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It wasn’t raining now. The sun was setting, shining through the ruins, casting her in a glow. And he wondered if he had ever seen colors before. Quite this bright. As the sunrise glinted off her skin. “Because I could never... I could never really see before. I do now.”
And it was like blinders had been ripped away. And like every wall had been torn down.
Because of her.
It was work that had started that first moment when he had seen her standing there.
And now it was... Now it was clear. All of it.
“Riot...”
“What?”
It was like seeing for the first time.
“I have lived half a life. Trying to figure out how to keep breathing. But it was only half a life.”
“Oh, Krav...”
“I would’ve not held my child. I would never have had a child. But you. You.”
And the lesson was suddenly clear.
He had met her in his weakness. In his vulnerability.
When he was feeling.
“I don’t think you can have beauty without pain,” he said.
“I’m not sure you can either.”
“That night of my mother’s funeral... Everything was wrong. I was bombarded with memories that I had spent so many years trying to keep at bay. I was devastated. For all that we could never have. The years taken from us. I felt more in that time than I ever have before. And that was when I met you. And I think it might’ve been the only moment I ever could have. And I made mistakes. Trying to protect myself still. But I couldn’t unlearn what I knew. Which was that feeling was pain. It’s taken all this time for me to realize that... I was right. Feeling, loving someone, loving something... It is pain. But that’s okay.”
“Is it?”
“No. It’s not okay. It’s terrible. But you make life worth living. These feelings make life worth living.”
“Krav.”
And it was like that moment, but cast in sunshine. As he walked toward her, as he closed the distance between them, and lowered his head. “I love you.”
She could breathe. For the first time in all these hours, she could breathe.
She had decided to hold her ground. She had decided to stand firm, stand with him. They had tried to do things apart. There had been no revelations, only accidents. Stumbling blocks.
And now... Now they were here.
Because they had fought. Because they had emerged from the fray with bloody knuckles and valiant hearts.
He loved her.
“I have all this time. I just couldn’t let myself feel it.”
“And now?”
“It’s like rain. Washing me clean.”
“I love you.”
