Chapter 31
Epilogue
One Year Later
"The next speaker, graduating summa cum laude and this year's valedictorian, Kennedy Walters."
I rise from my seat among my classmates, catching Knox's proud grin from the audience.
He sits between my brother and my father, looking devastatingly handsome in a suit.
The bad boy enforcer turned NHL star, who now does charity work with troubled youth and gives interviews about love making him better.
We've both grown so much this year.
"Four years ago," I begin my speech, "I thought I knew exactly who I was supposed to be. The senator's perfect daughter. The campaign's ideal prop. Someone who followed rules and met expectations."
Knox's smile softens, knowing where this is going.
"But college taught me something important – that being perfect isn't nearly as valuable as being real. That sometimes the best decisions look like mistakes on paper. That love, real self-love, is worth every risk."
My father actually tears up in the audience. Because he knows – we all know – how close I came to losing myself in his campaign's perfect image. How finding Knox, loving Knox, helped me find myself too.
After the ceremony, Knox lifts me off my feet in a spin that makes my graduation cap fall off.
"My beautiful intelligent girlfriend," he murmurs against my hair. "Harvard Law won't know what hit them."
"Mr. Thompson," I smile and kiss him. "What would your fans say about their enforcer being so soft?"
"They already know." There was a magazine cover he did and they called the article: NHL's Bad Boy Contributes to Charity’s. "Pretty sure our story is public record at this point."
He's right. The media loves us – the senator's daughter and the hockey star, proving that love conquers all. They follow his games, my law school acceptance, our public appearances. Write articles about how he's changed, how we've grown.
The graduation party at the beach house feels like coming full circle. Same waves crashing outside, same family gathering, but everything’s different now.
Ace is back to being best friends with Knox. My father discusses NHL stats instead of polling numbers. Even Patricia, who once saw Knox as a campaign liability, asks for his autograph for her nephew.
"Remember our first time here?" Knox whispers as we sneak away to the pool.
"How could I forget?" I splash him playfully. "Pretty sure that was the night that scared you away."
"Look at us now." He pulls me close, water lapping around us. "God, you’re beautiful. I’m so fucking proud of you."
"No thanks to you constantly interrupting my studying."
"With good reason, Princess." His hands find my hips under water. "I can never control myself around you."
This past year has been a revelation. Watching Knox thrive in the NHL, protecting his team with controlled power instead of rage. His father's attempts at contact go unanswered now – not from anger, but from growth. He's broken that cycle, become his own man.
And I've found my own path too. Law school isn't about pleasing my father – it's about making real change. Using privilege for purpose. Building something impactful.
We made it work, between his games and my studies.
He flies back for my important events, I travel to his away games when I can.
But mostly we just... live. Cook dinner in his apartment.
Study while he watches game tape. Now I’ll be in a different city, but it’s not like it matters with how much he travels.
"Dance with me?" Knox pulls me from the pool, music drifting from the party inside.
"While wet?"
"Like that's stopped us before."
We sway under the stars. The beach house lights illuminate our families inside – Ace arguing hockey stats with my father, my mother in the kitchen.
"I've been thinking," Knox says against my hair.
"Hmm?"
"About our first summer here. How scared I was of the ocean. Of loving you. Of letting myself be happy."
I watch him carefully.
"And now?" He spins me gently. "Now I'm not scared of anything. Except maybe..." He drops to one knee in the sand, pulling out a ring that catches the starlight. "Except maybe you could say no."
My heart stops.
"A year ago," he continues, voice rough with emotion, "I stood in front of scouts and cameras and risked everything because you were worth more than any dream I had before you."
My family gathers on the deck, watching silently.
"But that was just the beginning. Because loving you, really loving you, made me better. Made me braver. Made me believe in the kind of forever I never knew existed."
Tears blur my vision as he holds up the ring – emerald and diamond, matching my promise ring perfectly.
"Kennedy Walters, love of my life, best thing that ever happened to me, will you marry me? Let me spend forever proving how much I love you? Let me keep climbing through your window when we're old and grey?"
"Yes." The word comes naturally, completely, absolutely. "Oh my God, Knox, yes!"
His smile could light cities as he slides the ring on my finger. When he kisses me, my family cheers from the deck.
"About time," Ace calls, but he's grinning. "Though if you hurt her..."
"Never again." Knox pulls me closer. "Never again, my future wife. The mother to my unborn children."
He kisses me and I melt because this is better than anything I could have ever imagined.
Later, after champagne and celebrations, we sneak back to the pool. Sit with our feet in the pool.
"Happy?" Knox asks, playing with my rings.
"Very." I lean into him. "Though I have to say, Mr. Thompson, proposing where you once feared to swim? Quite symbolic."
"Thought you'd appreciate that." His smile turns wicked. "Though I was more thinking about all the times we've snuck out here since then..."
Heat floods my body at the memories. Some things never change – like how he affects me, how much I want him, how real we are together.
"Still can't believe you're mine," he mutters against my hair. "That blackmailing me was the best decision of your life."
I laugh into his chest. "Pretty sure falling in love with you was the best decision."
"Same thing." He tips my face up for a kiss that promises everything. "Virgin and villain no more, huh?"
"What?" I smile against his lips. "No, that’s not us. Not anymore."
Not the senator's perfect daughter and the hockey enforcer. Not the virgin and the villain. Just Knox and Kennedy, loving each other exactly as we are.
Building something lasting.
Creating our own story.
Choosing each other every day.
Our love story isn't perfect.
But it's real.
And that's better than perfect any day.
"I love you," Knox whispers, just for me. "Forever, baby."
I kiss him under the stars, tasting promise and future and everything we've built.
"Love you forever too."