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“Forever,” he sighs, pulling his mask down again. “You’re… not sending me… away again.”
I lean in, cupping his face. “I wouldn’t dare. Even if I did, you’d come floating right back to my shores.”
“You’re… damn right… I would.” He smiles at me, groggy but blessedly alive. “Now, kiss me… while the nurses aren’t looking.”
“I’m not supposed to raise your blood pressure.”
He tugs me toward him, and his lips are on mine before I can resist. And once I feel that graze of his mouth, Ican’tresist. I kiss him with a yearning I’ve never experienced before. I kiss him like he really is the beginning and the end of me. I kiss him like this is the start of the rest of my life, and as long as I love him with all of my heart, cherishing every day we get to have together, no one, not even fate, will dare to take him away.
On fresh white pages, I’m finally starting anew, to tell the never-ending tale of a love I didn’t expect, with the man who reminded me that I have a life left to live. A life so big that it can’t be lived alone. A life so big that, when our days are done, we’ll look at one another and know, without a doubt, that we didn’t waste a moment.
EPILOGUE
ROWAN
Three Months Later…
Ithought the cabin on Pontchartrain Lake might’ve been nice for the wedding, and I’m pretty sure Summer would’ve gone along with it if I’d asked… until Cybil saw the cabin and nixed the idea with just a look. Lyndsey was more vocal, turning to me and saying, “You sure you’re recovered from the accident? Nothing wrong with your head?” I still think the cabin is quaint, and so does Summer, but I’m glad we settled on The Chevalet.
Even I, a wedding novice, can tell it’s something special. All the walls are draped in white fabric that’s studded with little glowing lights, and I feel like I’m inside a giant, fancy tent, though Oscar told me I probably shouldn’t say that to anyone when I mentioned it to him.
“Nervous?” Oscar nudges me in the arm as I wait. No one told me there’d be so much waiting at a wedding.
I shrug. “Excited.”
“How are your feet?”
“Toasty warm.” I smile.
There were some concerns that Summer and I were moving too fast, but what’s fast when you’ve recently had a near-death experience? I spent almost a month in the hospital recovering, and by the time they let me out, I was ready to start living big. And what’s bigger than moving in together, proposing to the woman you love and beginning the rest of your lives together?
I still have a few aches and pains here and there, but the doctors did a sweet job of putting this Humpty Dumpty back together again. Mostly, I still feel bad for making everyone worry, but my brush with death has had some unexpected perks; the moment Summer accepted my proposal in the car on the way back from the hospital—not very romantic, I know, but I couldn’t wait any longer—everyone rallied together to make the wedding happen as soon as possible, per my request. Turns out, Cybil’s party throwing skills are transferrable to weddings, and I know that most of what I’m seeing at the gallery is her doing. Funded by her, at least. Summer and I tried to insist on paying, but she wouldn’t hear of it.
“She looks beautiful,” Oscar says quietly, and my head whips back, scouring the full-house of fifty folding white chairs to see my bride. But the guests are all still talking among themselves, and there’s no sign of her.
“You’ve seen her?”
Oscar nods. “As I was leaving this morning.” He grins. “Sorry, should’ve mentioned that. You sure you’re not nervous?”
“Not a bit; I’m just ready to get this show on the road! I haven’t kissed her in two days, and if I don’t kiss her soon, my lips are going to fall off.”
Oscar chuckles and keeps his eye on the main entrance, while I turn back toward the yard where the actual nuts and bolts of the ceremony are going to be held. You know, the “I do” part. The courtyard looks nothing like it did two weeks ago, transformed like the rest of the gallery. Potted ferns lean out, creating a natural sort of arch, while palmettos and citrus trees cluster beneath, hiding as many of the old flagstones as possible. Wooden planters, bursting with wildflowers, draw hungry butterflies, everything illuminated by lanterns and string lights as the sky darkens into evening.
Just then, a string quartet—Cybil’s requirement, I’d guess—strikes up a gentle arrangement of “At Last” by Etta James. Goosebumps shiver up my arms and I almost can’t bring myself to look back at the gallery door, like I might spoil the surprise.
“Like I said, she looks beautiful,” Oscar says, elbowing me in the ribs.
With my heart in my mouth, I turn… and get to witness what can only be described as an angel on a day trip to Earth, walking slowly toward me. She looks more than beautiful. She looks ethereal, in a long white dress that’s like liquid in fabric form. And she’s smiling right at me, her pace quickening like she can’t wait to get to me. I can’t wait, either. She’s everything I’ve ever wanted, and a few things I didn’t know I needed.
Everyone is smiling as she passes by, and I feel like the luckiest man in the world, because it’s like the other guests don’t exist. She only sees me. But I do notice a few happy tears from Cybil, Lyndsey, and Georgie. Meanwhile, Grace is jumping up and down, whispering, “Big Bear looks so pretty!
“She does, sweetheart,” Lyndsey replies. “So very pretty.”
It’s Ms. And Mr. T who lead Summer through the terrace doors to me, and nothing could be more fitting. It’s because of Ms. T that I got my act together and went to see Summer. I doubt we’d be here now if she hadn’t.
And as Ms. T puts Summer’s hand in mind, she leans in and murmurs, “You young’uns go on and be blissfully happy now, y’hear?” And then she looks at Mr. T, with a blissfully happy look that gives me so much hope for the decades ahead.
“We will,” I tell her, my gaze not moving from Summer’s. “You look incredible.”
