Twenty-Nine #2
“Let’s get a move on this, people. We have a wedding to get to,” May says behind me.
I turn around and see May linking arms with Lucy, whose smile looks like it might break her face.
I can’t imagine what my face looks like right now.
I can feel a sob in my throat, and no one has even spoken a word yet. But it doesn’t matter.
Oliver is here.
I turn back to face Oliver, who takes a few steps towards me. My instinct is to back away, but I’m frozen in place. That is, until Thor barrels towards me. I bend down to pet him before he gets near my dress, and then he makes his way to Lucy.
I don’t take my eyes off of Oliver for a second.
I want to throw myself at him. I’ve missed him so much.
I can’t believe he’s here. I think he can read my thoughts—so much is said between us in the few silent seconds it takes for him to come within a foot of me.
When he is finally close enough that all I would have to do to touch him would be to reach out my arm, I let out a shaky exhale.
This is real. He’s here. I can’t reassure myself of that enough.
“Hey,” he says, and his voice is enough to lodge a knot in my throat. He looks down for a moment, and I resist the urge to bend down to catch his gaze again. I’m magnetized by his eyes. He quickly looks back up and I see him swallow hard.
“So, I have recently come into possession of a romance novel,” he starts, a laugh in his voice. I inhale at the prospect of where this is going. “And from what I’ve read, and from what Lucy’s told me, this is the time for a grand moment—”
“Grand gesture,” Lucy calls from behind me. I turn around and glare at her. Thor is sitting at May’s feet, loving every second of this adventure.
“Did you do this?” I whisper, barely holding in the tears that are threatening to break free.
“Be quiet, he’s in the middle of a speech,” Lucy scolds, pointing for me to turn around. When I do, I’m greeted with one of Oliver’s smiles, and my knees start to feel a bit like the turrets of the bouncy castle being deflated last night.
“Elle, I would like to formally apologize for being an absolute ass,” he says. I can tell he’s fidgeting with his hands in his pockets. “I’m so sorry it took me so long to figure my shit out, but I just… got stuck.”
I inhale shakily when he reaches for my hand, lacing our fingers together.
“I love you, Elle,” Oliver says, and I let out a whimper at his words.
I can feel my lip quivering. There’s a part of my brain, the one part that is not currently functioning on solely heart-eye emojis—that can’t believe this is happening.
Not only did this man come find me to tell me that he loves me, but I am the sappy heroine crying during the grand gesture.
I never would have predicted this for myself.
“I’m here for your happily ever after. Whatever it looks like, whatever it takes, I’m here for it. Because I love you so much, and I promise I will never knowingly hurt you again.”
He takes a breath, still looking down at our hands.
“I’m sorry that I ever did it in the first place.
It’s up there in one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done.
My—you know, the way I’m… me—” I squeeze his hand, as he takes a breath.
“It has always scared women away, and I was so tired of it. So, from the first time you scolded me in the hallway, I had myself convinced it would happen again. Then the more I got to know you, the more terrified I became, because everything around me felt like it was hanging in the air. I thought I couldn’t give you the stability of a relationship that you wanted.
But I should have believed in us. I’m sorry. ”
“That was a pretty good speech,” I hear May mutter behind me.
“I think mine was better,” Lucy whispers back.
“Also, I should tell you that I quit my job—”
“What?” I say, my voice breathless.
“It’s a long story, but you were right. I guess I needed to find my—what do you call it?
My main character energy?” I smile. “I want my own life. Not the one my father forced on me. I don’t know what that life looks like, but I don’t want to figure it out alone.
I want you by my side, and we’ll work out the rest together. ”
I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what I can say.
All my life, I’ve been chasing the perfect ending of a book—the carriage riding away from the castle, the final musical number, the crowd cheering as the heroine won her final battle.
I became convinced that I would only ever find that ending in the form of ink on a page.
As hard as I tried, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was an observer, a reader in the book of life, never a starring character.
I look at Oliver, who squeezes my hand a little tighter when our eyes meet, and I take a deep breath.
I love my life, I love my family, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt as much a part of a bigger story as I have these last few months with Oliver.
Life with him was another star I was afraid to chase, but I reached for it anyway. And I got it.
“You didn’t need the speech,” I say. Oliver furrows his brows at me. “You being here, in Hudson Hollow, today of all days—that was the grandest of grand gestures. Plus, you brought a dog in a bow tie,” I add with a laugh.
Oliver seems to sigh with relief, his shoulders relaxing as he chuckles softly.
In one smooth step, he cups my cheeks in his hands and presses his mouth against mine, his soft lips devouring me.
Kissing him feels like a release of weeks, months, years of bated breath, all culminating in this moment.
The moment that someone stood up for me.
The moment this main character got her happily ever after.