EPILOGUE
Lily
One Year Later...
“Can I open my eyes now?” I squeeze my hand tighter around Jace’s fingers as he drags me out of the car into the streets of New York.
“Just a second.”
I hear a bell ring above my head. Jace grabs my hips and moves me a little to the left.
“Okay, now open.”
My eyes adjust as the lights turn on. “Surprise!”
I look around the room to see Rowan and Celeste. Celeste is carrying Alec, my precious nephew, and I also spot Noah, Axel, and—my mom, my dad, and all my siblings.
I turn to my side to see Jace smiling, showing off his perfect, sharp white teeth, his blue eyes sparkling in the light. I look around more at the room, at the random shelves, boxes, wood, and trash scattered all along the floor.
Jace walks behind me, grabbing me by the hips, and brushes his lips against my ear. “It used to be my father’s hardware store. I know it still needs to be cleaned up, but it’s a start,” he whispers into my ear.
“What—What is it for?” I ask.
He slips his arm around me, holding an envelope in his hand labeled The New School. “I figured you would need more space for your designs—”
I snatch it from his hand, tearing it open. Reading it to myself, my hand covers my mouth, and tears form in my eyes. I can hear party blowers and cheers from all my siblings.
When we got back to New York after I was kidnapped, I dropped out of law school and called my parents.
I told them I couldn’t do it any longer.
That I wanted to be a fashion designer. Jace was there at my side to give me courage.
They weren’t even close to being upset. Well, they were upset I waited so long to tell them—but once I showed them my drawings, they did the same thing they did when they found out I was going to college for law school. They jumped up and down, chanting.
“I got in!” I scream, the party blowers and cheers continuing from everyone. I start jumping up and down, twirling and throwing my hands in the air, but stop when I open my eyes to see Jace on one knee behind me, the room falling silent.
“Lily McAthy... mo ghrá, a chuisle mo chroí, my anam cara, mo mhuirnín dílis.”
“What is he saying?” my father asks in the background.
“Shush!” Celeste whispers to him.
“I didn’t do it right the first time, I won’t let there be a next.
It's you and me until our world is no longer. It’s you and me until our last breaths.
I would choose you today, tomorrow, in a thousand lifetimes, in a thousand worlds.
God, Lily, I would choose you. I do choose you.
Do you choose me?” He reaches into his pocket, pulling out a box and opening it to show an oval-cut sapphire ring surrounded by other little diamonds.
“Hurry up and says yes. I’m starving over here!” Noah yells from behind me.
“God, you guys are the worst,” Celeste whispers.
“Today, tomorrow, and forever,” I cry.
I watch as Jace puts the ring on my finger. Standing, he picks me up and spins me around.
“I love you, Lily McAthy,” he whispers into my ear.
“I love you, Jace McAthy.”