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I nodded without thinking. “Anything.”
“Will you marry me?”
I blinked, convinced I hadn’t heard him right. “What?”
His lip quirked in a nervous, but excited half grin. “Marry me, Ellie.”
“Marry you?” I still couldn’t wrap my head around those words.
His chin dipped. “I don’t care if you think I’m crazy, because I have been waiting most of my life for you and I want to make things right. I want to be with you forever.”
I sucked in a sharp breath as his words sank in, soothing a part of my soul I hadn’t known was broken. “Marry you?” I repeated, yet again because it was so absurd.
He pressed his forehead to mine, his smile broadening. “Marry me.”
I thought of everything we’d gone through to get here. I thought of all the years of friendship and love—the years of hurt, too. Ty was my soul mate, I was sure of it. If there was anyone who was made specifically for me, it had been him.
Before I knew it, I was smiling back as an elated giggle escaped me. I couldn’t remember the last time I giggled.
Then I nodded, my soul soaring. “Yes,” I said, “I’d love to marry you.”
A light scratching noise accompanied by annoyed meows woke me from a blissful, perfect sleep. Ty’s warm arm was wrapped around me, my body molded perfectly against his.
A wide grin spread across my face, my heart fluttering in a way that made me feel as light as a feather. The scratching continued, and I stared at the door, knowing Buffy was behind it trying to get back in. The last thing I wanted to do was get out from beneath these covers and our warm cocoon. I wondered how long I was going to have to stay in this cabin. I hadn’t given much thought to it with everything going on, but I needed a home.
Carefully, I slipped from under Ty’s grasp. He stirred, but didn’t wake as I sat up in bed and quietly stood. The chill on my bare skin made me shiver and I grabbed Ty’s shirt off the floor and slipped it over my head. It swallowed me, falling past my knees, but I loved it. I breathed in the smell of Ty. It was all over me and I never wanted to wash it away.
The scratching was incessant and I finally opened the door. Buffy scampered in, mewing at me and shaking her head, as if scolding me. I didn’t care. She’d get over it and I’d never, ever forget these last few hours with Ty. Ever.
Buffy raised her nose in the air when I didn’t respond to her temper tantrum and hopped up on the bed, curling into a ball near Ty’s feet. I gazed at him as he slept. He seemed absolutely peaceful, his face placid and lips slightly parted. He looked like he used to look when we were kids, as if years had been taken off him.
My pulse spiked as I remembered his proposal…were we really doing this? It seemed crazy, my rational mind wanted me to think it was too fast and too much, but Ty had been right. I’d wanted to marry him forever, I was just too afraid to admit it. There was never anyone else I wanted like I wanted him.
That grin returned. He was mine, and I was his. Finally.
I glanced at the desk where my notebook still sat. Walking toward it, I made a conscious decision. I wasn’t going to let my life pass me by. I was going to make something of myself. And it would be my doing. I was going to follow my passion. Not my mother’s…not even Faye’s. Though I loved working for her, the boutique was hers. I needed something that was mine.
I sat down in the chair and opened the notebook. The pen was still stuck in the spiral and I retrieved it. Then, I started to write. It was time for me to finish my story.
I wasn’t sure how long I wrote. There weren’t many pages left, and I finally came to the very last sentence of the story. I turned the last page, and froze. I dropped the pen, quieting a gasp with my hand.
I recognized my father’s handwriting. It was hard for him to write after his first stroke, but he could a little with his good hand. I didn’t know when he did it, or how, but he’d written a small note on the very last page of my notebook:
I’m fine.
I love you.
LIVE.
The last word was in all caps as if he was yelling it. Encouraging me to do what I’d been pushing myself to do.Live. Tears filled my eyes as I cradled my father’s last words to my chest.
“I will,” I whispered, knowing that wherever he was, he could hear me. “I love you, Daddy.”
