THE SKY WAS the clearest I had ever seen, a powdery blue hue blanketing the entire expanse with barely a white wisp to be had. A warm breeze trickled through the baby hairs lining my forehead, the steady rhythm of my heart melting into the ground beneath my back, leaving a bit more of me in its soil. I couldn’t remember the last time I had breathed so easily. Relaxed so fully.
Strong yet loving fingers slid between my own, aligning lifelines with mine. My head dropped to the side to meet another clear blue—this one my most favorite hue.
“What’s going on in that gorgeous head of yours?” Blake’s eyes sparkled in the sunlight, the breeze doing its own dance in his hair.
My sights traveled across each of his features as my heart skipped another beat. I guess he would keep collecting those from now on. “I just can’t believe we’re here.”
“Here? At Bertha?” Blake’s thumb brushed my palm.
“No, here—in life. No secrets, no stresses. I’ve never felt so at ease. So content.” I rolled up on my side and looked down at him. “Can we do this forever?”
Blake rolled up on his opposite side to meet me. “I’d have to say yes.” His smile broadened, bringing with it the dimple I knew I could never live without. “Because forever’s already started.” His fist came up, and my eyes traveled to it. It slowly opened, and my chain rolled from it to dangle from his fingers.
I shot into a seated position, my hand immediately coming up to blanket my chest. “How did you . . . ? I didn’t even notice it was gone.”
“I’m very, very sneaky,” he said like the butler in Mr. Deeds, his eyebrows doing a jig.
“Gimme that.” I laughed and reached out playfully to swipe it back from him.
“Uh-uh-uh. Not so fast.” He pulled his hand back. “I added a charm.” His eyes were locked on mine.
My smile was stuck on huge. “Let me see.”
When I plucked it from his grasp, my eyes roamed over each familiar charm—a tree, a camera, a microphone—I continued over them, each one warming my heart a bit more than the last. When my eyes hit the newest charm, they stilled, the burn of tears taking its beauty away in a blur. “Blake,” I whispered, entranced in the authenticity of the ring, the reality of what it meant—but he was already up and bent on one knee.
“I love you, Angel. Any day apart is a day I’m not prepared to spend. You’re my best friend—my BFF.” He smiled with a dimple, momentarily lightening the heavy situation in a way only Blake could. “You’re my breath when I feel like I’m suffocating, the life in my veins. I live and breathe you. And I want you to spend the rest of your life living and breathing me, too.”
As if in a fog, I rolled to my knees in front of him, me on two, him on one. Tears dripped from my eyes, but I was too in awe to wipe them away as I stared at the man who loved me more than I ever could have loved myself. Who gave me faith, life, the second chance I never thought I’d have.
Blake reached into his hip pocket and pulled something from it, the sun bouncing off its shine like a ray but I couldn’t take my eyes off his to focus on it. A choked sob ripped from my throat, and my hand flew up to cover the sound as my knees wobbled.
Blake continued. “You’re it for me. For now and forever.” Blake’s own eyes filled with a mist and he drew in a heavy breath before finishing his proposal.
“Even though I meant it just as much the first time I asked you, this one is a well-thought-out proposal. I want you to take me seriously because it’s what’s truly in my heart. I know we’re young and just starting out, but I want you to wear my ring. The one that matches that charm in our story around your neck. To know without a doubt that’s where we’re going. That you’re mine and I’m yours. Sometimes second chances are forever.” Blake focused his eyes deeply on mine so there would be no misinterpretation and repeated words that he spoke so many months ago which now held the weight of so much more.
“Be with me. Be my wife. My future. My life and my air.”
My chest crashed on top of his as I fell forward, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I love you so much,” was all I was able to choke-whisper into his shoulder. His broadness, his comfort, his love enveloped me, blanketed in his scent and my heart burst at the seams knowing I would have this man by my side forever.
He held me while it all sank in before his words trickled through my hair. “Is that a yes?”
I pulled myself back to meet his eyes. The same eyes that had found me in the crowd all those months ago and locked me in with a promise of never letting go. The eyes that had cried with me, loved with me, and begged me not to leave them. The eyes I wanted to be looking into when I finally met my children. There was nothing to consider. My heart had married his the second they met.
“Yes. More yesses than I could ever say—yes.”
Our smiles spread simultaneously, then met to mingle together in a sweet, inviting rhythm. So un-rushed, so focused on feeling this moment. On cataloguing it. Blake’s fingers crawled up the edges of my face, cradling it while I breathed in as much of him as I could. His sweet taste rode my tongue, sending me soaring on a high I never wanted to come down from. This place I didn’t think I would ever reach where no walls remained. The pressure in his kiss bore deeper, and I arched my back to compensate for his urgency.
Blake spoke against my lips, “Mine.”
He left a peppered trail amongst my reply. “Yours.”
“Forever,” he added through his kiss.
“And ever,” I spoke around his mouth.
“You’re going to be my wife.” Pepper.
“Yes,” I replied, still arched and chasing kisses.
“Say it again.” Kiss.
“Yes,” I repeated.
“One more time.” Blake parted our lips and steadied his gaze with mine. “So you never forget.” With a sparkle in his eye that seemed to be placed there by the sun, Blake hung on my every breath. His study tactic took my heart and exploded it into millions of fragments, each holding a little slice of him.
I met his stare head-on. “Yes. Forever and ever, yes.”
Blake’s dimple emerged in a slow, playful plunge, and then disappeared just as fast as his lips crashed back into mine.
Just as a heat began to prickle my spine, moving my pelvis deeper into his, Blake parted our mouths. He searched my eyes as though he were looking deeper into them—into our future together—a smile sweeping across his face lost in what he saw there. He pushed a soft kiss to my lips once more and brushed the edge of his nose to my own before smoothing his thumbs along my cheekbones. His hands slid over my shoulders, down my arms, and finally brought my hands to rest inside of them. With a calculated smoothness, he took my left hand within his own, perching what looked to be a beautiful one carat, round diamond at its edge, its white-gold circle just bordering the pink manicure that sat at my finger’s tip. A shiver zinged through him, and he rolled with a cute little jiggle before adjusting his neck and evening himself out.
Every centimeter that ring descended around my finger solidified him to me even more. I think Blake felt it, too, because he stared down at it, the same way I did, with such an unhurried pace as he placed his mark on me once and for all. This was the ring I would wear until I took my dying breath, the life that we would share together already taking shape beneath my skin. When it finally came to rest in its permanent place on my hand, we each sucked in a breath and breathed for the first time.
A long strand of Bertha’s hair landed on our joined hands, and our eyes snapped to each other’s, slow smiles drawing across each of our faces before we looked up at her in unison. Her mane swayed in the breeze in a rejoicing manner. A calm settled over us and I was sure we had her blessing. As our current state of euphoria melted into the soil, I knew this couldn’t have taken place in a better spot. Our story was etched into her bark, lived in her roots, danced through her leaves.
“What the hell is that?” Jace’s voice broke my happy bubble. “No one asked for my blessing.” I guessed our friends were finally here.
Both of us turned to Jace. He stood with a hip popped and scowl on his face. When a cheesy grin broke across mine, Jace followed suit. “Baby girl, get up here and hug me!” he squealed before pointing down at Blake. “You can stay right there on your knees. I like how that looks.”
I catapulted myself at him as Blake rose with a red face.
“What’s happening?” Abby called over Jace’s shoulders, looking over at each of us. When I unraveled my hold on Jace’s neck to prop my left hand in front of her face, her eyes widened. “Get out! Oh my god, Eva!” She hugged around Jace’s back as the three of us jumped up and down in a ball.
Jace backed up, sending Abby stumbling into Eric’s chest, who was never far behind these days. “You know I’m the man of honor, right?” Jace pointed his glare at my sister.
Abby took two steps forward, attacking him. “Bitch, I’ll cut you. Don’t even.”
I laughed, looking back and forth from Abby to Jace. “No fighting. Don’t worry, nothing’s happening yet, and there’s room for each of you at my side when it does.”
My smile spread as I looked at my sister. Abby. She still had a lengthy road ahead of her, but she had come a long way over the last couple months. The first week or so had been rough. No matter how much of a slimeball Damon was, he’d been her first love and all she knew. Thankfully, things moved rather swiftly in the courts; you’d be surprised what money and power will do. Once the judge had handed Damon a year in prison, and he was safely tucked away, Abby had relaxed a bunch, but I could see something negative loitering beneath her surface, even though she tried to hide it. I was a pro at recognizing the broken, and I would have to keep an eye on it.
Although a year seemed insignificant for all the pain and suffering Damon had caused, I was happy that he got that. Unfortunately, most abusers don’t serve much time, if any. That was the harsh reality of this perverted injustice. And it was sad.
My savior came in the form of Judge Turner, something I never saw coming in my wildest dreams. Once he learned of the extent of my story, he was on a mission to make Damon suffer as much as possible and be sure he received the maximum sentence he could. I would forever be grateful that he gave me back my voice. Never again would I have to suffer in silence. Things between Blake and his dad, and I and his dad had completely turned around. Blake was now happy to be walking in his father’s footsteps, looking forward to helping all of the victims he could, rather than dreading a life behind a desk. And I couldn’t be more proud of his decision. His happiness was all I had ever wanted and to see the determination and drive behind his eyes meant the world to me.
Eric clapped Blake in a man-hug. “Congrats, man. I’m happy for you guys.”
“Thanks.” Blake beamed at him.
Jace, Eric, and Abby began to make their way toward the rest of our friends who were setting a picnic. Their voices drifted as they chattered about whose role was going to be more important, and I watched them, my heart full and gratified. I was glad Jace looked happy, although, knowing my best friend, I could tell being here without his new love interest was taking a toll on him. Something in me was sure his happy ending wasn’t far behind, though. I could feel it. There weren’t many that could deny his unsurpassed spirit.
Blake stepped in front of me and reached back over his shoulders. “Hop on.” His dimple smiled down.
My eyes skirted to his playful ones, and I took a moment to study my gorgeous fiancé.
Number nine-million-two-hundred-thousand and sixty-seven.
The amount of times my mind would think of him was going to be infinite. He was mine. He looked so content and relaxed like he no longer had a care in the world.
Blake.
There he was. It was the look he was always meant to have. I not only loved it on him, but I loved that I was the one ultimately responsible for putting it there. A slow smile drew out along my features as my new reality sunk in for good. Of a life that I would finally be allowed to live, without secrets or worry. With my man at my side and my friends and family surrounding us.
Slipping my palms into Blake’s, I hoisted myself up, my gaze catching on the sparkle dancing off my ring finger. I looked up to Bertha one final time, thanking her for her support and guidance, knowing that this memory would remain here and cover up any lingering bad ones. I wrapped my legs around Blake the way I knew he loved, and dropped a kiss to the side of his neck before letting him carry me off into our future—to the group of people who each owned a space in my heart—the same way he had carried me that very first night so long ago and the way I would have him carry me through the rest of my life.
THE END
For real this time.
If you enjoyed the little glimpse of Brayden and would like to meet him and his girlfriend Casey, you can read them in Promise You Forever, a Christmas novella in the CALLAHAN FAMILY SERIES .
Keep reading for a taste from Chapter 1.
Keep your eyes open for more of the characters you love in the next Pieces of Broken installment!