“Actually, before we worry about food…”
“I love you, Izabel. I love you more than life itself,” he blurts out. “And when you disappeared, I thought I was never going to see you again, and I have never been more terrified in my life. You need to understand that I can’t actually live without you. I can…you know…but I don’twant to.”
I bite my bottom lip as emotions flood through me and tears of happiness sting my eyes.
I can’t stop them from spilling over and rolling down my cheeks.
“Did I say something wrong?” he stammers, lifting his hand to wipe my tears with the pad of his thumb. “Was it too much? It’s just that…you told your brother that you…you love me. Did you just say it so he wouldn’t shoot me? If I misunderstood, then…”
I stand on my tiptoes, grab his face in my hands, and pull his lips to mine to get him to stop talking.
The kiss is an immediate relief. It sends a ripple of warmth and peace rushing through me. The kiss isn’t just a kiss; it’s our lives, our hearts, our bodies tangled together.
His mouth moves over mine as his hand rests gently on my lower back.
Heat spills through me.
Love explodes inside me.
When I finally pull back, I am smiling so wide and laughing so happily that I’m crying all over again.
“You didn’t say anything wrong, Anton. You said everything right. I love you, too. I never want to be without you. I love you with my entire soul. My entire existence.”
His eyes darken in a different way as he cups his hand over my jaw. His fingers hold me tightly as he stares into my soul.
“Then you are mine, little pixie. And I am yours. And that is how it will be for the rest of our lives.”
Epilogue - Anton
Her belly is so big she can barely move, and for some reason, I just love watching her trying to do normal things.
Right now, she is hanging on to the arm of the sofa and trying to get her foot into her sneaker.
She’s already tried to sit on the sofa and lean forward to pull the sneaker onto her foot, but it didn’t work because her belly is so big that it got in the way from every angle.
Now she’s standing, using her weight to attempt to wedge her foot in. Laughter slips from my lips.
She spins to glare at me. “You’ve been watching this whole time?!” she asks in horror.
“Just most of the time,” I chuckle.
She stretches down, almost falling over, groaning loudly, and just managing to get the sneaker by the tips of her fingers.
Then she stands up again, shoe in hand, and throws it at me.
“Hey!” I crack up laughing, dodging it easily because it was a halfhearted throw.
Izabel flops down on the sofa again and huffs loudly. “I’m a whale!” she exclaims, throwing her hands in the air.
I walk over to her, kneeling in front of her and placing her delicate little pixie foot in my lap. “You are not a whale. You are still a pixie. You just have a gremlin in your stomach who is clearly determined to be the biggest gremlin this world has ever seen.”
I reach for the shoe she didn’t throw at me and gently push it onto her foot.
“I told you to ask me when you needed help,” I grin at her.
“I don’t want to be calling you every five minutes. But I am kind of completely useless at the moment.”
“You don’t get it, do you?” I ask, putting her foot aside, snugly in her sneaker, and pulling her into my lap on the floor.
