is complete and total honesty. I swear to you, right here and now, that I will never lie to you again. I will never hide anything from you. And if I feel weak, I’ll find comfort in you. In meetings. In following the program. I want you to have the best of me, Oakley. Because that’s what you deserve. The very best. I know I’m not the safe choice, but I am the right one. Deep down I think you know that too.” My hands slide up to cup her face. “I love you, Oakley Pierson. I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you, and I will love you until my last breath. No matter what you decide, nothing will change that.”
“I want this so badly.” A tear slides from the corner of her eye. “It’s all I’ve wanted. But…”
“But nothing. You love me too. We both know you do. Take this ride with me, babe. Please. Give me the life we spent all those years dreaming about. Get out of that pretty little head of yours and listen to your heart. What does it say?”
“That I love you.” She gives me a watery smile as another tear breaks free.
“It’s you and me against the world, Oak.” I remind her of what she used to always say to me when we were younger.
“You and me.” She nods, pressing up on the balls of her feet to kiss me.
I relish in the feeling. Fuck. Her kiss literally breathes air back into my lungs. This. This is what I was born to do. To love Oakley. To kiss her. To be the man I promised her a very long time ago that I would be. She deserves so much more than I’ll ever be able to give her, but fuck me if I won’t do everything in my power to be everything she needs and so much fucking more.
As much as I want to stay right here in this moment, it’s short-lived as the pitter patter of Ellie’s little feet come running into the kitchen. I release my hold on Oakley and step back, swooping Ellie up into my arms before tugging Oakley back to me. With one arm around my daughter and the other around my girl, all I want to do is hold onto this moment forever and never let it go.
It’s all I want. It’s all I’ve ever wanted. And no matter what life throws our way, I will fight for this until my dying breath. My family. They are all that matters. This is all that matters. And I will never lose sight of what matters ever again…
Epilogue
Oakley
Two years later…
* * *
“Daddy’s home!” Ellie jumps up from the couch, abandoning her tablet to greet Jace at the door the way she always does. “Daddy!” She jumps on his leg as soon as he walks into the door.
“There’s my best girl.” He smiles down at her, rustling her hair. “Did you have a good day at school?”
“The best.” She giggles as he starts to walk with her sitting on his foot, her body wrapped around his leg.
“Oh yeah, what did you do?”
“We got to paint with food!” she announces excitedly.
“With food?” I watch Jace crinkle his nose, having a perfect view of the two of them from where I’m standing in the kitchen.
“Uh huh. We got to blend it up in a blender and paint with it.”
“That sounds, um, interesting.” He glances up at me, a questioning look on his face.
“Apparently, it’s this new thing they’re doing.” I shrug, smiling at my gorgeous husband as he makes his way into the kitchen, our daughter still attached to his leg.
So much has happened over the last two years. So many big moments, yet it’s the small ones that are my favorite. The little things that make up our everyday lives. Though the day we got married definitely sits at the top of that list. My favorite big moment.
We didn’t do it the conventional way. Then again, when have Jace and I ever really been conventional? We got married in my mother’s backyard, under the treehouse. Our treehouse. With Keira on one side and Mike on the other, we said our vows with our sweet precious girl squished between us.
Of course, my mom wasn’t very happy to learn we’d tied the knot in her backyard when she wasn’t home and didn’t extend an invite to her. But it wasn’t about her. It wasn’t about anyone but us. And we