Epilogue
Blakely
18 months later…
"Come on!" Nicholas yells as he grabs my arm and as dashes past the tall, tangled hedges.
Shrieking, I sprint behind him up the walkway toward the tiny, yellow brick house nestled behind the overgrown bushes. Holding fast to the hoodie of my windbreaker, I run straight through a huge puddle of muddy water, splashing my pants in the process.
Fantastic!
I double over at the top of the stairs, cold and wet and breathless, trying to compose myself. "This was such a bad idea," I grumble bitterly.
Nicholas had insisted on going for a run despite the heavy rainclouds that had been weighing down the sky all morning. As soon as we hit Pomelo Street, it had started coming down and in ten seconds flat, it was a torrential downpour. Now, he stands back on the balls of his heels, totally unaffected while I feel like I'm about to pass out in a breathless, hypothermic heap.
He flicks a wrist dismissively. "Ah, it's just a little rain."
I'm trying not to be rotten right now but he is truly pissing me off. You see, yesterday was my birthday and he didn't even mention it. It’s well-known that people with Asperger's have a hard time with birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions. They just don't get the importance of them. I know that Nicholas loves me. He shows me in the little things he does.
So right now, I have to remember not to be a surly, passive aggressive bitch.
The past 18 months have been wonderful. And challenging. But without a doubt, they've been worth it. We've both grown in incredible ways as individuals and as a couple. I've learned to believe in myself and be confident in my worth. Nicholas is becoming more comfortable with his condition and he doesn’t go out of his way to hide it anymore. And together, we've been unstoppable. I'm now consistently earning five figures a month from my writing and the Taken Series has an unbelievable crowd of die-hard fans always clamouring for the next release. I'm living my dream. I wouldn't have been able to do it without Nicholas. Not only has he been my willing muse and the most awesome inspiration a girl could ask for, but he also joined forces with Emily and developed Conquer: For Writers. It's an amazing cognitive aid for writer's block and tech giants are already putting in very handsome offers to buy it.
(And by the way, I eventually had to come out and tell my friends about my writing because when I gifted Isla a gorgeous Coach purse for Christmas, she staged an intervention for me after managing to convince herself that I was either dealing drugs or sitting at the top of a very elaborate pyramid scheme. Now, she's BJ Hamilton's biggest fan, demanding advance copies of every book and pimping the hell out of my writing to her yoga students.)
So basically, everything is amazing. Nicholas and I are living our very own fairy tale. Except that every now and then, he skips buying me a card on a holiday. You know what? I can live with that.
I look over at him and smile. "I love you."
He walks over, pulls me to him and plants his mouth on mine. "I love you."
Our lips press together again and his hands run down over my ass, weighing each handful in turn. I feel my pussy coming to life. I thread my fingers in his wet hair as the kiss grows passionate.
A car horn in the distance jolts me out of my trance, reminding me that we’re making out on some stranger's front porch. "Shit – we need to get out of here before the neighbors call the cops."
"Ah, where's your sense of adventure?" He chuckles as he walks over to the front window, shielding his eyes to peek in. He casually jiggles the handle of the front door and it opens.
I slap my hand over my mouth. "Oh my god – what are you doing?" Another thing about Aspies is that they tend to be a bit impulsive. But this goes way beyond impulsive and straight into dangerous territory.
He steps inside. "Let's go warm up," he calls over his shoulder and suddenly, he's Goldilocks and I'm terrified of what will happen when the three (or four or five) bears get home.
"Get out of there," I scold, backing away toward the stairs.
No answer.
“Babe! Get out of there! Now!”
Long silence.
"Blakely, you've got to check this library out," he calls finally, "These people are BJ Hamilton superfans. They have the entire Taken Series in paperback!"
Well, that sparks my curiosity.
I step through the front door, totally Goldilocking it up myself. I mean if these homeowners have bought each of my books, they won’t be that mad to come home and find me in their living room, right? And yup, there's a bookshelf stocked with my books. I gape at it in awe. “What the –?”
"SURPRISE!!!"
I yelp, nearly emptying my bladder on the foyer's dark wood floors when all my family and friends pop up from around the corner.
Eva and Annaleigh with Prescott, too. Isla and Reuben. Even Wesley and Emily are standing here grinning at me, taking turns hugging the fuck out of me.
That's when I notice the shimmery tin foil banner in the living room, hanging over a table of my favorite junk foods (including cotton candy). 'I DIDN'T FORGET YOUR BIRTHDAY! ', it announces in bright colors.
Gasping for air, I glance over my shoulder at Nicholas for an explanation. "What the hell is going on?"
He's bursting with pride for having pulled this off. "Happy Birthday, Princess." He gathers me in his arms and kisses me.
"I thought you forgot..." Now, I feel bad for having been hasty and prejudging him.
"Never."
I pull back and look around the room. "Wait – whose house is this?" Whoever owns this place has impeccable taste. Upholstered sectionals, geometric tables. And look, they have a throw blanket just like the one that mysteriously went missing from our apartment a few weeks ago.
Nicholas looks at me and says something I was not expecting. "This is our house, Blakely."
“Our house?” My head snaps left and right. Things begin to look familiar. Some of Nicholas’ Dwarf Warrior memorabilia on the living room shelves. Pictures of us sitting on the coffee table. My mother’s ceramic vase on the kitchen table.
“Aren't you sick of living in that rundown apartment?” Nicholas asks. That’s a rhetorical question if I’ve ever heard one.
“Our house…” The idea begins to settle in. I walk around, cooing and taking everything in as my guests snicker at my reaction. Several smartphones are aimed in my direction, recording. I don't care. This is the best moment ever and I won’t mind getting to play it back a few million times in vivid color.
When I spin around to Nicholas again, he's down on one knee. Oh my god.
"What do you say, Princess? Will you be my roommate? Forever? Will you marry me?" He holds a glittering diamond ring out to me.
I giggle with tears in my eyes as I sink to my knees in front of him.
This guy…This guy…
He’s everything. I’m so glad I met him. So glad I fell in love with him. So glad I had the courage to fight for him when it mattered most.
"I'll be anything you want me to, babe."
I mean it – I'll be his roommate, his friend, his lover, his confidente. I'll be his wife.
Forever.
THE END <3