Epilogue
CREW
Ipick up Monroe from work like I do every day, waiting in my truck now that it’s the dead of winter and there’s snow and ice on the ground. I miss the days of riding with her, and I’m ready for spring to thaw out this bullshit that’s surrounding us this year.
I pull out my phone when I realize she’s ten minutes late, just as a text comes through.
Pixie: Come inside
Curious, I hop out of the truck, my boots crunching over the bullshit snow, and make my way to the door. I hate coming in through the front door and regret it the moment I start sneezing through the lupines and other shit George has littering the place in wreaths and vases.
I slow my steps, easing my footfalls so that I’m silent as I get closer to the preparation room, wanting to get a glimpse of my girl before she sees me.
To my surprise, she’s changed out of her winter work clothes and is wearing the dark green dress I first met her in, the fabric covered in white daisies.
Her dusty pink hair frames her face, her fresh cut keeping it right under her chin.
She’s so beautiful. She paces back and forth with her back to me, muttering something under her breath.
She seems nervous, and I don’t like that at all.
My heart rate picks up as I step into the room, needing to know what’s wrong.
“Crew,” she gasps, as if she were well and truly lost in her own head. “Hi.”
“Hi, pixie. Are you okay?”
“I’m better than okay.” She shakes her hands to the sides and smiles up at me.
“I know this is unconventional, but nothing about us is normal or conventional. We work, we make each other whole. This is me, choosing to live. I wish I had the words to express how much I love you. Of the healing you’ve brought me since the very first moment you walked into my life.
You have brought me so much good and love that I never thought it would be possible.
You are brave, and resilient, smart, and witty, and so funny.
You’re kind and gentle, and there hasn’t been a single day since you walked into this room that I didn’t feel how you felt about me.
I love you. I love you. I love you. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So, Crew, will you please marry me?”
I stand there momentarily stunned, my gorgeous girl holding out a single daisy to me, asking me to marry her.
Me. The human who was born and then discarded, who’s always felt unlovable.
This magnificent creature wants to spend the rest of her life with me.
My face is damp, and I don’t register that it’s the tears that are streaming down my cheeks.
She stands there so hopeful, so in love, and then I’m moving to her, wrapping my arms around her waist and picking her up. I bury my face in her neck and breathe in her sweet sunshine, and I know I’m home.
“I’ll marry you. I’ll marry you in every lifetime. You saved me. I love you, Monroe, more than anything.”