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She got out of bed, and when she moved the curtain, it disturbed a little white butterfly. She paused for a moment and looked at it, watched it flutter around the room, before the knocking became more insistent. And then she ran down the stairs, and she could see him through the window.
Jace.
She flung the door open. “How did you know that I would be here?”
“Well, it’s not the first place I’ve been.”
“It’s really early,” she said.
He took a step inside, and her heart began to throb painfully. “No. It’s really late, actually.”
“It’s sunrise,” she said.
“I just mean... I’m late with this. Everything I said last night was me running scared. But you knew that already. And I was... I was wrong. Everything I did to you was wrong. Everything I said to you was wrong. And everything you said to me was true. I was scared. More than scared, I’ve been paralyzed. When Sophia died, it was like my ability to hope that things would turn out okay was just... Killed along with her. But it’s a bad tribute, if nothing else. I’m here. And I’m alive, and I’ve been acting like a part of me died. Except I had you. And you were that bright spot. And you know what, I didn’t have to know very much as long as you were with me. It was only when I was forced to sit in the darkness of what my life looked like without you that I had to try and find the light for myself. That I had to try and see past the horizon line. And I can’t see a future without you.”
She sucked in a hard breath, and she waited.
“Because I love you,” he said.
“Thank God.”
“Yeah.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and she just hugged him. Held him for a long moment. “I really love you too.”
“Still? Even after... After everything?”
“Maybe especially after everything. Because this was a lot of work. I know it was. Because I know you.”
“I have to tell you. I wanted a sign. Something. And you know that I was desperate if I was asking for signs. And this morning... There were all these white butterflies, everywhere. And I can’t explain it.”
She pulled back and looked at him, and she laughed. “I saw one this morning too.”
“Cara Summers,” he said, his voice rough. “I can’t believe that I’m about to say this. But I think that this is meant to be.”
Epilogue
They didn’t end up rushing down the aisle. They took their time. Because Jace wasn’t afraid, and he didn’t need all those external things to prove to him that what they had wasn’t going to evaporate, and because Cara decided that she wanted to get married at the hotel, so she wanted it finished before the event.
They’d gotten married in the newly landscaped backyard, and had the reception both inside and outside.
The old restaurant and bar in the far wing of the hotel was beautifully renovated, and it was set up with free drinks for all of their guests.
And just behind the bar, on that top shelf, was Grandpa’s whiskey bottle.
Late in the evening, when the guests were all leaving, and it was Jace and Cara, sitting in the bar, her in her wedding dress, and him in his tux, she lifted a glass of whiskey up toward the bottle. “To Grandpa,” she said.
“To Mitch,” Jace agreed. “Thanks, old man. For everything.”
She smiled. “You’re even talking to him now.”
“It just doesn’t feel half so strange. Not anymore.”
“Why do you think that is? Is it just because of the butterflies?”
He shook his head. “No. It’s because of the love. Because that is a miracle, Cara, it really is. And once you believe in one miracle, it’s not so hard to start believing in all of them.”
She smiled. “I love you, Jace. You’re my best friend.”
“I love you too. And you know, you’re definitely my best friend, but even better... You’re my wife.”
