Epilogue
ELLIE
There were moments in life that you didn’t want to end. You wanted to savor every detail, capturing them in your memory so that you could look back on them later and smile. This was one of those moments.
Wade, my now-husband, was sitting in our rocking chair with our eight-month-old baby girl Maya . Much to my mother-in-law’s anguish, we had not continued the trend of names that started with W , though once she’d laid eyes on Maya , she’d said it didn’t matter and instead lavished her with copious amounts of Grandma snuggles.
Wade sat there, whispering to Maya as he tried to lull her to sleep. She , however, continued blabbering away to him, as if they were having the most intense conversation. He hummed in response, nodding seriously, as if she were telling him the secrets of the universe. I still couldn’t believe I got to call this man my husband.
As soon as I left the hospital after I was attacked, I moved in with Wade permanently. He hadn’t given me much of a choice. He insisted that my only priority should be recovering fully—not worrying about finding another place yet.
A few months later, we were getting ready to go have another Sunday meal with his family, when he walked into the bedroom doorway, leaning into the frame, and stared at me while I put the last touches of my makeup on.
“You going to stare at me the whole time I get ready?” I asked him while I put mascara on.
“I love looking at you,” he said with a lustful grin on his face.
“I know that look. Don’t you dare come in here and mess up my hair and makeup,” I warned, knowing if I let him, he would throw me on the bed and have his way with me, all while messing up my hair and makeup.
“It would be worth it.” His grin turned into a lascivious smile. “ But I’m actually staring because you’re missing something.”
I turned to look at myself in the mirror, scanning myself top to bottom, and tried to see what I was missing. Not seeing anything, I turned back to him, only to see him drop to one knee with a small box in his hands.
“You are the best thing that has ever happened to me,” Wade said as I felt my eyes get wet and blurry. “ I know I don’t deserve you and I am definitely marrying up, but I promise you I will show you every single day for the rest of our lives how much I love you. Ellie , will you marry me?”
The ring was absolutely beautiful. I nodded, too choked up at first to speak, and then said yes, though I wasn’t sure he understood what I was saying through all my happy tears.
He picked me up and carried me to the bed, and I ended up having to do my hair and makeup all over again.
He told me he proposed at that moment so the females in his family wouldn’t gang up on him during the meal, nagging him about when he was going to propose and why it was taking him so long. Apparently this had been happening the last few meals when I was in another room.
His plan backfired, though, because while the women were all very excited and ready to talk wedding plans, his mom and grandma jumped right into nagging him about another topic—grandbabies and great-grandbabies.
They didn’t have to wait too long for that either, though. Just six months later, on our wedding night, after all the festivities were over—we’d had the ceremony in his parents’ backyard garden and the reception at the pub, which we’d closed off for the night for friends and family only—he made love to me for the first time as husband and wife. He was lying there on his back, fully satisfied in the bed, when I climbed back in next to him. I had a picture in my hands behind my back—the ultrasound picture I had gotten the day before.
“I have a present for you,” I said softly.
“Mmm… I liked the present you just gave me….wife,” he replied, grinning lasciviously at me.
I laughed softly and slowly handed him the picture. At first, he looked at it like he was unsure of what he was looking at. Then his eyes moved to me, then back to the picture, then back to me.
“Jesus, Ellie . You are the best thing that has ever happened to me,” he said softly and reverently before kissing me hard. “ There was a time when I had made peace with the fact that I would likely never be in a relationship again and never get the chance to have a family. Now , you’ve given me both.”
He put the picture on the nightstand and turned to cup my face in his hands. “ God , Ellie , I love you so much.”
Now, months later, I looked at him in the rocker, our baby girl nestled in his arms, and wished I could freeze this moment forever. It was a picture of pure contentment, one I never wanted to end.
After a few more moments, Wade gently stood from the chair and placed Maya back in her crib. He lingered for a second, adjusting her tiny blanket, and my heart squeezed.
Then, turning to me, he reached for my hands. " Come with me, my beautiful wife," he murmured, his voice low and warm as he pulled me toward the door.
I let him lead me out of Maya’s room. " Where are you taking me, handsome husband?" I whispered back.
"To our room, so I can put another baby inside you," he said, a playful smirk curling at the corners of his mouth before he leaned down to kiss me.
That kiss turned into something deeper. And sure enough, just shy of ten months later, our son Rowan was born.
That day in Tennessee that changed my life forever felt like a lifetime ago. While the memory of what I went through is difficult, it led me to my wonderful husband and our two beautiful children. My life was now better than I had ever imagined, and I thanked my lucky stars every day for the blessings I have.
THE END