I knew without a shadow of a doubt I was staring into the eyes of the boy I was going to love forever.

And me? Well, I’m named after my dad’s favourite song, “Georgia On My Mind” by Ray Charles. So, I got the name Georgia Rae, but living in a house full of boys, it got shortened to George.

“You, Gia, are a flirt. But one day… when you’re old enough, one day it will be our turn. Our time.”

“I’ll love you forever, G. Wherever I am in the world. Whatever I’m doing, it’ll always be you. I’m yours for as long as you want me. For as long as I’m good for you, I’m all yours.”

“What does that mean? For as long as you’re good for me? What does that even mean?”

“Show us your tits G?”

He took my hand, placed his other hand on the top of my head so I wouldn’t bump it, and guided me out of the car and up the stairs to my flat.

Are you fucking kidding me? He’s the perfect gentleman 😭

“There’s only him. It will always be him. There’s no room for anyone else. Wherever we go with this, you need to understand that my heart is sealed and there’s only him that’s locked inside.”

“But you don’t know me, Georgia. You haven’t had a chance to get to know me. If you let me, I’ll blow your mind, baby.”

“There’s no one else. There never was. It’s still only ever you.”

Everyone we wanted to be there was in the same place at the same time for a change, so we got in touch with a Justice of the Peace, got ourselves a licence, and were married just as the sun set on St. Pete’s beach on the twenty-seventh of October. It was a simple service. We wrote our own vows, each of us struggling to get our words out with the emotion of the day bearing down on us. Sean being the lyrical genius out of the two of us had everyone in tears in an instant. “Georgia Rae, I love ya. I’ve loved ya since the day I saw you hanging upside down on the monkey bars, flashing me your pink knickers. You were eleven years old, and you stole my heart from my chest and the breath from my lungs. I only ever feel complete when you're near. You own me, Gia, heart, mind, body, and soul, completely. I love you more than all the stars above, and I will continue to love you even after I die.

“Sean, from that very first day I set eyes on you, I’ve known you were my one true love. You own my heart, my mind, my body, and soul, and I will love you till I die. I’ll spend each and every day trying to be the wife you deserve. You make me a better person. Without you, I’m lost and incomplete. Please, will you be my husband because there’s no one else, there never was, it’s still only ever you. I love you, Sean McCarthy. Please marry me.”

“No, I loved you because I couldn’t not. I loved you because it was what I was put on this earth to do.”

“Our eyes they met, and we were done; no one else felt the effect, No one else knew from that moment, we would always be one. Now, after loving you for all of these years, Sharing some heartbreak and some tears. I no longer know where I begin or where you end. You’re my lover, my life, my wife, and best friend, And I don’t know where you begin or where I end. Our life, our love, the bond that we share. It means nothing; it’s pointless if you’re not there. They broke us once, they kept us apart, But we fought, and we found a way back into each other’s hearts. And just look at us now, stronger than ever, and soon we’ll be three. We’ve made someone new, a mixed-up bundle of love, Made from a little bit of you and a little bit of me. You’re my lover, my life, my wife and best friend, And I don’t know where I begin or where you end. You’re my lover, my life, my wife and best friend. Now with that little bit of you and me that grows in your belly. The story of us will never end.”

Beau Francis McCarthy was delivered at 6.08 p.m. on Friday, the first of December 2000.