It was my chance to show him mercy, but it was also making a choice that would happen often in any relationship that was worth fighting for. The choice to forgive.
I reached out and grasped it firmly in my own, rising to my feet.
Equal footing, I thought as I stood before him.
“Hi, Jack. I’m Zoë, it’s nice to meet you.”
Undisguised relief flashed across Jack’s face, his eyes glossy with the sheen of tears. His grip on my hand tightened, tender at the same time as it was strong.
“I was wondering,” he said in a whisper so quiet I had to strain to hear it. “Would you do me the honor of having dinner with me?” A shy smile, so small it was almost imperceptible, tipped up the corners of his lips.
The question, had it been asked by another man to another woman, might have been a simple one.
I smiled back at Jack. “Yes,” I replied.
The answer, had it been given by another woman to another man, might have been a simple one. But for us, both the question and the answer meant everything.
Epilogue
I pressed the forward button on the camera, advancing to another picture I’d forgotten, one that put every painful moment I’d gone through in perspective. One that reminded me that sometimes, no matter how pointless something in life may seem at the moment, it can add up to change your life in ways that you never thought possible. To make you reach for the dreams you never imagined you’d even be able to touch, to hold something in your hand you never believed you would see. And while the pain seems arbitrary, sometimes it’s the only way to wake us up to how sweet a gift we are about to be given.
There were countless moments and hundreds of days between the two pictures, but they seemed to be memories from two different lives. I was no longer the same young woman who’d taken the picture of Paul in his moment of glory; it would have been impossible to remain unchanged in the wake of such loss.
To stop there, though, would seem to say that loss is the end, when there was still so much more to the story. More moments to live, more photographs to take, more memories to capture.
Here was a reminder of so many lessons, a moment captured forever—so sweet in its simplicity, yet so defining. A large picture window set in the brick façade of a cheery-looking store front, the glossy expanse of glass interrupted only by words carefully written in bright red lipstick. Words that changed the rest of my life.
Dear Zoë,
Will you marry me?
Love, Jack
CARINA™
ISBN: 978 1 474 00775 7
Coming Home to You
Copyright © 2014 Liesel Schmidt
Published in Great Britain (2014)
by Carina, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR
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