Epilogue
Two months later
Kelsey
The renovations on O’Loughlin’s are underway as tourist season draws to a close. It’s Labor Day weekend, the unofficial end to summer, something that would usually cause my mind to wander and a sadness to creep in.
For the last ten years I spent it alone on the back deck of the inn, bidding summer goodbye and thinking about all the amazing times I had with Beck when we were kids.
The fireworks begin to burst out over the water as I feel Beck slip his arms around my waist from behind and I lean back against him.
My eyes close as I recall exactly how this all started and where we ended up.
Young love, that was wild and free and careless, somehow formed into a bond built off a need for each other. Completeness and a mutual respect, that only grew as we aged. It turned into something most people never find.
Their soul mate.
I met my soul mate at age fifteen, the person I was meant to spend the rest of my life with and although it took ten years to realize it, none of that matters now.
The past is the past and making a future with Beck has been more than I could have dreamed of.
Although we still struggle with what happened during my kidnapping and with Beck getting shot, we try not to dwell on it too much.
It won’t define our relationship and it won’t consume our lives.
“You ready?” he asks.
He’s been acting strangely all day and I turn around and give him a questioning look. “Ready for what?”
“We’re taking the boat out. Watching the fireworks from it. You know, like we did as kids.”
He shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly and I take his outstretched hand.
On the way down to the dock and even as we step onto the boat, he’s quiet. Oddly quiet for Beck and I begin to worry.
When he told me he’d quit his job and was planning to stay in Rockport for good, I had serious reservations.
Could he really leave his fast-paced life in Boston to settle back into small town existence?
Where you’re only known for what people gossip about?
Would he miss the bright lights of the city and his big shot detective position on the police force?
Maybe today he’s realizing the ramifications of what he’s done after making such a hasty decision.
I sit down and fold my hands in my lap, trying not to pick the skin around my fingers; an anxious habit that faded immediately upon Beck’s return. I can’t let these thoughts consume me. I told myself when he left ten years ago and when he returned, if we’re meant to be then we’ll find a way.
Beck pulls the boat away from the dock, his back to me and his eyes focused straight ahead. But when I look at his hands on the steering wheel; they’re gripped around it so tightly his knuckles have turned white.
I’m completely baffled by this man and what is going through his head.
Before I can question him, I look around and I fall speechless.
We’re drifting as Beck drops anchor and my eyes can’t stop checking to make sure what I’m seeing is real.
“How’d you find this place?” I ask. I begin to get choked up, but it subsides after a few slow breaths. “I’ve tried for years, but never could.” My voice grows shaky again, so I stop speaking.
Without looking at me, Beck says, “I found the coordinates written on a slip of paper tucked in an old pack of cigarettes I found on the boat.”
I chuckle to myself. As much as my dad liked to claim he quit smoking, I knew he hadn’t because every time he’d go out fishing on the boat, he’d come back reeking of cigarettes.
“His fishing spot,” I whisper. “Thank you.”
“I wasn’t sure this was it, but I snuck away a few days ago so I could be sure.” He smiles at me for the first time today and it’s that perfect smile, the one that makes my knees weak and my heart race.
Beck paces along the deck of the boat before running his hands through his hair. The fireworks are booming in the distance and lighting up the sky. I can see the worry on his face and it grips me.
“Baby, you okay?” I ask.
“Yeah, Kels. I’m fine.”
He sits down next to me and takes my hand in his and that’s when I notice it’s trembling. This is so unlike Beck and I need to know if something’s wrong. But before I can ask, I’m quieted by his words.
“I have to tell you something,” he suddenly says. “Actually, I have to tell you a story.”
“Okay.”
“Remember when we snuck out after curfew to go swimming in that old quarry?”
“Yeah,” I answer, smiling a little as my memory brings up a picture of us, still so young and na?ve.
“That was the day I truly fell in love with you.”
“The day we got picked up by the police for trespassing?” I ask, shocked because I remember he looked like he was going to throw up.
“I was terrified your dad was going to kill me.” He stops and looks at me with a huge grin on his face and then shakes his head. “And I figured if your dad didn’t kill me, mine fucking would.”
Both of us are smiling now. It’s one of those moments you never forget as kid, especially when your boyfriend’s dad is the chief of police.
“You stole that bottle of whiskey from the pub and I took my dad’s cigarettes. What the hell were we thinking?” I whisper.
“I don’t know, but when my dad showed up and told his deputy to let us go, I knew we were in for it.”
“But he just drove me home and the next day, you said he was cool about it,” I say, finishing the rest.
The wind picks up and I shiver, running my hands down my arms and slipping on a sweater I brought with me.
“He was, but he said something to me that I never forgot.” Beck pauses and takes my hand again, weaving his fingers with mine and placing a kiss on each one of my knuckles.
“What did he tell you?” I ask, intrigued.
“He said, ‘I heard your girl asked my deputy if he had a light for her cigarette. Pretty ballsy of her.’ I remember apologizing immediately, but thinking the same fucking thing. You did have balls back then and you still do.”
“Oh god, I was drunk. That was such a bad idea,” I say, mortified by my behavior.
“No, it wasn’t, baby,” he says, his tone sweet. “It’s part of the reason we’re sitting on this boat in this very spot.”
I give him a curious look and his eyes twinkle brightly in the dark night, but still give nothing away.
“What’s going on, Beck?” I ask, this time more demanding, but he ignores me and continues with his story.
“Then Pop said something that shocked me. He told me to marry you.”
In that second, before my brain even has time to realize what he’s about to do, Beck is on his knee in front of me, taking my hand in his as his eyes bore into mine.
“And I knew he was right. He told me my life would never have a dull moment with a girl like you in it.” He takes a deep breath and pulls out a ring. “Kelsey Walters, will you marry me?”
My eyes haven’t left his face, not even when I catch a fleeting glimpse of him reach into his pocket or when I see the diamond sparkle out of the corner of my eye.
My response is instantaneous. “Yes,” I say, throwing my arms around his neck, tears of joy streaming down my face as I hold on so tightly that I swear he can’t breathe.
He’s laughing, his face buried in my neck, tickling me and making me squirm in his arms.
“I love you, baby,” he says and I finally pull away from him.
Slipping the ring on my finger, I look down and I’m blown away by what he’s graced me with.
An antique platinum ring, with a gorgeous, large center stone with filigree and small diamonds wrapping around the entire band.
“Beck, it’s beautiful,” I stutter out, marveling at its beauty.
“It was my mom’s,” he says, and I begin to sob. Knowing how much his mom meant to him, this is truly an honor. “I would’ve loved to ask your dad for his permission and by bringing you here, I felt like maybe I did.”
I’m sobbing so hard at this point I can’t form a coherent thought. Beck just takes me in his arms, whispering, “I love you,” over and over.
We aren’t perfect, far from it; but in this moment our life is perfection and I wouldn’t change it for anything.