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She smiles at me with unconditional affection. “No take backs, not even a single moment. Not in your darkest time or your hardest day. I’ll love you through it all.”
I slide the ring on her finger. My chest expands at the sight of the solitaire diamond branding her as mine. I stand and tug her hand up to my lips, kissing her ring finger.
I pull my fiancée in for a real kiss, possessively marking her in all the ways I can. To thank her for her love, forgiveness, and acceptance. To kiss away her doubts and show her I want it all.
Hope is for men with their futures ahead of them.
Hope is for those who wish under stars, or in a church, or in a desperate moment of need.
And most of all, hope is for people like me.
Epilogue
Elena
One Month Later
“No peeking.” Jax readjusts the blindfold covering my eyes. He grabs onto my hand and pulls me out of the car carefully. Somehow, I lasted the whole ride from his parents’ house without getting nauseous or scared, seeing as my eyes have been covered the entire time. Darkness doesn’t make me afraid anymore. Not after a month’s worth of therapy sessions and exposures to what I feared the most.
“Where are we?”
“Do you need an answer for everything?”
“Yes. Especially when you’ve stolen me away before I could take a bath.”
Jax laughs. He didn’t give me a chance to ask questions or shower after our sparring match at his parents’ house. My skin hums with anticipation as Jax leads me toward the unknown.
I attempt to use my other senses to get an idea of our location. Grass crunches beneath my sneakers and birds chirp nearby, giving away nothing. What in the world does he want to do with me at night in the middle of nowhere? He lifts me into his arms as he walks up something I assume is a short set of stairs. A door creaks open and plastic rustles under our feet. “Murdering me already after one month of living together?”
“I want to murder myself for agreeing to live with my parents while we figured out our living situation. End of story.”
I snort. “I thought you were happy I chose to move to London?” The moment I told Jax about my idea, he requested a refund for Abuela’s care and set her up to live in the best facility in the city while we temporarily moved into his parents’ house.
“Oh, love, I’m ecstatic. But I think my parents are cramping our style.” Jax halts.
I run into his back, and he steadies me. He helps me sit on some kind of bench before he settles right next to me, his nearness bringing a smile to my face. My heart rate increases as he leaves a lingering kiss on my cheek.
His fingers brush across my lips before tracing a path of heat to the blindfold. I’m met with a vision of Jax smiling at me as he pockets the eye covering.
I blink in confusion at the piano in front of us. A few lit candles provide some light, hinting at a house under construction. “What are we doing in a random deserted house?” My voice echoes through the empty area.
“Let me explain with a song instead.” He runs his hands down the row of keys before the sweet melody of “All of Me” by John Legend fills the air around us.
I smile at him. “I love when you get all romantic on me, even though the location screams more creepy than cute.”
Jax throws his head back and laughs. He misses a beat before picking up the song again. I love when he plays for me, the peace of him getting lost in the music making my eyes cloud from happy tears. Longing grows inside of me as an image of him teaching our kids to play the piano one day hits me. I want to enjoy every memory with this man before his illness steals bits and pieces from him. Every kiss, every tender moment, every fight we have.
A large piece of blue paper spread across the music rack catches my eye.
I lean in closer. “What’s this?” I grab my phone from my pocket and turn on the flashlight.
“Keep looking.”
I flip past the first page of a basic sketch of land. A note at the bottom mentions how the architect needs to include a bowling alley, a movie theater, and a closet with extra space for heels and shoes.
The next page makes me smile. It’s a sketch of the exterior with a patio, firepit, hanging string lights, a pool with a slide and a lazy river, and the layout for a mini-golf course.
The final sketch has water pooling in my eyes. I trace a finger over the colorful drawing of the coolest tree house, with a sign hanging in front labeled The Kingston Kiddos.
