Epilogue 2
Mason
She’s panting and her hair sticks to the sides of her sweat dabbled temples by the time we reach the peak.
And we get there just in time. The glowing sun meets the sea at the horizon in vibrant shades of orange and pink as it is about to set, setting the sky on fire with its dramatic goodbye.
“Told you it’d be worth it,” I say, watching Grace next to me while she takes in the scenery with wide eyes.
“Wow,” she sighs, still out of breath from our hike. “This is breathtaking.”
We’re at the highest elevation for miles, with the Mediterranean right in front of us, the rocky cliff beneath our feet and a dense forest in the valley behind our back.
I knew this would be the perfect spot.
“You are breathtaking,” I tell her, adding a little wink when she purses her lips at me.
“Charmer,” she teases me. “I know I look like shit. I told you I’m in no good shape. I’ve never hiked before, not like this at least.”
She closes her eyes and stretches her arms to the side as she takes a deep breath, filling her lungs with the therapeutic sea air.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to jump,” she assures me when she opens her eyes again, cautiously taking a step closer to the edge, before she risks a look down to where the waves clash against the rocky cliff.
“Yep, too high to even consider it,” she assesses, before she moves back, away from certain death. “That would be suicidal.”
“Do you miss it?” I ask, taking her in my arms as she wraps herself around me.
She sighs, her eyes journeying along the horizon.
“Not really, to be honest,” she says in a dreamy voice. “I lost my reason for doing it.”
“And what reason was that?”
She shrugs. “The thrill, I guess. It made me feel something that nothing else could. Something deep, a kind of elation that I craved, but couldn’t get anywhere else. It was like I was living under a glass dome that muffled everything.”
A smile plays at the corners of her mouth when she looks up at me. “Until I met you.”
I lean down to meet her pretty lips with a kiss, if only to buy myself some time. Time that I need to gather the courage for what I’m about to do—something that’s easily as scary as jumping from a high cliff.
“But if you ever feel like jumping again, don’t worry,” I say. “I’ll be here. I’ll catch you. I’ll jump with you. I’ll do whatever it takes to give you a place to call home, a place where you feel you truly belong. A place of your own.”
She sucks in a sharp breath of air and takes a step back, when I reveal the meaning behind my words by going down on one knee. I reach inside my jacket, producing the tiny jewelry box that I’ve been carrying around with me all day long.
Grace freezes, her hands still midair while her jaw drops when she lays eyes on the platinum ring, equipped with a solitaire setting. It’s a small stone, perfect for the minimalistic setting of the ring—and perfect for Grace, with her delicate hands and her calm and pure nature.
“You’ll be free to be who you are, and I promise to give you all the room you need to grow, to experiment, to dare,” I say. “I’m simply asking to be allowed to walk along that path with you, as your husband, your partner in life.”
Her lips begin to quiver and she looks at me as if she can’t believe what she’s hearing. She has no reason to doubt me, but the last eighteen months can’t undo what has been done to her for years before. We still have a long road ahead of us, but I can’t wait to go down that road with her, together.
“Grace Reid, you’re the strongest, the most beautiful, and—frankly—the craziest person I’ve ever met. There’s no one else I’d rather spend the rest of my life with,” I go on, taking a deep breath before I can finally say the words I’ve wanted to say to her for months. “Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?”
My heart almost stops when she shakes her head at first, laughing as tears stream down her pretty face.
But then she goes down on her knees as well, still crying and laughing at the same time as she takes my hand in hers, closing her delicate fingers around the jewelry box and the ring inside.
“Good luck to you, then,” she says, winking at me. “But don’t worry, I’m done with jumping. I no longer need it, if I have you.”
“Is that a yes?”
Grace warms my heart with a smile that is born out of pure joy—and then she completes my happiness with a determined nod.
Thank you for reading!