I got the girls resettled on either side of Angel, but nodded to Cass and Mitch to be at the ready to grab them again.
As I sat on the chair and settled the guitar in my lap, my heart pounded. I was gonna be layin’ it all out on the line. I closed my eyes as I sang the first lines of “Running Home to You” by Grant Gustin. Every emotion I felt went into the lyrics—the anger, the sorrow, and the hope.
Halfway through the song, I opened my eyes to find Angel and I caught her pressin’ her hands over her mouth as shudderin’ breaths left her. Her emerald irises shone through the tears.
As soon as I strummed the last note, I handed the guitar to Joe and held up my hand to hold off the applause. I beckoned Angel closer. She glanced around and saw that the girls were in good hands so she approached. When she was almost in front of me, I dropped to one knee and held up the blue diamond settin’ I’d had made for her.
She was halfway between tears and laughter as she glanced down at me.
“Angel, I’ve been incredibly blessed in my life to have experienced the love of two phenomenal women. Phoebe was an incredible woman who showed me what love could be and who will not be easily forgotten. She was the brightest star and I will always love her, just as I know you will. But you, my Angel—” I sighed as I looked at the woman in front of me. “You gave me hope when life was the darkest I could imagine. You taught me about second chances for happiness. You have been my very best friend for years, and I think it was impossible not to fall in love with you. I can’t imagine my life without you in it, and I don’t want to. Will you please join me for the adventure of the lifetime and be a mother to the girls, and maybe even to future children? Will you marry me?”
She was noddin’ halfway through my speech and pulled me to my feet as soon as I’d finished.
“Yes!” She sobbed and laughed as soon as the word was free. “Yes. This isn’t how I imagined my life going, but yes.” She pressed her lips to mine and kissed me hard.
My stomach fluttered and my heart flipped. “I hope you don’t mind that I used Phoebe’s stone in this ring?” I murmured in her ear when she hugged me tight.
“Mind? I would’ve been offended if you didn’t. She’ll always be your great love.”
“First love,” I corrected. “You ain’t a consolation prize.”
“Does that mean you think you’ll be able to find happiness with me?”
“I already have, sweetness.” I glanced over to the girls and thought about picnics and adventures. Of lazy days and celebrations for each milestone. “I was just too big a fool to see it for what it was.”
“I love you, Beau.”
“I love you too, my Angel.”
FOR THE next few weeks of the vacation, I kept glancin’ at Angel, and at the ring on her left finger, and wonderin’ what would come next. I already knew she wasn’t sick and nothin’ like that would come between us, but when we stepped off the plane back home and got ready for the rest of our lives together, I questioned whether she would be happy with me in the long-term.
“Won’t ya miss the datin’ scene?” I asked.
“Won’t you?”
“No. I never had much fun out there, and if it wasn’t for you, I think I’d’ve been a sorrowful widower for the rest o’ my life.”
“I’m not going to either. I got burned over the years, Beau, and taken through the ringer. I’ve never found anyone who made me as happy as you do. Well, except—” She sighed as we both heard the name she didn’t speak. My gaze dropped to the stone on her finger. “And even she made me as miserable as she did happy.”
“What about women though, won’t ya miss that? What if you decide one day ya wanna try with another girl?”
“What if you do?”
“It ain’t the same.”
“It is, Beau. Man or woman, it doesn’t matter to me. When I’m committed, I’m committed.” She held up her hand and trailed her finger over the ring. “And this is pretty committed.”
“So ya don’t think you’ll ever want to be with another woman ag’in?”
She patted my chest. “Maybe for your birthday. If you’re lucky.”
I choked on a laugh, not expectin’ the last comment.
We walked side-by-side through the airport, her pushin’ a stroller with a pair of sleepin’ beauties, and me pushin’ the luggage cart. A ghost of a smile played on Angel’s lips. We wouldn’t have a big ceremony—we didn’t need it. All we wanted was what Phoebe had wanted for us—for all of us. The one thing neither of us experienced growin’ up.
A family.
Whole and complete.
A daddy, a mama, and two precious girls. Together forever, regardless of what life might throw our way. Maybe one day, we’d expand on that, but for now, that was enough. It was everythin’.
And it was all thanks to a girl I’d once known as Dawson but the world knew as Phoebe Reede.
EPILOGUE
“CAN YOU TELL us the story about Mummy again?” Abby bounced on her knees on the bed.
The years had passed quickly because I celebrated every li’l milestone. The twins were already six, and it was hard to believe it’d been that long since I’d had to say goodbye to their mama.
I glanced over to Angel, sittin’ on Emma’s bed. Angel gave a solemn smile and nodded. She’d never get sick of the story, not as long as I was willing to tell it. We’d both stood too close to the sun. Both of us been burned and come out of the other side changed for the experience. It was the way Phoebe had influenced most of the lives she’d touched.
As my gaze trailed over my second wife, it was too easy to see how lucky I was to have found love the second time around. Someone who didn’t get jealous over the love I still bore for Phoebe. The love that would always fill me. After all, Angel loved her the same way. We both still had our days of grief and mournin’ when we missed our bright sun more than anythin’ else. On those days, we were there for one another. We held on tight and helped each other through to the light on the other side.
Steady companionship and a shared grief was the glue that had initially bound Angel and me. But each passin’ day only solidified our bonds.
It wasn’t a better type of love than what I’d shared with Phoebe.
It wasn’t a worse one.
It was just different.
There wouldn’t be a day that passed where I didn’t wish I’d had more time with Phoebe. I wouldn’t have given up a single one of the days the two of us had shared either.
Each of them had taken me on the path to lead me to where I was. They had changed me in ways I’d never expected. Given me memories no one could steal.
Most importantly, they’d offered me the love of a woman who understood the torch that burned in me for my first true love more than anyone else ever could and two beautiful girls who looked more like their mama every day.
In Phoebe’s sacrifice, she’d given both Angel and me a family unit we woulda only dreamed of in our childhoods. She’d touched our hearts and enriched our lives. I’d gained a love that would last for the rest of my days, and a family with bonds thicker than blood. Despite losing their daughter, my in-laws insisted on treating me like a son. More than that, they treated my new wife as if she was their own daughter.
If it wasn’t for the experience Angel had been through, she never would’ve started up her photography business that had seen thousands of families of people in palliative care, premature and stillborn babies, and even pets who were due to be put down. Angel’s tasteful and compassionate photos, and her way of drawin’ out the best side of any subject, had her in high demand within six months of startin’ the business when we got back from our vacation to the States.
“Does this story have a happy ending?” Emma asked. She didn’t like me cryin’ over her mama. Not when I had my Angel to keep me happy.
I nodded through the tears that soaked my eyes and reached to my Angel. She moved behind me, and offered my shoulders a comfortin’ rub.
“Of c
ourse,” I said, fighting to keep the tears out of my voice and show the joy that I truly did feel when it came to my new little family. “The happiest.”
THE END
MORE BY MICHELLE IRWIN
Declan Reede: The Untold Story: (Complete Series)
Phase (Phoebe Reede: The Untold Story #1)
Phobic (Phoebe Reede: The Untold Story #2)
Beastly (Phoebe Reede: The Untold Story #3)
Decay: (Phoebe Reede: The Untold #3.2 Declan Reede: The Untold Story #6)
Physis (Phoebe Reede: The Untold Story #4)
Phantom (Phoebe Reede: The Untold Story #5)
See more at Michelle Irwin’s Author Page
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