Page 124 of The Last Kiss

“What? I have.” Laughing, I step up close and wrap my arms around her. If we are going down, we are going together. To live without her would be unbearable. No, not even that; it would be impossible.

I don’t often think back to that moment in the hospital when she slipped away, her body shutting down into a coma that naturally she couldn’t pull out from. Eventually, she would have stopped existing within that deep sleep. I’d held her so damn tight in my arms, knowing I’d only made it with hours to spare. My stupid pride nearly stealing those vital moments away from me. Feet had pounded outside the door, bursting through as I continued to rock her. Liv’s face, blotchy and pale staring at mine with a wild woman’s eyes. A trolley followed after, doctors busy, not speaking as they lifted her away, putting tubes down her throat, traversing the body I loved so much.

“Here.” Grinning, I pull the diary out of the backpack I’ve been hauling around tourist hell.

“What have you got that for?”

My little flower steps closer, holding out her hand for the battered book.

“We’ve got one thing to still cross off.”

Julia’s eyes widen as I pass her a biro and then drop to one knee.

“But…” she whispers, “it’s not written on there.”

“I know. You can add it and cross it out. That’s the rules, right?”

She nods, her brown eyes shining with obsidian depths.

“Julianna Brown, love of my life.”

People are stopping to stare, eyes on us rather than the view. But this is her dream, and I will give her everything she damn well wants, everything.

“I want to spend every moment of my life with you, as my wife, my heart, my soul.”

“Henri,” she sighs my name but then quirks a smile. Her shoulders drop, a look of serene bliss smooths across her face, lips turning up with a hint of a heart-stealing smile. It’s a look that tells me that the two of us are meant to be. Fate. Serendipity.

Perfection.

With a growl of possessiveness, I pull her down to me, bringing her body against mine. Her heart, a gift from a stranger beating against my chest. “Is that a yes?”

“Everything is always a yes for you.”

My fingers shake, something they’ve never done before, as I slip on a simple band with a square cut diamond—I am after all only a farmer. The happiest and luckiest farmer to ever have walked the earth.

In a kiss that makes my blood pulse in my ears we seal the deal. People clap around us. Laughing, she claps her own hands in glee. “This is the most sappy and romantic moment of my life.”

“Good. Now write it on the damn list.”

“Can I do it when we get down? It really is very touristy up here.”

This. Woman. Seriously.

I stand and pull her up after me. Giving a small wave to our audience we slip back into the lift, the guard giving us a smirk. Yeah, buddy, I know you’ve seen it all before. But I bet you never saw a dying wish come true.

Down on the ground, Gabriella assaults us, inspecting the ring, demanding champagne. “I know the best bar. Come, let’s go.” I hold her back though. “Next time, Gabby, we’ve got a train to catch. In fact.” I check my watch. “We should go and get our stuff from the hotel.”

“We have? Are we going home already?” The kiss of the sun on Julia is vitality personified. It makes my own heart swell. I only realised just a few short months ago when she started to glow, just how ill she was when I met her. Would I have done things differently if I knew? Would I have talked to her more instead of kissing the life out of her and fucking her six ways to Sunday? Who knows the answer to that? We are just what we are. Our history will always stand the way it does. I will always know what it feels like to have her dying in my arms, not once, but twice, and I will always know I will live every moment of my life to the fullest in response to that.

“Not home. Other direction.”

I wait for her to explode. Three. Two. One. “London?” Kisses rain on my skin. PG kisses, because you know, our niece is in attendance.

“I have a hotel booked.”

She squeals again and jumps on the spot. “I’m calling Liv. Telling her the news.” She wiggles her ring under my nose like I haven’t seen it before.

“She knows.”