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Gavin
Present
“Life is perfect,”Cora whispers as we stare toward the rising sun.
Now that things are finally back as they should be, now that the stars have realigned and I can breathe, life is pretty great. But I wouldn’t say life is perfect. Pretty close, but not quite.
I shake my head and Cora peers over at me. My smile stretches so tight my cheeks hurt. I can’t help it. This is what she does to me—shines a light on every shadow, lifts me up, makes me feel alive and whole and worthy. When I am with her, life is worth living. A life with her is worth living.
“There’s only one thing that could make life perfect,” I tell her. For some reason, I feel as if I should be nervous. Should have sweaty palms or be biting my lip or fidgeting. But I don’t have a nervous bone in my body. If anything, I have never felt calmer a day in my life.
Cora studies me intently, her vibrant green eyes glowing in sunrise. She scans my eyes and forehead before dropping to my lips. She is absolutely stunning right now and I make a mental note to see a million more sunrises with her at my side.
As if coming out of a daze, Cora shakes her head and asks, “And what’s that?” A hint of teasing lingers on her tongue.
But I am dead serious. More serious than ever. More than any other time in my life. Nothing in my life or this world matters if Cora isn’t beside me. And I want her beside me through it all. The good days and bad. Our young days and old. With children and grandchildren. I want it all, and only with her.
I peel one arm away from her waist, frame her cheek in my palm, and swipe my thumb over the soft skin below her cheekbone. As soon as I do, she leans her face into my palm and I scoot closer to her. I stare into her magnificent green irises—a perfect blend of the trees and the sea.
Cora is everything I want in my life. Beauty and charisma and spunk and passion. She holds the key to my heart and is the guardian of my soul. In the last thirteen years, she has never left me—in spirit, anyway. Every woman I looked at was compared to her. And there was no contest. Hands down, Cora is it for me. There is not a single person walking this earth I want more than her. She gives me breath and life and purpose and love. Without her, I wander the earth with no destination.
“If you were my wife,” I announce.
Cora gasps and freezes in my arms. For three of my breaths, she doesn’t breathe once. And then she inhales deeply. Deeper than I have ever heard another person breathe. “Gavin…” She says my name as if it is her dying breath.
“Cora, I have spent far too much time away from you. Without you, I am a shell of a man. Every second we were apart, I merely existed. It wasn’t until I saw you again that I remembered how to breathe. That my heart remembered it had another purpose other than beating. I dreamt of this day, but feared it would never happen. No more. Life is too short to not spend it with the person who matters most.” I spin around to face her and prop myself up on one knee. “Cora, I know what life is like without you in it. I never wish to experience pain or darkness like that again. Nor do I want you to. The day my plane touched down here, I somehow knew life would be better. I didn’t have the answers, but I felt it in my bones. And I wasn’t wrong. How could it not be kismet bringing us back together? I belong to you, Cora. And I would be honored to be your husband. Will you marry me?”
Behind Cora, the other couple on the beach have their camera turned toward us. No doubt they’re recording this. Another win in my favor.
Please let her say yes.
When she doesn’t say anything for a moment, I remember the box is still in my pocket. Maybe if she sees the ring I bought, she will realize just how serious I am. I fish the soft, black box from my pocket and lift the lid. Nestled inside the box is a two-carat, square-cut black diamond in a tall setting. Along each edge of the black diamond are three smaller white diamonds. Several white diamond chips burrow in the titanium band from top to bottom. Hugging the engagement band is a matching wedding band with larger white diamonds.
Her hands fly to cover her mouth as she gasps. A second later, she lowers them to her chin. “Gavin…” she whispers. “Oh my god.” Her glazed green eyes dart to mine and tears spill out, sliding down to her illustrious smile. “Yes. A million times yes.” Cora crawls up on her hands and knees and launches herself at me. We fall to the sand and laugh.
I wrap my arms around her body and squeeze her with every ounce of strength I possess. “Fuck, baby. I love you so goddamn much.”
After a minute, I sit us up and kiss the hell out of her. She tastes like salt and passion and forever. The best fucking taste in the world. And I am the luckiest man alive because she just said I get to keep her forever.
When the kiss breaks, I scoot back an inch and take the ring out of the box. She juts her left hand toward me and I slip the link to forever on her ring finger. The second it rests in place; the sun brightens the world more. I slam my mouth back on hers and kiss her as if she has already slipped a ring on my finger. The sooner, the better.
Forever will never be long enough with Cora. No matter how many lives we live, we will always find each other. Eternally.
After we dial down our public display, the couple from down the beach walks over and congratulates us. They offer to send us the video they recorded plus a few still pictures and I instantly jump on their offer, thanking them. We talk with them a few minutes before we shake out the blanket, fold it, and walk back to the car.
The second we get in the car, Cora’s stomach grumbles and we decide to grab breakfast. As we head back toward Clearwater, I stare at the engagement ring on her finger. She isn’t left-handed, but now she proudly drives with her left hand on the wheel. Every time the sun catches her ring just right, a halo flashes on the interior roof of the car.
Like an angel. My angel. My future wife.
After all these years, I wasn’t sure if we would find our way back to each other. But we did. And I wasn’t sure if I would see this day. This exact day. The day when Cora and I were back together and she wore my ring on her finger.
And now that the day is here, an odd flutter ripples beneath my ribcage. The sensation light and exhilarating and eternal. Does she feel this fluttering right now? The exultation of finally living the life you were destined to live.
We pull into a parking lot and hop out of the car. Although we are both dog tired, there is enough adrenaline coursing through our veins to keep us both up all day. I sidle up to her left and slip my hand in hers, loving the way it feels when the ring grazes my palm. Until it comes to fruition, I imagine no other moment or emotion or experience topping this.
After we eat breakfast, Cora starts driving us back toward her house. As much as I want to lay in bed with her curled in my arms, there is something else I want to do. “Do you mind if we make another stop?” I ask.
She glances over at me a second, then faces the increasing traffic. The wind whips her hair across her profile as I inhale a hint of her frankincense-gardenia scent. “Yeah, sure. Where to?”
