EPILOGUE
Dearest,
I hope one day, when I’m old and gray, you’ll read this and you’ll know how happy I am tonight. Watching you sleep—your perfect face—hearing you breathe—that beautiful sound of your life—you are everything I ever wanted. You told me once that it was always me.
When you read this you’ll finally see that for me, it really was always, always you.
I wouldn’t trade a moment of my heartbreak, confusion, or missing you for all the tea in China. Because here we are now…you and me. There are no mistakes.
There are paths, there’s the bowl we’re in, the family we come from, and the one we make together. And then there’s us.
Archer + Tristan.
Thank you for climbing my tree. Thank you for waiting for me.
Thank you for finding a way through the darkest of valleys, and for picking me up when I didn’t think I could go any farther.
There’s something I knew when I was a little boy. Something I saw in you long before you ever saw it in yourself. It’s the reason I will always come back to you.
And this is what it is…
Your heart is the best heart.
Your love is the best love.
Goodnight, Dearest.
Yours forever,
Tristan Brennan