Epilogue #3
I bounced on my toes and shook out my arms, trying to free myself of the pressure I felt, then I waited for her to arrive.
The moment she stepped around the corner, her eyes on her feet, I pressed forward until Phoebe’s familiar body landed against mine with a small “Umph” falling free, and she faked a stumble to the side that had one of her flip flops sliding off her foot.
Just like it had back then.
That’s my girl. Playing along perfectly for me.
I reached up to grab hold of her arms to steady her, not missing the softness of her skin the way I’d noticed it that day. It had been the first thing to annoy me about her because my body had reacted instantly, demanding I run my hands over all her other body parts, too.
Without pause, Phoebe looked up, her wide eyes taking me in as her mouth twitched on one corner, trying to break out into a smile before she schooled her face. “Fuck, I’m sorry.”
I didn’t respond, just glowered at her like she’d been sent to me from the Devil himself.
“I’m… I’m sorry,” she croaked.
“No ‘fuck’ this time?” I asked, raising a single brow as I faked my hatred towards her. How I’d ever been able to fake anything negative towards her, I’d never know.
But no blush rose to her cheeks this time. No embarrassment took over. She held no fear over what I thought of her. Instead, Phoebe wanted to laugh, and she had to press her lips together and make her eyes pop to stop herself from doing so.
“ Behave ,” I mouthed, struggling to stay in character myself.
“ Sorry ,” she mouthed back. “Right. Erm.” She blinked quickly before something dawned on her. “Wait. You need to let me go.”
“I do?”
“Yeah, your hands fell away, and you got this really, really angry look on your face the moment you weren’t touching me.”
“That makes sense.” I never had wanted to let her go. Even so, I let my hands fall away from her this time and took a small step back to put an inch between us.
“And I think I put my flip flop back on at this point.”
“No. Leave it.”
“What? Why? That wasn’t how it happened back?—”
“We’re doing it differently this time, remember? Get back in character for me.”
A blush did rush to her cheeks then. “You’re so bossy.”
“Phoebe,” I warned.
“Okay, okay. Where were we? Oh, wait. I’ve got it. I’ve got it.” She paused for only a second before she said, “I’m?—”
“Sorry? Yeah. You’ve tried saying that three times now. Doesn’t seem to be working out for you. How about you just watch where you’re going. That ought to do it.”
Her frown came too easily, and I wondered if the memory of my forced disdain played a part in that. “Is there any need to be such a jerk about it? It was clearly an accident.”
“Yet you’re still in my way.”
“You can’t go around me?”
“Can. Don’t see why I should.” God, I’d been such a dick.
“Wow, you’re a real charmer.”
“I’m so relieved the woman I’m madly in love with thinks so,” I said, allowing my smile of adoration to come freely.
Phoebe’s brows rose. “That’s… not what you said a year ago, Henry.”
I took a step closer, loving the way she always seemed so delicate beneath me, even though the fire inside her could win wars now. “No. But it should have been, because I swear it, Phoebe, the moment I saw you, I knew. I knew you were going to be that woman for me.”
“What woman?”
“The one you only have to meet once to know they’re about to turn your whole life on its head, whether you’re ready for it or not. Whether the timing is right or wrong. No matter who approves or doesn’t.”
That easy smile of hers erupted. “You’re going way off script here.”
“Indulge me.” Keeping my eyes on hers, I slowly lowered myself to the ground to place her rogue flip flop back onto her foot with ease.
“You definitely didn’t do that back then, either.”
“I know.” I grinned up at her and felt the magic of the moment tear through my heart, until it beat so loudly, I thought the whole island would hear it. “Want to know what else I didn’t do?”
“What’s that?”
“This.” I pushed my hand into the pocket of my swim shorts and fished around for the delicate piece I’d been holding onto for far too long before I carefully dropped down onto one knee and held the diamond ring up between us.
All the colour drained from her face, and her mouth fell into the perfect little ‘O’ shape as her eyes widened, and she stared at the ring. I let the silence linger for a beat too long, wanting her to soak it all in. For her—both of us—to remember this moment forever.
“Phoebe?” I said quietly.
She blinked once, twice, three times before she tore her eyes away from the ring and finally looked at me and my shit-eating grin.
“They say life’s a marathon, not a sprint, but I don’t buy into that anymore. I see no point in taking anything slowly with you when you’re all I’ll ever need. You’re my girl, smart arse. You’ll always be my girl. I’m ready to sprint through it all with you… if you’ll have me.”
Tears gathered quickly in her eyes before one rushed down her cheek, long and hard, needing no permission to fall. I blinked up at her, the bright blue sky and blazing sunshine a perfect backdrop to her unrivalled beauty.
“So, marry me.” I sighed with the biggest smile on my face. “Marry me, and let’s defy all the odds together, because I promise you, Phoebe Elisa Turner, there isn’t anyone else out there who will ever love you with their whole existence the way I’m gonna love you.”
She stared at me, still speechless, but I didn’t worry. I already knew her answer. She’d already admitting her acting skills were too poor to have faked a single moment of the love we’d shared during the best year of our lives.
All at once, she sucked in a sharp breath and threw herself at me with such force, I struggled to catch her in my arms without falling flat on the ground.
A “Hmph” fell free as I pulled her against me and somehow kept us both upright while she mumbled, “Yes, yes, yes, yes, and all the yeses I could ever yes,” in my ear.
“So… that’s a… firm yes,” I croaked, straining against her.
“Uh-huh. A big yes. The biggest yes to ever yes.”
“But… the ring…” I forced out when she threatened to cut off my air supply.
“It can wait.” She pulled back, her baby blues aglow as she pressed her hands to my face. “Yes,” she sighed.
“I got that.” I smiled back at her, all this love I felt flowing through me now with no hesitations, no doubts, no worries or regrets. All I felt when I looked into this woman’s eyes was unwavering certainty.
“You just asked me to marry you,” she whispered.
“I did.”
“And you’re definitely not ill?”
“Nope.”
“Which means… you want me forever?
“Even longer than that.” I pulled her hand down in between us and slid the ring onto her finger, anyway, watching as she hitched in a stuttering breath and more tears fell down her already-stained cheeks.
She didn’t even look at the ring, never tore her gaze away from me as though no diamond could ever compare to what we had. “I didn’t know how much I needed you until I got you, and now I’m never going to let you go. You know that, right?”
“That had better be a promise.”
Phoebe lifted her hand between us and wiggled her engagement ring in front of me. “Locked down for life.”
“Jesus, Phoebe, I hope so.” Then I kissed her into another chapter of us, and we melted into a forever we’d never expected to create right there on the very path where we’d first slammed into each other’s lives.
We said our first hello beneath the blazing Mykonos sun.
Six months after I proposed, we said forever in the English rain.
It only ever had to make sense to us.
For the next sixty years, that’s exactly what it did.