EPILOGUE
CAMERON
Isat back, and for a moment, I let myself sink into memory, thinking about all of it: the good times we shared, the hard times we weathered, and all the big and small moments that built our life together.
I remember everything, from our very beginning to this moment: the first time I held her hand, our first kiss, and those quiet nights when it felt as if we were the only two people in the world. I have carried all of those memories with me.
Looking back now, I don’t see life as a series of good or bad times.
I see one complete picture of our journey together.
The joyful moments and the struggles are all woven into it, each part shaping who we have become.
She was there through it all. She is still here, my constant, my anchor, the one who always brought me back to what mattered.
We shared many milestones after we came back together: the birth of our second child, Nicholas; watching both our children grow into kind, responsible adults, people we were endlessly proud to call our own.
Harper’s marriage and the birth of her twins, followed by another set of twins, blessed us with four wonderful grandchildren.
And Nicholas, finding the love of his life, marrying, and giving us three more little joys.
Our family grew large and loud, especially when my siblings and their children joined the fold.
Now, nearly eighty, I am an old man who can honestly say he has lived a full, wonderful life, with Sloane by my side through it all. A life rich with love, laughter, and the enduring, unshakeable comfort of having the perfect person to share it with.
And so, I smile, realizing I have had everything I ever wanted. I have loved and been loved, wholly and profoundly. And not a day passed, even when life was hard, that I wasn’t happy or didn’t feel complete.
The sound of the door to my right made me turn, and there she was—Sloane.
The smile on my face came instantly, just as it always did whenever I saw her.
Time had not diminished it, for she was my one true love.
Every day, through all the decades that passed, I remained grateful and blessed to have her.
I never stopped striving to show her my devotion, to ensure she never doubted my love, to make her happy, and to be by her side until the end of my days.
And she never wavered. She stayed true, her love for me and our family resilient, even in life’s most challenging moments.
Every day she faced her own battles, and every day she overcame them.
My beautiful wife was an incredible woman, and I was so damn lucky to have her.
I wish we had more decades together, more moments of joy.
But I believed we were soulmates, and I hoped soulmates would find each other again in the afterlife.
“You looked so comfortable under that blanket,” she said, shivering a little from the cold as she settled beside me.
SLOANE
Cameron lifted his blanket, and I snuggled in, resting my head against his warm chest as he spread it to cover us both.
We sat on the terrace couch, on the deck at the back of the lake cabin we had bought when we retired, the same cabin where I first told him I loved him.
Harper had made a few updates here and there, and now the little cabin felt warm, cozy, and completely ours.
We were both gazing at the lake, its surface shimmering under the morning light.
The green mountains behind it reflected perfectly in the water, their peaks softened by a gentle mist. A few birds skimmed across the surface, leaving ripples that gleamed like silver threads.
The air was crisp, carrying the faint scent of pine and water, and with the warmth of the man I had spent most of my life with beside me, I felt utterly at peace.
We had lived a long life together, and we could say with pride that we had truly lived, that we had burned brightly. We loved, and we made love. We broke, and we mended, each time bound tighter by something stronger than the pieces we once were.
Not a single day went by that he did not try to make me happy, still unconvinced, even though I kept telling him he had made my life complete.
He was true to his word, devoted to me entirely, spending every day, almost every hour, by my side as we lived and worked together.
I trusted him, I believed him, and in him, I had found my home, my anchor, my heart.
And as we sat together, watching the morning light shimmer across the lake, I knew without doubt that I had loved and been loved completely, for a lifetime.
Cameron let out a soft sigh, his eyes closing briefly as he blinked slowly. He was tired, always tired these days, and I couldn’t help but worry. Always worry. We were old enough now to think about what would happen if one of us were gone. Could we survive without each other?
“Cam,” I called softly.
His answer was a humming sound.
My hand reached for his cheek, weathered and lined with the gentle map of our years together, yet still the most beautiful face I had ever seen. Every crease told a story we had lived, every line a memory we had shared.
“I love you,” I whispered, as I had every day, words that never grew old, never lost their meaning.
“I love you more,” he replied with a tender smile, just as he always did, his voice a soft echo of the young man I’d fallen in love with so long ago.
His eyes were closed, and a gentle exhale slipped from him, not sorrow but the soft exhalation of a life fully lived. His body melted into rest, and I stayed beside him, my hand on his cheek, holding him close, closing my own eyes as well.
Our story had been complete, whole, like the final note of a song that lingers in the silence after the music fades.
And I wouldn’t trade my life for anything in the world.