Page 217 of The Love Constant

When I guide her onto my lap, she lets me. We’ve spent so much time together lately, and somehow, it’s still not enough. I don’t think it ever will be. I’ll always want more of her. And I’ve finally learned that wanting isn’t a flaw or a weakness. It’s a powerful promise. An unbreakable vow from me to her.

“Thank you,” I say, feeling emotional, “for stumbling into my life and turning it inside out.”

“You don’t have to thank me for that, baby. It’s not like either of us had a choice, is it? We were inevitable.”

Inevitable. That’s the word for it. From the first moment I saw her, I was already lost. Already hers. I had no choice. I was always bound to fall in love with her. It’s like she’s tailored to me, exactly right for my deepest needs, flawlessly perfect in her own way. She fits me in ways I didn’t know I was empty. With her silly T-shirts, movie quotes, wild curls, pretty freckles, sharp tongue and sharper mind, impulsive temperament, loving nature…

Against every ridiculous, impossible odd, we found each other. Billions of variables and parameters led us to the moment we stepped into that elevator. And somehow, we turned coincidence into unbreakable love. We made it our constant.

And in my heart, in that part of me she so effortlessly conquered and stole, I know it was never luck. Never chance. It was fate. A destiny that didn’t trap us, but chose us. Over and over again.

“I love you,” I breathe, undone and overwhelmed.

“I love you too, baby.”

The kiss that follows is like every other one we’ve shared—full of promise, heavy with forever. It’s a quiet understanding passing between us. A taste of what’s to come.

We’re standing at the dawn of the rest of our lives, and thanks to her, the future doesn’t feel like something I have to survive anymore.It feels like something I get to live. Day after ordinary day. Love strengthened in a thousand small ways. Laughter, arguments, and forgiveness. Growth. Home.

And when the sun eventually sets on our lives, when time has softened us and the world has witnessed us soar together, I know exactly where I’ll be. Right here. Still reaching for her. Still grateful. Still undone by that smirk, those freckles, and the way she looks at me like I’m worth loving.

A lifetime lived in the light, grounded in this woman, a story we wrote together, hand in hand. This woman, who pulled me out of my corner and never asked me to be anything but hers.

My freckled dork. My feral raccoon. My greedy, needy little half-fiancée.

What a fucking life it will be.

The End