EPILOGUE
One Year Later
My stomach fluttered with anticipation and a little bit of nerves. This was my first anniversary with anyone, but more importantly, it was with the love of my life.
One year for everything to change.
It started when Marco walked into a recording studio. When he heard me speak and asked for more. Since that day, he’d never stopped asking.
We moved in together a month ago officially, but unofficially, I’d barely lived in my little bungalow since touching down in LA. Now we had a place we’d chosen together, a house with a little yard and an orange tree.
We were busy in our careers, but we enjoyed being together so much that we made it a priority to find the time. I went to his clubs with him. He let me bounce lyrics off him when I got stuck. We both invested in Ocean Studios West, and so far, it had been a wise decision.
Marco and I were good for each other. This much I knew down to my bones.
I’d never spoken to anyone as much as I spoke to him. With him, the words came easy, and not just conversation. I wrote lyrics day and night. He had freed up a part of my creativity that I hadn’t known existed before I fell in love with him.
I pulled into our driveway, butterflies dive-bombing my belly. It was always this way when I came home, another sign I was in the right place, with the right person.
Jumping out of my car, I slung my bag over my shoulder and rushed to our front door. Before I could even put my hand on the knob, Marco was there, tugging me into our home.
His mouth covered mine in a deep, lingering kiss, teasing my tongue with his. He dragged his nose along my jaw to the side of my neck, where he inhaled, and slid his fingers through the back of my hair.
“Happy anniversary, mama.”
“Happy anniversary, my love.”
He finally stepped to the side, revealing the living room. He’d lit candles, maybe a hundred of them, and placed them randomly around the room.
“Wow,”
I breathed. “This is…baby, this is beautiful.”
“I wanted something special for us. Firsts don’t come around often, but I plan to give you a lot of them. First anniversary, first love, first house together. We’ll have many more.”
He slipped my bag off my shoulder and took my hand in his. “I had some idea of how tonight would go. The order of things. But I can’t sit through dinner to do this.”
“What?”
But my heart knew, and it was thumping inside my chest with the promise of forever.
Marco faced me, and then he dropped to one knee, still holding my hand. Tears welled in my eyes, but I willed them away so I could experience every second of this in sharp focus.
“Selena Cruz, the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen.”
Marco cleared his throat and rubbed his thumb over my ring finger. “You’ve given me everything I didn’t know I was missing. Made me happier than I thought possible. Took me for who I was and made me want to be better. I will keep being better for you for the rest of our lives, if you’ll have me. Will you marry me, Selena?”
I nodded, unable to get any words out at first. But I wanted him to hear me. To reply to the beautiful things he’d said to me.
“Yes, Marco. Yes, yes, yes. I will marry you with my whole heart because I know you will keep it safe and take care of it like you always have. Yes.”
He slipped the ring on my finger and wrapped me in his arms, his face pressed to my stomach. There we stayed, shaking, tears slipping down our cheeks, not saying a single thing.
For once, words weren’t needed.
His arms around me and mine around him said it all.
We were in this together.
Forever.