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I was so proud of him and angry with myself for almost missing such an experience.
Stupid, stupid girl afraid of losing love.
I was so afraid that I chose to throw away the best thing that had ever happened to me.
As I pulled up to the building, my heart skipped a few beats as I stared at the sign over the door for the showcase.
Cinderstella—A Romantic Comedy.
Oh my goodness…
I climbed out of the car and stood in front of the building, awestruck as I stared at the sign.
Peter stepped beside me and smiled. “Pretty neat, huh?”
“How did he pull this together so quickly?”
“He didn’t. He’s been telling me about this idea for months now. He had this sign ordered back in February. He told me he never wanted to showcase his work because he never had a good enough subject to show off. Then he found you.”
I couldn’t produce any words. I couldn’t fathom what I’d done by pulling away from Damian for the past few weeks when this was who he truly had always been. Damian Blackstone was the definition of love—and he was in love with me.
I hoped, at least.
I couldn’t blame him if he wasn’t anymore.
We walked inside the building, and I gasped as I witnessed photographs of Damian’s work mixed in with Kevin’s photography of me. There were photos of me as a child, of my mother being pregnant with me, of me laughing. Of me dancing in the ocean. Photographs of me holding my stomach when I didn’t know I was being photographed. Pictures of me being goofy with Damian. Photographs of us, of our story, of love.
I was on the verge of tears staring at each photograph and reading the commentary beside each piece. Damian’s words about me were enough to make the tears fall. As I stood in front of a photograph of me laughing as I held a blueberry scone in my hand, I read the words beside it.
Beauty in its truest form.
“It’s true,” a voice said from behind me. I turned to see Damian standing there, dressed in a black suit, looking perfect beyond words. “You are beauty in its truest form.”
My lips parted, but no words came out at first. I tried again, and it cracked. I tried once more but found myself flying into Damian’s arms instead.
He welcomed me, too. He welcomed me into his arms, into his embrace without a moment of hesitation. He wrapped me up against him, allowing me to melt against his chest.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “I pushed you away because I was afraid of letting you in even more. Because I feared losing you, but I need you, Damian. I need you more than words can express. And I understand if you aren’t okay with coming back after what I’ve done. But I just need you to know I love you more than I’ve ever loved another and—”
“Stella?”
“Yes?”
He placed his hands around my face and lifted my head to find his blue eyes.
Ocean blues…
Waves of peace…
“I love you, too.”
I never understood grief completely. I never understood that having grief was a sign that you were able to love so deeply. It was truly amazing that a heart could still beat after you lost your loved ones. But that heart still had love within it, and it searched for any and every way to still feel after your loved one was gone. Even if the feelings you felt were pain.
I was now learning that any feeling that encircled love was worth feeling. Even the hard emotions because it was a reminder of how real, and how deep love could be.
Grief was hard but coming out of it was the greatest gift because you looked at the world in a different way.
It wasn’t about the happily ever after. It was about the happily ever now. Right then and there. It was about living in the moment and celebrating the joy of each day. Real love happened in the present tense, not in the past or future. It happened in every single passing second. It happened every time I was near him.
