“Shhh, it’ll be worth it, I promise.”
The interior is still dark but there’s a spark of color at the very top promising a beautiful sunrise. When they finally take the last step, floor-to-ceiling windows greet them and she inhales sharply at the emerging pinks and purples at the horizon’s edge. He was right, it is definitely worth it.
“The light hasn’t worked for years, but you won’t find a better sunrise anywhere on the coast.”
She smiles, pressing her fingertips to the glass. “It’s perfect.”
Logan leads her out onto the wrap-around deck where the saltwater breeze caresses her skin. He keeps looking at her in a strange way, darting his attention up to her eyes and away again. They got coffee from the diner on the way and his cup is clutched tightly between both hands as if he’s drawing courage from the heat.
She tilts her head, concerned. “Is everything okay?”
He raises a brow. “Hmm? Yeah. Yeah, of course.”
He doesn’t sound certain and she worries that something awful is happening. He might be working up to telling her that he feels sick again. They were told the transplant could fail at any point, but he’s been doing so well that she assumed them out of the woods.
Tessa shifts from the view to face him fully, her coffee abandoned on the ground. “You can tell me. Something’swrong, I can see it. Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out like we always do.”
“No, that’s not it.” He lets out a nervous chuckle. “It’s nothing bad, at least I hope you won’t think so. I ah…I wanna ask you something.” He puts his cup to the side and fishes around in his pocket before pulling out a small, simple wooden band.
Her breath catches in her throat and her eyes widen, but before she can say anything at all, he continues speaking.
“I wanted do this on the boat, try to find those dolphins again, but I can’t wait another day. I can’t offer you much, nothing except my heart, but you have it for as long as you want it and I hope that’ll be forever. I used to think I was meant to be alone. All this time I was waiting for you. Marry me?”
Tessa nods before he finishes, holding her hand out to accept the ring that he slides onto her finger. She grants him a breathless “yes” on a heavy exhale and then she is in his arms, wrapping hers around his neck and hugging him tight.
“I thought you were about to tell me something terrible,” she laughs through her tears, pulling back to cup his face and capture his lips in a delicate press.
“I was so damn nervous.”
“There is no reality where I would have said anything other than yes.”
She used to assume she’d never marry again if she was lucky enough to escape her situation. Now she knows that Logan is the one exception.
They say their vows at the courthouse the very next day, one door down from traffic court where people pay their parking tickets. No reason to wait. It is everything she could havehoped for and so much more because she’s standing across from the man who saved her life, helped heal her soul, and carries a part of her within him.
She hadn’t known at the time, but every step in the process of unraveling her forgotten past had been building toward a shared future with him.
