Page 163 of Never After Us
“Come here.”
She walks toward me slowly, like she’s afraid the whole thing will disappear if she moves too fast.When she reaches me, her fingers brush mine—lightly, searching.
I take both her hands.“Mara.There’s something I need to tell you.”
Her breath catches.“Alec, if this is about the trip, or?—”
“It’s not.”
I shake my head, stepping closer.
“It’s about us.”
Her eyes soften, confused and gentle.“Okay.”
“I didn’t know how to love anyone before you,” I say.“I didn’t know how to stay.I didn’t know what it felt like to want a future that wasn’t just survival.But then you moved into that penthouse across from mine and ...”
I laugh once—helpless.“You rearranged me.”
Her eyes shine instantly.My throat tightens.
“You and Mila ...you became my home before I even realized I’d been searching for one.”
She exhales shakily.“Alec ...”
“You’re the first person I’ve ever wanted to grow for,” I continue, voice unsteady.“The first person I want to wake up beside for the rest of my life.The first person I want to fight with, and fight for, and come back to every single time.”
Her lips tremble.“I?—”
“And I want the world to know it,” I say, because it’s true.“I want everyone—your mother, my bandmates, the neighbors, the goddamn mailman—to know you’re mine and I’m yours, and this is hopefully, forever.”
My hand reaches for the ring box.
Her breath stops.
I lower myself to one knee.
Her hand flies to her mouth.Tears spill instantly.
“Mara,” I say, voice rough, “I love you.With everything I am, everything I’m trying to become, and everything I didn’t think I’d ever have.And if you let me ...I’ll spend the rest of my life proving it.”
I open the box.
She gasps—a soft, broken sound.
Behind us, in the bushes:
“Mom, say yes,” Mila whisper-screams.
Mara laughs through a sob.“Oh my God—Mila?—”
“Just say it, we want to marry him,” Mila stage-whispers again.
Mara looks back at me.
And for a moment the whole world feels still—just her and me, suspended in a breath that feels like destiny.She lowers herself to her knees in front of me, cupping my face with shaking hands.
“Yes,” she says again.“I love you.Of course it’s yes.”
