Epilogue
THEA
Five Years Later
Sand gives way beneath my toes. It sifts around my feet, filling the spaces between them as I seek the cooler sand beneath the beach’s hot surface. Slade’s warm arms wrap around me, and I lean back as we sit watching Crew build a sandcastle with his dad.
Slade’s fingers find mine and tangle with them. I dip my gaze to the gold band glinting in the high-noon sun on his ring finger, and I twist it before looking over to my diamond catching the wave’s reflection.
I breathe out a sigh, the weight of the heavy world finally simple. As if the world finally pared down into a single moment: husband and wife and the sea.
Eventually, the sand finds its way into the crack of my bikini bottoms. The tiny grains scratch and itch, but the annoyance is worth it to be here with him. With them.
I inhale a breath of briny tang. “I submitted all the paperwork to the adoption agency,” I say, turning to grin at him.
He shoves his glasses up his sweaty nose, but his eyes widen and a playful smile spreads across his lips. “Yeah?” He plops a kiss on the tip of my nose, then gestures toward Crew. “One step closer.”
I sniffle and nod, a tear leaking from the corner of my eye. He thumbs it away. “Kids or no kids, I’ll love you until the end of time. You know that, right?”
I nod.
The rhythmic hush of the tide rises and falls with my heartbeat, and I settle deeper into his arms against his bare chest. Having the beach to ourselves is wonderful, something I could definitely get used to.
The sun hangs high in the sky, and my stomach rumbles as it sneaks closer to lunchtime. Creeping higher, the tide curls into frothy edges around our feet, and reluctantly, I shift, brushing the sand from my palms and thighs.
I slip my hand into his and tug at him to get up.
He laces our fingers, thumb brushing the rest of the beach off my hand.
Waving at Crew, we turn and head toward the mansion looming at the edge of the dunes.
Its wide lawn stretches toward the shoreline, butting up against the wide stone paver porch.
A heavy pergola draped in ivy overlooks the yard where a snack board has been laid out and is calling my name.
Shadows shift beyond the glass doors behind it.
We turn up the path that cuts through the grass, and that’s when I spot them.
A handful of dandelions grow at the edge of the yard, white heads bobbing in the afternoon breeze. They’re out of place on this manicured lawn, and I laugh under my breath.
“Still, they find a way,” I murmur, leaning my head into Slade’s shoulder.
He follows my gaze and arches a brow, amused. “Resilient little things.”
I bend down, plucking one carefully as we pass by, and hold it up. I grin and lift it higher, closing my eyes for a moment before I blow on it. The seeds scatter into the salt-heavy air, and my heart clenches with thoughts of my mom, feeling lighter and freer than it has in a long time.
When I open my eyes, he’s watching me, and it’s as if the whole world is suspended in his loving smile. In that look that conveys just how loved I truly am. He didn’t just save me; he gave me a purpose and a life worth being saved for.