Chapter 9
LAURA
Two Weeks Later
We take some things for granted. Breathing, for example. It’s so nice to breathe easily again. I roll down the window on my father’s car, letting the fresh air join me, and I take deep breaths of it. My lungs don’t hurt anymore, and my throat doesn’t burn. It’s all good again.
I was lucky to survive that. Being locked inside a room with no way out during a fire is the scariest thing ever.
Even as the fire made the room temperature shoot through the roof, I knew the worst part was the smoke.
It filled the place even with the window opened a bit, and soon enough I couldn’t see a thing.
The hot smoke billowed in through my nose, and I knelt and tried to find the last remnants of fresh air, but that was impossible.
When I blacked out, I thought I wouldn’t wake up again.
Turns out I did. Asher, my brave Asher, came straight after me, uncaring for dangers. I woke up in the hospital with him sitting next to me, napping in a hard chair. Seeing him there made my heart swell with gratitude. With happiness.
“How are you feeling?” Dad asks from the driver’s side.
“One hundred percent,” I reply, my voice coming out strong and clear, unlike some days ago. Another thing that has changed is my father. Maybe it’s the guilt of locking me in. Maybe he just learned not to take me for granted... But he’s changed. He’s not the same man as two weeks ago.
“Good. It’s good to have you back,” he says, with an awkward smile. Dad and I only ever talked so he could order me around or tell me how disappointed he was. Since it looks like he wants to avoid that, he has no idea what else to say. It’s strange, but I know we’ll get the hang of it.
Dad drives me across town and past our neighborhood. I don’t ask him where we’re going, but I can’t help my jaw from dropping when he stops me in front of Asher’s building. I snap my head sideways to look at him.
He presses his lips together in a restrained smile. “The man did save your life. What kind of father would I be if I forbade you from being together?”
My heart grows twice its size, and I throw my arms around his neck, hugging him. Dad chuckles, tapping my shoulder in another awkward motion. “Thanks, Dad,” I whisper before turning back to open my door.
It opens on its own and I shoot my gaze up to Asher.
He’s been waiting for me. There’s love in his gaze, pride in his glistening eyes, and I unbuckle my seat belt and exit the car to run into his brawny arms. Asher picks me up, and I bury my face in his neck, smelling that scent I’ve grown addicted to.
His chest rumbles with pleasure, and even when he puts me down, I’m not ready to go.
“Take care of her, will you?” says Dad.
“With my life,” Asher replies and closes the door. I blink at them, expecting Dad only to drive me here to see him before he took me home. Instead, Dad waves at me, then drives off, leaving the two of us standing on the sidewalk.
I look up at Asher’s handsome face. “What was that?”
“What do you mean?”
“Dad. Being all friendly.”
Asher’s lips tug into a smile, but he shrugs. “Guess he can see how much we’re meant to be. Why fight against Fate, right?”
I chuckle as he pulls me along, up the stairs into his apartment. Asher kisses the top of my head as he guides me in, sunlight soaking his immense living room, and I take in the soft gray couch, the huge TV, and how the light hits the corners... until I see something I didn’t expect.
A sleek black piano, propped right against the window, is now the centerpiece of the space. My eyes almost pop out of their sockets and my jaw drops. There’s no hiding the surprise as I gasp.
“Oh, my God,” I murmur, too shocked to say anything else.
Asher closes the door behind us. With a hand on the small of my back, he guides me closer. I take tentative steps, expecting the piano to disappear into thin air. It doesn’t, and once we’re close enough, I reach out and touch the cold wood.
“It’s real?”
He chuckles. “Of course it is. And it’s yours.”
My heart stammers in my chest. I whirl around to face him. “What? Mine? It can’t be mine.”
“But it is.” His big hands curl around my jaw, softly, as if I were breakable. “It’s yours, love. I got it for you. I know how much you love music and how you were never able to pursue it. Now you can.”
My eyes sting with unshed tears. “But how? Dad wouldn’t let me.”
He parts his lips but says nothing for a moment.
Asher studies my eyes, staring straight into my soul for a long minute.
I wait, clinging to his shirt, and then he pulls back and drops on a knee.
I follow him with my gaze, arching an eyebrow in doubt.
Asher pulls something from his pocket, a small box, and opens it in front of me.
“He won’t have a word in it, love. I’ll fight for you, for your happiness. I’ll burn down the world if that means you’re safe. Will you marry me?”
My brain shuts down. I blink and blink and the image in front of me doesn’t register. “You’re joking.”
Asher presses his lips together. “I am not. God, Laura. I love you so much. From the moment I saw you, I knew we’d be together. Let’s skip the nonsense and just be together. I promise I’ll do anything in my power, and even beyond that, to make you happy.”
My vision grows blurry with tears. Is this for real? “I love you too,” I murmur, and my hands shake. This is real. This is the best version of reality I could dream of. “I love you so much.”
“So? Will you marry me?”
I nod. “I will. Of course I will.”
Asher shoots to his feet and hugs me close. He kisses my temple and the top of my head. Tears run down my face as I let him put the ring on my finger. He asks forgiveness for using my hand when I was unconscious to measure the ring. I laugh and laugh until my belly hurts.
“You scared me,” he says as he guides me to the piano. “Took you a moment to say yes.”
I laugh. “Sorry. I didn’t believe it.”
He sits me down at the piano, his hands on my shoulders, on my hair. We stay in quiet wonder for a moment. Asher bends down, his lips on my ear. “It’s yours, love.”
And tears threaten to spill as I run my fingers over the keys, then put force to test the sound.
The songs bubble up from me, a memory never forgotten, and I play for the first time in years.
I let the tears spill down my face. My soon-to-be husband kneels next to me, his face pressed to my shoulder, and he listens to me playing.
There’s so much love inside me I can’t even describe it. And I know that this is only the beginning. The beginning of us.