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What have we got to lose? It’s like he said, it doesn’t have to be forever. It’s yet another adventure to add to my mental scrapbook of amazing things that have happened between me and Chase. I find myself grinning.
“Let’s do it!”
He squeezes my hand. “Are you sure? We don’t have to do anything you’re not comfortable with.”
“I want to do this,” I say. “Not just for the company, but for you, for us, for our family. I’m excited to see how this goes.”
Chase stands up and moves around the table to kiss me. I kiss him back, and this time, the kiss doesn’t end. He picks me up and carries me to the bedroom and as we make love, I dream of our future together in England. It’s a dream I didn’t know I had until now, but as it flourishes, I realize how much I want this.
Once again, Chase is giving me the world.
Extended Epilogue
Months later…
Chase
It’s colder here in England than I’m used to, but the house we’re living in by the beach is perfect. When Faith found it on our house hunt, I knew it was going to be ours right away. It’s a large cottage with exposed brick and a real fireplace. A far cry from my apartment in San Francisco, but that’s exactly why we love it. It’s different from anything either of us has ever known, but the thought of raising our child here fills me with happiness.
It’s been a long day at the office, and I’ve just arrived home to find Faith sitting in the garden, looking out to sea. Eastbourne was the perfect place for us to settle, close enough to London to travel for work a few times a week, but right on the coast. Faith looks so at home here that it’s hard to imagine after a few weeks here that she’s always been a city girl. She turns to smile at me as I massage her shoulders. She’s at full term now and the baby is due any day now. Still, she doesn’t seem nervous. She’s been saying all along that her incoming motherhood feels like the most natural thing in the world to her.
“Hey, baby. Don’t you just love the sound of the waves?” she says dreamily. I kiss the top of her head.
“Not as much as I love you.”
She stands up to kiss me and I sigh into her lips. I wish I could spend every hour of every day with her. She’s so damn perfect. Every day, I feel as though I love her a little more. With everything she does, I notice new things that I adore. The way she tilts her head back when she laughs. The slight tremor in her breath every time I touch her. The way she says my name like it’s sacred. I can barely believe this enigmatic woman is mine forever.
“I want our wedding to be on the beach,” she says with a dazed smile on her face. “I just think it would be beautiful, walking barefoot in the sand toward you, ready to take our vows. I imagine our baby boy in a little suit when he’s old enough to walk down the aisle too, and I think that sounds perfect.”
I smile. We haven’t planned our wedding yet. Though I’ve been desperate to marry her since the day we met, we decided to wait until our baby boy can be a part of the wedding ceremony too. I kiss her cheek.
“You know what, baby? I don’t care where our wedding is. You can have it on the beach if that’s what you want most, all I care about is that someday, I get to put a ring on your finger and make you mine forever.”
She cocks her head to the side with a smile. “But Chase, I’m already yours for life. You know that.”
“I do,” I growl. I kiss her again, feeling the cool air wash over us as we kiss. It hits home once again that I’m the luckiest man alive. Because it’s true that I already know she’s mine for life. I don’t need a marriage certificate to tell me that. Some couples need the wedding to confirm their commitment, but not us. No matter what happens between us, I’ll never leave her. No matter what life throws at us, I’ll always be by her side. And no matter how life tries to force our love apart, it won’t succeed. I look deep into her eyes and I know that our love is eternal, whether we get married or not. Someday, we will, and it’ll be a beautiful day I’ll treasure forever. But moments like this, just the two of us, are just as good. Moments, even where nothing is happening, are still moments to remember forever when I’m at her side.
