Chapter 31
Serenity
1 year later
I always dreaded coming to the cemetery. Not because it was all lonely and depressing but because it reminded me that the ones that I loved were gone forever. It made me have to remember all the time that we had and the time that we will never have again. Staring down at the gravestone, I was having the hardest time trying to find the words. I felt my eyes tear up slightly but I pushed it back. I was not going to cry. I couldn’t. I took a deep breath and let it out.
“Hey, it’s me here. Obviously, you know that. I just want to say I miss you and I’m sorry I haven’t come sooner. I think it’s just been hard because I wanted to fix you but I wasn’t the one who could do that.” I paused for a second because the tears were coming again.
“It took me a long time to realize that I couldn’t fix you but you helped me in ways that you will never know. I have become a better version of myself all because of you. I miss you so much, every day. I tried to act like I didn’t but I do.” I felt a strong hand come from behind me and land on my shoulder.
“You okay?” I turned and looked at the man behind me.
“Yea, I’m fine. I should have done this a long time ago. I didn’t realize how much I missed him.” I felt one of his hands wipe something that was coming down my cheek. Great, I was crying. I sniffled back and rolled my shoulders to try to relax.
“It’s okay to show emotion, babe. You don’t always have to be the strong one.” Theo had been my saving grace as much as I had been his.
That night when I thought that I almost lost him was the night I almost lost myself. Right as we got to the hospital, the paramedics got him back. As soon as he got inside, they started hooking him up to all these machines to get him stable. Still one of the craziest nights ever. I found a card in his belongings that had a name: Mario Sanchez.
I remembered thinking that there was no way this could be the same person. So I called him. We got to talking, and it was. He was my brother’s best friend. He left right after my brother died and I didn’t know where he went, until now. This was a sign, I know it was. Before I knew it, Marco was there at the hospital with me. The doctors came out and talked with us. Said that Theo had a long road to recovery but would make it through. Feeling an arm come around my waist now brought me back to reality.
“Thank you for being here with me, It really means a lot,” I said to him and laid my head back on his chest. Bringing him home with me brought out even more emotions. To be able to show him that everything would be all right. It was kind of Mario’s idea to get him out of Chicago for a bit. I believed his exact words were that ‘new scenery could be good for the soul.’
“You don’t need to thank me, babe. This is just another stepping stone for us.”
Theo had been doing so good with his recovery. He talked with Mario daily which was funny because now they have this bromance that made me a bit jealous sometimes. We also went to Camie’s grave before we left Chicago. That was also a very emotional day because it was his first time being there, but I thought that he got some closure from it too. I turned so that I was facing him now. I took my arms and wrapped them around his neck.
“I’m so proud of us.” He laid his forehead on mine and I closed my eyes briefly. I was trying to remember the person that I was before I met Theo. It was so hard to think that I was that person, the one that had no one who cared and hid all of her emotions behind her work.
Now with Theo, I felt like I had a purpose in life that didn’t revolve around hiding who I am. We started to walk back to the car, hand in hand. My phone started to go off in my pocket. I stopped and pulled it out to see who it was calling.
Kyle. Theo looked over and made a huffing sound.
“Calm the masculinity down, buddy. It’s probably nothing.” I declined the call because I also started not working while I’m off. Then it started to ring again.
“Just answer it so twig boy can go away.” I loved it when he got jealous. It was so cute. Right when I got into the car, I answered.
“Hello, Kyle.” I put the phone on speaker so Theo could see there was nothing to worry about.
“Uh, hi, Serenity. Just wanted to give you an update on the case today.” I looked over at Theo and I could tell he was trying to figure out what the point of this call was other than to annoy him. I secretly chuckle to myself.
“What is so important that you needed to call me Kyle?” Theo started to pull out onto the road from the cemetery but kept making side glares at the phone.
“I just wanted to let you know that Claire was found guilty on all charges and is sentenced to life without parole. I thought that you might want to know that.” I froze. And I looked over and saw that Theo is now white knuckling the steering wheel. I reached over and put my hand on his leg to calm him down because this wasn’t the reaction that I thought I would get from him.
“That’s fantastic news, Kyle. Thank you for calling to tell us. Please email me the details on the trial but we will be back in about a week if there are any loose ends to deal with.” I could see Theo was breathing hard now and needed to end this call.
“Uh, your welcome, Serenity. I will send you everything that I have from the trial and…”
“Kyle, I’m about to lose service. Let me call you later…bye.” I quickly hung up the phone and put all my attention on Theo. He started to pull into a parking lot and stopped. He was shaking so badly that I didn’t know what to do.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay, babe. She can’t hurt anyone else.” He turned his head and I saw the tears that were pushing to fall from those beautiful eyes of his. I kept rubbing his leg and arm, trying to figure out what happened because he should be happy right now.
“What’s wrong?” It was the only thing that I could say because for the first time I was at a loss for words. Theo turned to me one more time and smiled.
“It’s over. I never thought that it would be over. She’s never going to hurt someone ever again. I just can’t believe that it’s over, Serenity.”
My heart broke just a little more because I now saw that his emotions were not worry but relief.
“She will never step foot in society ever again, Theo. Thanks to your bravery and ambition we made this happen. I will be there at every appeal she wants to make too just, so she knows that there is no chance in hell.”
He smiled a little and breathed heavily. He rolled his shoulders back and went to get out of the car.
“Hey! Where are you going?” I was able to yell as he shut the door. I quickly got out and ran to the other side of the car because he disappeared to the ground. When I got to that side of the car, I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. Theo was kneeling on one knee with a small box in his hand.
“Serenity. The day you came into my life I knew that I was in trouble, but in the best way possible. You have no idea what you have done for me. You saved my life, you made me feel like the man that I knew I wanted to be but didn’t know how to get back to him. I told myself that the day Claire is behind bars forever was the day that I asked you to be my wife.”
The tears were instantly falling and I didn’t know what to say.
“Serenity, baby, will you marry me?” I felt tears coming down my face but there was only one thing to say.
“Yes.”