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I follow Henry up the stairs at the back of the gym and he stops in front of the door at the top. Eventually, we'll install an elevator to make this level accessible to everyone, but that's an expense we can't manage yet. The gym is doing well, we've tripled the member rolls since Russ owned it, and my aerobics classes, Asher's and my training, and the meditation andmindfulness classes I offer are so popular there are wait lists, but we've made massive changes to the gym and bought new equipment that isn't cheap. Every change comes with an expense and Asher and I make very little salary.
We do pay our employees well and offer health benefits.
Asher and I don't need much to be happy.
I've given money to the folks my father conned. About sixty percent of them have accepted the money. The ones who haven't or who've passed or moved away somewhere I can't find them, I've used that money to start a scholarship fund for local kids who are interested in health and fitness. We'll be giving away our first three scholarships later this month and I can't wait.
I've been using one of the two back rooms for yoga, pilates, and meditation classes, but this upstairs room will be much better suited for those classes, allowing the downstairs room to be solely used for aerobics, boot camps, and, once we have the money for bikes, the other downstairs room will be perfect for spin classes.
My heart pounding with excitement, I give Henry a nod.
He swings the door open and I gasp, immediately feeling calmer as the scent of lavender flows out.
The room is an oasis. The hardwood floors shine in the sunlight streaming in through three skylights and two sets of floor to ceiling windows with built-in blinds. Water trickles slowly from two fountains against the back walls and between the windows. Fans and delicate light fixtures line the ceiling.
The back and side walls are a relaxing cream color, but the front wall is a floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall mural of an early morning forest, with wildflowers sprinkled in here and there.
Among the branches are six boxes cut into the walls and in each box is one of the bears Barley destroyed, with their little motivational t-shirts and everything.
"Henry?" I step closer to the mural. It's gorgeous, just artsy enough to be clear it's not a photograph, but realistic enough to make me feel like I've just stepped into nature. "How? When? I didn't ask for this."
"I did." Asher steps up next to me and wraps an arm around my waist. "I hired a mural painter recommended to me by an art professor at the university." He turns my chin so he can see my face. "Do you like it? If it's too much we can paint over it or—"
I throw my arms around his shoulders and kiss him. "I love it. I can't imagine how this studio could be any more perfect. When did you fix my bears?"
He looks a bit sheepish. "I hired someone for that too. They're the same bears, but if you look closely, you can see where they've been repaired."
I hug him again. "I love it. Thank you."
"Wow." Goldy walks into the room and wraps an arm around Henry's waist. "You did an amazing job, sweetheart."
Goldy is followed by my sisters, my mother, the Sullivan cousins, the Winters cousins, Asher's parents and sister and niece until my new yoga studio is filled with people. What are they all doing here? I wasn't expecting them to show up for the reveal.
I look up at Asher. "Seriously, what is going on?"
He squeezes my waist, looking inexplicably nervous. Then he lets me go and drops to one knee.
I step back and press my hands to my mouth.
"Clover, I've been drawn to you since the first time I saw you, but I never could have imagined how much I'd come to love you. This gym is like a representation of our love, because we've built it together while I've fallen more in love with you every day. I can't imagine anything better than sharing this with you for the rest of my life." He pulls a small black box out of his pocket and opens it to reveal an antique-looking ring with a big centerdiamond and smaller diamonds around the outside. "Please be my wife."
We've been so busy with the gym and finding a place to live together that I haven't even thought about marriage. It's not anything I was hoping for or expecting, but it's exactly what I want.
"Yes," I say, because I don't need to think about it to know I want to spend the rest of my life with this man. "Yes, Asher, I want to be your wife more than anything."
He gets to his feet and slides the ring onto my finger.
"This ring is gorgeous and perfect."
"It was my grandmother's." He looks up at me with pure warmth and love. "One of our only family heirlooms."
"Thank you. I love you so much." I can't wait a moment longer to kiss him.
He wraps his arms around me like he can sense my need for him.
I'm right where I was always meant to be - in his arms.
