wouldn’t do for you. And for Noah. I love you and only you.” He tipped his beautiful face up to look at me, and I could barely see him through the blur of tears. “Will you marry me, Lila?”
Tears streamed down my face and all I could was nod.
Jude nudged Noah. “Psst. It’s time for the ring.”
My tears turned to laughter at this comedy act.
“Oh. Yeah. I got it.” Noah dug in his shorts pocket and I thought it was brave and a little bit stupid to entrust a four-year-old with an engagement ring. Noah turned his pocket inside out and I laughed even harder when I saw the ring was duct-taped to the inside of his pocket.
Jude ripped off the tape to reveal a ring wrapped in saran wrap.
“This is like a military operation,” I said, laughing as he finally held up a ring, triumphantly, and slipped it on my finger. Then he wiped imaginary sweat off his brow. Or maybe it wasn’t imaginary. He was really sweating. And he was still down on one knee on the gravel driveway of a house he’d bought for us.
It was my dream house because it was home, and Jude was my home.
My love. My soulmate. My wish on a star. My everything.
While Noah raced from room to room, Jude led me around the house, talking about the changes we could make and how he’d build an addition. But if you asked me, it was perfect just as it was and I told him so as we stood in front of the tall windows in the living room with a vaulted ceiling and looked out at the five glorious acres of land that came with the house.
“Thank you,” I said, turning in his arms and framing his face in my hands.
“For what?”
“For putting the stars back in the sky.”
“You ain’t seen nothing yet, baby. I’m going to give you an entire universe.”
Epilogue
Jude
Nine Months Later
April
The florist is carrying a bouquet of wildflowers, handpicked this morning by me and Noah. We picked them from our field and tied them with string. But it’s not the flowers that capture and hold my attention. It’s the beautiful face of my bride as she walks down an aisle covered in rose petals, The Piano Guys’ “A Thousand Years” playing in the background, the April sky so big and blue and cloudless.
She’s glowing. That’s the only word to describe it. The light is back in her eyes and I’d like to think I put it there. Or, at least, played some part in making her shine so bright. She takes my breath away.
Green eyes, the color of the grass in the meadow, sparkle with joy. Her full pink lips are tipped up at the corners in a smile, dark hair falling in long waves around her shoulders and down her back. When I finally manage to tear my eyes from her face I let them roam down, over the golden skin of her bare shoulders and down a deceptively simple dress that gathers around her breasts and cascades like a waterfall to her feet. The sun highlights tiny glitters of gold in the cream fabric. She looks like a Greek goddess. She looks like my every dream come true.
I’ve waited so long for this day to arrive, and now that it’s here, I can’t wait another minute.
Too slow, Rebel.
I want it all. Right now.
So I stride up the aisle to claim my bride, earning a scowl from my father who is giving her away. When she asked him if he would do the honors, I could have sworn I saw a tear in his eye. He’d deny it, of course.
“Wait until we get there,” he grumbles.
“I’ll take it from here,” I tell him, giving him no option but to release Lila.
She just laughs and shakes her head. “This is so typical of you.”
Wait until she sees the other surprises I have in store for her today.
“All your fault for looking so fucking beautiful.” I grab the back of her head and pull her toward me, my other hand on the small of her back. For once, she doesn’t put up a fight. Dipping my head, I kiss her in front of all our guests and she kisses me back, her arm snaking around my neck and her body flush with mine. We’re so close I can feel her heart pounding and I’m almost certain it’s beating at the same tempo as mine. That’s how in sync we are.
“Daddy