Epilogue
Scarlett
I never thought that I would make Rowtons my home. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it as a kid and even a teenager, but to think that this the place that I’m going to call home feels as if it’s too surreal.
I hated my aunt for making the one man that’s made me ever feel like a woman part of a business contract. She apologized so many times with the explanation, “I don’t have long dear, and I wanted you to be happy.”
Mom's in therapy and officially divorced from dad. She’s living with Aunt Betty and trying to get on the road to recovery. Something that she should have done a long time ago, part of me feels guilty about it. Maybe if I’d told Aunt Betty or someone else, what was going on earlier then it would have stopped a lot sooner?
I try not to think of the past and just concentrate on the future these days. I’ve never been happier in my life, and I didn’t even think that it was possible. Joshua respects me, but then I feel the same way about him.
“A penny for your thoughts,” he growls as he creeps up next to me.
“You need to stop doing that!” I snap back as I sit with my notebook thinking about my next painting.
“Maybe painting’s not for you. Maybe your masterpiece is what you needed to set you free.”
He sits at the end of the chair, and I feel as if there’s a cloud on him. He doesn’t seem his normal self, but then again I’m not exactly in the right frame of mind, at the best of times.
“Why do you think that? You’ve been supporting me all this time. Don’t tell me that you’re having second thoughts now? I moved here for you…”
He’s covering my mouth and saying, “Take deep breaths.”
I start to do that, as my yoga instructor has taught me to do so many times. I take deep breaths as I gaze into his emerald eyes thinking why does he even put up with me. I seem to be in this emotional stage at the moment.
“Sorry,” I sigh as I wrap my arms around him.
“Can you stop apologizing for once in your life?”
I shake my head, thinking that I’m a successful artist, but I still think of myself as that broken woman. The one that he’d repaired and my life started to begin. I’ve been on safari, a wild weekend with Gretchen and the girls, all the things that I couldn’t do when I was in a relationship with Sam.
He's been so distant lately, and part of me thought that maybe it had something to do with my success. But, I still earn a fraction of what he’s made to date, so it’s not that. There’s something bugging him and one thing I know about Joshua. He hates me asking him what’s up?
He despises it.
“Did I miss something?”
Shit, I said it, and I automatically regret it the moment I blurt it out. I’m holding him, and he has his back to me. He can’t see that I’ve closed my eyes and the fact that I’m crossing my feet.
“Sorry?”
“Well, it’s just that you’ve been distant lately, so I thought that there was something on your mind.”
He moves away from me and turns to face me, but this time not sitting down which makes me feel even more nervous.
“I’ve just had a lot on my mind.”
“Tell me about it. I get that. You don’t even want to play in your room anymore.”
He sighs, “That’s because you seem to think that’s the only thing that will make everything better, but it doesn’t work like that.”
Are you going to tell me what it works like?”
He shakes his head, “I didn’t come home for a fight. I just came to get ready and for us to go to the gallery, that’s why you said I should come home early today right?”
I nod my head and then it dawns on me that in the year that we’ve been dating and living together we’ve never had a fight. Like never and now we’re having a fight like a real couple, and I don’t know what to do with myself.
“Wait. What’s going on?”
He shakes his head, “Scarlett, I’m not Sam so please for once stop treating me as if I am.”
And then he walks away, and I wonder where all that came from.
He spins around and says, “This is the reason I’ve been nervous. We were supposed to go to the gallery and then I was going to get on one knee in front of all those people and propose to you. You happy now?”
He sighs, “That’s because you seem to think that’s the only thing that will make everything better, but it doesn’t work like that.”
Are you going to tell me what it works like?”
He shakes his head, “I didn’t come home for a fight. I just came to get ready and for us to go to the gallery, that’s why you said I should come home early today right?”
I nod my head and then it dawns on me that in the year that we’ve been dating and living together we’ve never had a fight. Like never and now we’re having a fight like a real couple, and I don’t know what to do with myself.
“Wait. What’s going on?”
He shakes his head, “Scarlett, I’m not Sam so please for once stop treating me as if I am.”
And then he walks away, and I wonder where all that came from.
He spins around and says, “This is the reason I’ve been nervous. We were supposed to go to the gallery and then I was going to get on one knee in front of all those people and propose to you. You happy now?”
I gasp as I see the box. The jewelry box which obviously has a ring in it. For me.
“Well, it’s not too late!” I squeal thinking that he was bored and that he’d had enough of me. When all along, he wanted us to be official.
He takes a deep breath and says, “I’m so shit at this type of thing.”
I laugh, “You are!”
“Thanks, Scarlett.”
“Are you going to propose or what?”
He smiles as he gets on one knee and the diamond ring in the box is finally opened, “Will you Scarlett…”
I don’t even get him to finish the rest of the sentence as I jump on him and he falls onto the green. I kiss him so many times. He pulls back and says, “Is that a yes?”
We’re on the grass, and I say, “What do you think it is?”
And then this time he’s the one pulling me in for a kiss, and I think about living my life with him forever and all of sudden I don’t even feel like going to the gallery. I feel like going up to his playroom so that we can play.