Page 82 of Only If You Dare

Epilogue

Three Weeks Later

“I thought I’d never see you again,” Laney said massaging my head as she washed my hair. I peeked an eye open and squinted.

“Why? This is where I always get my hair done when I’m in Houston.”

“Which I thought would be never again now that you’ve taken Julian Alexander Rose off the market,” Laney smirked.

News of me and Julian’s engagement hit the media fast after Santana broke the story. Since I knew it would happen anyway, I decided letting my best friend break the news was better than it coming out any other way. Santana was completely stoked about the idea, but I told her I needed to run it by Julian first. She’d pretended to calm down, but inside she was jumping for joy.

The days leading up until today had moved so fast sometimes it was nauseating. Was this happening to me? Was I, Desiree Stevens, about to marry a Rose? I’d pinched myself a thousand times, and the pain let me know quickly this was so real. None of it would be possible without having Julian in my life. He was where I belonged. After his proposal, we’d all calmed down long enough to think about the next steps to take, and not just in me and Julian’s life. My father was looking to have a relationship with both me and Claudia.

I was worried about talking to Claudia about him. I knew with her being the baby girl, his absence in her life stung worse. Come to find out, I was right. But I was wrong about thinking she would be mad about his resurface.

Claudia seemed genuinely happy to see our father. She welcomed him with open arms after hearing his story. It made me think about me and Claudia’s relationship and gave me the courage to speak my truth. That same day, while they hugged and reunited, I stared at my sister from across the room. She must have felt it too because Claudia looked right over at me.

“What?”

I glanced at the floor then walked closer to her meeting her face to face.

“I’m sorry.” I sniffed and pressed my lips together. “There’s no good excuse for the way I’ve treated you in the past, and for that I’m sorry. For what it’s worth, it was never about you. It was about my failure as your big sister.” I sniffed again, and my eyes traveled to my father then back to Claudia. “You’ve done a helluva job with mom, and I thank you for picking up the pieces after I left and marched forward.” My eyes clouded with fresh tears. “Jaden is so lucky to have you.” The tears ran down my face, and Claudia drew me in for a hug. We clung tightly to each other. “I’m sooo sorry,” I cried.

“Ssssh,” Claudia said. “Please stop crying, Desiree.”

“Forgive me,” I cried more and laid my head on her shoulder.

Together we stood for as long as we could stand it, in a tight embrace. I sighed. It felt wonderful to get that off my chest. Seriously, a load had been lifted. With Claudia and me clearing the air, finding out the truth about our father, and Julian’s proposal, I was on cloud ninety-nine. Life has been sweet. Today, Santana and I are in Houston so she could visit her parents. I made reservations to get my hair whipped by Laney.

The best part about all of this was, I was marrying the man of my dreams in a few months. All our plans had been set. Our wedding location? Montego Bay, Jamaica. I squealed with delight at just the thought of it. I couldn’t wait, knowing we would have the time of our lives.

The End