Epilogue
Kytten
I stood in the cemetery alone, staring at her headstone. So much had happened over the last few months that it wasn’t easy to find a few minutes where it didn’t feel like our lives were on the brink of disaster.
It’d been six months since Cash asked me to be his old lady. Six months since he gave me Rachel’s cut and explained she wanted me to have it. Six months since I had found a letter addressed to me.
Dear Kytten,
I know you’re probably freaking out right now. Wondering how in the world I would know that you would be the one that Cash would choose when I was gone.
I wish I had an answer for you. The truth is, I just knew. The moment I saw you in Aspen’s flower shop it was like there was a sign above your head with Cash’s name on it.
I’m sure by now he’s told you enough about me. About what happened and how I died. I hope by the time you read this letter he will have forgiven me.
Cash and I were together for five years and I loved that man with everything in my soul. And I know he won’t believe this, but I know he loved me too. He loved me the way I needed to be loved.
I knew my time on earth was limited. I needed someone who would put me first. Not because I was sick, but because they loved me. Because they thought I was special. That I was someone to be treasured.
Cash did that.
The last five years of my life were the best five years of my life. I wanted to hold onto him until the day I died. I was blessed with the opportunity to do that.
So tell him thank you. He made my life worth living when all I wanted to do was crawl into a hole and wait for death to take me.
I don’t think he’ll ever understand just how much he saved me.
That day I met you, I knew you would be the one to save him. From himself. From his anger and grief.
You were such a spitfire. That’s what he needed. I didn’t know how it would happen. I had no hand in orchestrating your meeting from beyond the grave. Though that would have been fun.
No, this letter and the one I left for Cash are my only communication as a ghost. But I believe in fate.
Fate brought Cash and I together. I’m sure you’ve heard the story of Micah and Beck. That rat bastard. But I guess I can’t be too angry with him since he was the reason the Silver Shadows came to Diamond Creek.
I knew that same fate would bring you back, when the time was right.
And I guess if you’re reading this letter, I was right.
Make sure you tell King. He hates having to admit when I’m right.
So remind him that Grace is meant to be his.
Tell him Rachel said to get your head out of your ass and claim your woman.
Anyway, I’ll get off my soapbox now.
Love him, Kytten. The way I couldn’t. Let him protect you. Let him be the man he was meant to be. I have no doubt you can take care of yourself. But I’m asking you to humble yourself and let him take care of you too.
Help him to love big. No, that’s not right. Help him to show how big he loves. His heart is huge, it’s why he makes such a great VP, but he holds himself back. From his parents, from the club. Even from me.
Teach him it’s ok to be vulnerable, by being vulnerable with him. It was the one thing I could never give him. I didn’t want to burden him with the short amount of time I knew we had.
But you are his forever. You have a lifetime to love each other, teach each other, and grow together.
Take care of him, he’s yours now.
Forever!
Rachel
I swiped the tears away as I read the letter Rachel left me.
“Thank you, Rachel, for letting me love him. Thank you for giving me your cut, and your blessing. I never knew I could love someone the way I love him.”
I folded the letter, slipping it into the pocket in my cut. Walking out of the cemetery, I smiled when I saw him straddling his bike. He dropped me off and waited.
Reading her letter was something I had to do alone. I didn’t know what to expect.
I climbed on behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. He reached down and grabbed my leg. I didn’t flinch anymore when he touched my legs.
Anywhere.
Rachel said she knew when she saw me that I would be the one to save Cash. What she didn’t know was that he would save me too.
The monsters were still there. Every once in a while, I could feel them stir. But they didn’t scream. They didn’t beg to be fed.
They stayed in the background, waiting to be needed again.
Except I didn’t need them anymore.
Because of him.
Cash had slayed the monsters within me. He taught me how to live my life to the fullest. It was something he had learned from Rachel.
I hoped she knew just how much he loved her.
“You good?” he asked, smiling at me over his shoulder.
I smiled back, the one that was only for him, and replied, “I’ve never been better!”