Page 102 of Beautifully Broken Pieces

I’m not sure who closed the distance first, but our lips met, and the kiss seemed to go on for ages. Lips and tongues and hearts and…forever.

Walker pulled back and flashed a smile that told me he was up to something. “One more thing.” He put his fingers to his mouth and let out an ear-splitting whistle.

“What in the world—?” My words were cut off by a stampede of loved ones: Walker’s entire family, all my best friends from LA, and a few other familiar faces.

A small figure was the fastest. Noah pumped his arms as he ran up the hill and launched himself at Walker and me, landing with anumph. “Tay Tay! You gonna be my aunt now?”

I burst out laughing. “You bet, buddy.”

“Yes!” he shouted, pumping a fist in the air.

I grinned up at a smiling and slightly teary Jensen. “I’m so happy for you two,” she said. I knew she was, but the happiness in her eyes couldn’t disguise the bone-deep pain I knew was there. My beautiful, fierce Jensen was the one holding people at arms’ length now, and I didn’t know how to fix it. She needed someone as determined as Walker had been with me to break down her walls.

Walker stood, pulling Noah and me up with him, and we were engulfed in hugs and well wishes. Irma elbowed her way through the crowd. “Outta my way! I gotta see how my ring looks on my girl.” Walker let out a chuckle as Irma broke through.

She beamed, grabbing my hand and holding it up to the light. “It’s perfect on you. I knew it. Didn’t I tell you all they were the ones for each other? Maybe now you’ll all start respecting my premonitions a little more.”

The small crowd broke into laughter as Andrew and Sarah stepped forward. Sarah pulled me in for a tight hug and then cupped my face in her hands. “I know I’ll never replace the amazing mother you had, but I am honored to have you as a daughter.”

Fresh tears spilled down my cheeks as Walker pulled me back against him. I looked around, meeting the eyes of everyone who was so dear to me. “She’d be so happy, you know. This would make her happier than anything. To know that even after losing her, it brought me to my new family.”

In that moment, I knew, my mom was here. She always would be. I lifted my face to the sky and whispered, “To the moon and back.”

THE END

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