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“Dream,” he says, his voice steady and sure as he pulls a red velvet box from his back pocket.
I gasp, gripping Lila harder.
“You’ve changed my life in the best possible way. I can’t imagine a life without you or our beautiful daughter. Will you make me the happiest man alive, and marry me?” He opens the box, displaying a glittering diamond ring.
I feel like I’m floating. The world blurs around me, narrowing down to this single, extraordinary moment. Lila seems to sense the gravity of the situation, letting out a delighted squeal as if urging me to say yes.
Snapping back into focus, I feel the tears start to well up in my eyes. “Yes,” I manage to say, my voice strained with emotion. “Yes. A million times, yes!”
Lila lets out another squeal as Nikolai stands up and slips the ring on my finger. He takes her from me and kisses her on the cheek, smiling so hard that his nose crinkles. “Mommy and daddy are getting married,” he says, kissing her again.
“Did we miss it?” Jasha’s voice floats over the lawn toward us as I adjust the ring on my finger.
Nikolai rolls his eyes. “You were supposed to take pictures.”
“You jumped the gun,” he responds, abandoning the grill and walking over with Eddy. “You could’ve waited.”
Nikolai looks at me and shakes his head. “I’ve waited long enough. This woman deserves a ring.” He looks back at Jasha. “But go ahead and take a picture. I want to remember this.”
I stand beside Nikolai, gripping him so tightly that he has to pry my hand looser so that I don’t crush his organs. Lila laughs the whole way through. She loves having pictures of her taken, especially when she’s with her daddy.
“I love you,” Nikolai whispers into my ear. His voice is so soft, so filled with emotion, that I can’t help but feel overwhelmed. Overwhelmed by the love I feel for this man, and overwhelmed by the beautiful family we’ve created.
“I love you too,” I whisper back as Jasha snaps a dozen or so pictures of us.
We stay like that for a moment, the three of us savoring this sacred moment in time. As I look up into Nikolai’s eyes, then down at our daughter who’s now happily chewing on my dress, I’m struck by a realization.
For so long, I’ve been living in a sort of dream, waiting for the day when the reality of my life would catch up to how I wanted it to be. But as I stand here, amidst the intoxicating scent of summer and the golden rays of a setting sun, I realize that this is no longer a dream. This is my life—beautiful, perfect, and better than anything I ever could have imagined.
And as the sun finally disappears behind the treetops, casting its long shadows over our little family, I know with absolute certainty that the best is yet to come.
This is real, and it’s only the beginning.
* * *
