CHAPTER SIXTEEN
One year later
Wolf stared at the sealed envelope in his hands and dropped it on the table. It had taken him over two months to write the five-page letter that he’d never mail. He rewrote it three times and finally decided it contained everything he always wanted to say but never did.
“What’s that?” Harris asked, joining Wolf and placing two cups of coffee on the table.
Harris had officially moved in a month after the tour ended, although he still maintained his home in Malibu. They used the beachfront home as a weekend getaway; this way they had the best of both worlds—the mountains and the beach.
“Is that the letter?” Harris asked, when Wolf didn’t answer right away.
“Yeah.” Wolf picked it up and looked at his childhood address on the front of the envelope. He had no idea where his parents had relocated, but the old address seemed fitting. “I finally finished it.”
Harris pushed his hair behind one ear and smiled brightly. “Congratulations. How does it feel?”
Wolf couldn’t articulate the finality of putting his words on paper. Emotions were running through him like an electrical current, but one feeling was most prevalent. “It feels like I have closure.”
The letter was his therapist’s idea. Since Wolf had no intention of contacting his parents in order to have a final say, the therapist suggested writing a letter that he could, one day, mail if he decided to.
Wolf knew that day would never come. But putting his thoughts and emotions into words enabled him to state things that he couldn’t bring himself to tell anyone.
Not Ethan. Not Harris. Not his therapist.
“I’m glad.” Harris got up and moved behind Wolf to give him a hug over the back of the chair and kissed his cheek. “Hopefully this will close that chapter of your life once and for all.”
“I think it will.” Wolf only had two nightmares since he started therapy, but the last one was cathartic, and he couldn’t really call it a nightmare.
In the dream, he was a child, maybe six or seven, sitting crouched down in a small cabinet or closet.
It was pitch black, and he couldn’t see anything.
His rapid heartbeat echoed out loud in the tiny, confined space.
He was afraid that his parents would hear it and find him.
They were yelling for him to come out from where he was hiding, but he wouldn’t move.
He couldn’t. He was frozen with fear, sitting on his heels and hugging his knees to his chest while he hid his eyes.
Then the cabinet door flung open, and his parents’ angry faces were leering down at him.
He gasped and fell backwards when he saw his father raise the black leather belt in the air.
Just as it was about to strike him, his fear morphed into anger, and he stood up.
Only he wasn’t a little boy anymore. He was a giant growing taller and taller, towering over his parents with enormous height that reached the sky.
He screamed, “NOOOOOOOO!” down at them. The word came out like a roar with the force of a hurricane, his breath blowing his parents to the ground.
They clung to one another, shaking with fear and shielded their faces with one arm from the force of the word Wolf yelled at them.
And then he woke up. Instead of feeling scared and on the verge of a panic attack, he felt freed.
That was two weeks ago, right after he finished the letter, and since then he’s felt better than ever.
“You know what they say,” Wolf began. “When one chapter ends, another one begins.” He took Harris by the hand and led him to the balcony outside. The sun was strong, the sky was bright blue, and the air was clear and crisp. A few songbirds landed on the railing to the deck and chirped happily.
“I’m ready to start that new chapter with you, Harris. I can’t thank you enough for being everything I need. For loving me like you do. For waiting for me. And for making me fall in love with you. Will you marry me?”
Harris’ beautiful blue eyes were glazed over at the sweet sentiments, and then almost popped out of his head when Wolf opened the small velvet box and presented a platinum band with three huge diamonds embedded across the center.
He looked from the ring to Wolf and back to the ring.
“Yes! I’ll marry you!” Harris lifted Wolf off the ground in a hug that knocked the air out of his lungs.
When he set Wolf down, Harris wore a smile that sparkled brighter than the diamonds in his engagement ring. “Wait here.”
“Where are you going?” Wolf asked as Harris literally ran into the house.
He stood there all alone on the deck holding the velvet box with the ring.
He wondered where the hell Harris went, but he wasn’t nervous.
He knew Harris wasn’t running away, but he had no idea why Harris took off before Wolf had the chance to place the ring on his finger.
Harris came barreling out of the house and almost slid to a stop in front of Wolf. He dropped to one knee and opened his own little velvet box. “Wolf Wheeler, will you marry me?”
Surprise and shock had Wolf staring at the ring and at Harris. “You have a ring too?”
“Will you marry me?” Harris repeated. “And you better say yes.”
Wolf smiled up to the sky and yelled, “YES!” Then he pulled Harris to his feet and kissed him with so much force his teeth hurt. “I love you so much. I can’t believe we both have rings.”
Harris was sniffling now, and his eyes took on a glassy sheen. He took Wolf’s hand. “We wear them on our right hands until we get married. Then we switch them to the left. That’s what the jeweler said.”
Wolf didn’t even think to ask. He watched Harris put the gorgeous silver band on his finger. He was so nervous, his hand was shaking. Then he put the ring he bought on Harris’ finger.
“We’re engaged!” Harris exclaimed. “And don’t think for one minute that I want to wait. I’ve been waiting for you long enough. We’ll pick somewhere spectacular and get married.”
Wolf couldn’t agree more. “Let’s do it.”