Each step felt as if it were a weight lifted off my shoulders. Each step was saying goodbye to the possibility of ever being alone. Each step stood for new beginnings. Each step was a silent yes to the question he was going to ask me.
A million times over, yes, yes, yes.
It took me six steps.
Six steps to reach him.
Six steps to remind myself to breathe.
Six steps to the easiest yes of my lifetime.
The moment I stood in front of Ash, I lowered myself to be on the same level as him. I wrapped him in the tightest hug and said, “Yes!”
He chuckled. “I didn’t even get the chance to ask you out loud, Karla.”
“Oh, sorry, sorry!” I pulled away and smiled at him. “Go ahead. Ask.”
He kept laughing, shaking his head. “Will you be mine forever? Will you marry me?”
“Yes!” I repeated, wrapping him in another hug. “Of course, yes. Always yes. Yes, yes...”Sigh.
Oh, yes.
There he was, the hero of my story, down on one knee, asking me to be his wife.
I was going to be someone’s wife. Ash’s wife. How did I get so lucky? How did my “once upon a horror story” shift into a romance with one of those HEAs that Ellie was always going on about?
After my yes, Ash slid the ring onto my finger, stood, and pulled me in for another tight embrace. Then he kissed me, lifting me off the ground. It was clear as day in that moment that he and I were not just a love story.
We were a romance.
Epilogue
Karla
One Year Later
Ash and I married on a Saturday in September at a beautiful estate mansion that had a garden filled with milkweed, wild bergamot, and purple coneflowers. Those flowers meant one thing to me: dozens and dozens of butterflies.
When we first went to tour the estate, a butterfly landed right on Ash’s shoulder. Like our loved ones who passed away were telling us we were exactly where we were supposed to be.
We’d invited all our loved ones to our celebration and had the best night of our lives. We danced until the music stopped, and then we danced some more. My body ached, but my spirit soared.
Uncle Landon danced with me at one point, smiling down at me. “The most beautiful bride,” he told me.
“Thank you, Uncle Landon.”
“How’s your heart today, Karla?” he softly asked.
I grinned ear to ear as I replied with words that held so much special meaning to me. “Still beating.”
And oh, how strongly it beat.
I wanted more moments like this. More moments filled with love, with family, with comfort, with care. As I stared around at everyone I loved, I realized that this was all I’d ever wanted and for the remainder of my life, I’d simply want more of that.
More love, more family, more light.
Yeah...