“I got you something,” Ryland said, reaching into his pocket.
“What a coincidence. I got you something too.” I pulled a small envelope out of my pocket.
“Okay, but me first.”
Opening my hand, he placed something in my palm. I concentrated as I ran my fingers over the tiny wires.
“A necklace?”
It matched the one I was wearing now, only at the end of the chain, it had two hummingbirds, not one.
“Two hummingbirds.” I smiled.
“Yep. One for you and one for our—”
“Daughter,” I said quickly. “One for me and our daughter.”
I waited for him to catch his breath. “Daughter? It’s a girl? We’re having a girl?” His voice got louder each time he said it, and I laughed.
“Do you want to see our daughter?”
“Yes!”
I handed him the envelope, and I was pretty sure he nearly ripped it apart trying to get to the sonogram inside.
“Oh my God, she’s beautiful.” He sighed. “We’re having a girl, Hummingbird.”
He wrapped me up in his arms and kissed me with so much passion it stole my breath.
“She’s amazing. You’re amazing.” He bent over and kissed my belly.
It’s a hard lesson to learn, but you have to believe that out of every bad situation, a piece of good lingers within. Ryland, our baby—they were my piece of good, my piece of forever. No one ever said fighting for what you want is easy, but it is always worth it, and I wouldn’t change any of the decisions I made after the accident because every one of them brought me to where I was today.
Later that night, Ryland and I lay in bed with Giselle curled up by our feet and Ryland playing with my belly. It had become our nighttime routine, and I loved it.
“Ryland?”
“Hmm?”
“What if I came back as love? What if I came back as our love? What if nothing in this world could destroy me and I had no end and no beginning and I just went on and on for all of eternity?”
He thought about it for a minute. “Then I would come back as forever. Because you can love someone forever and that’s the only kind of forever that exist, Hummingbird, and I only exist when I’m with you.”
Rolling over, I laid my body on top of him. “And I don’t exist without you, Ryland. You’re my beautiful darkness.”
Smiling, he pulled me down and kissed me softly.
As I watched Ryland sleep later that night, I thought about how much my life had changed since I met him and I realized you may not always get what you want in life, but if you are lucky, if you are lucky, you get exactly what you need.
It wasn’t the end for Ryland and my love. No, our love would go down in the history of love stories. It was real and passionate and epic. It was the start of our happily ever after.
With Ryland, I had found my grace in darkness.
Authors Note
I wanted to give a HUGE thank you to everyone who has bought, read and loved The Edge of Darkness and I hoped you enjoyed The Grace in Darkness just as much!!
I never expected The Edge to touch so many people the way it did and I am overwhelmed by your response to it. I love Ryland and Araya ’ ’ s story and I hope you did too!
In my heart and definitely in my head, their love continues on.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Acknowledgements
First, I would like to thank Tabatha Vargo!
You are and will forever be the voice of reason behind my every freak out. I won ’ ’ t ever get tired of hanging out on the ledge with you!! Your support is something I will always cherish and I am so proud to call you my friend.
I don ’ ’ t know what I would do without you, Cassie Kelley McCown! You are my rockstar and my editing hero when I manage to always cut it close for release day haha. I LUBE you, Cassie!!
To Regina, my cover lover, thank you so much for giving these books the passion and intensity they deserve. I ’ ’ m thankful every day for finding you and I hope we continue to make beautiful cover babies together!!
To my betas, Jennifer (I can always count on you for your infamous honesty) and Tricia, thank you so much for reading The Grace in Darkness and giving me your honest feedback! I love this story even more thanks to your help!
As always, I want to thank my family for their unyielding love and for always being there. To my beautiful daughters, for loving me unconditionally—even when your laundry was in piles and your routine became less than ideal. I love you more than words can say. And to my husband, Robert, for being my tech hero & being there to help me figure out all the publishing stuff.
I love you more you guys more than words can say.
And the biggest thank you of all - For anyone & everyone who has bought or will buy & read The Edge of Darkness and The Grace in Darkness—I can ’ ’ t thank you enough for your love and support. I hope you enjoy reading it and fall madly in love with their beginning and happily ever after!
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