EPILOGUE - EMILY
Sean’s book tour started a month ago, and finally the kids and I were able to join him. He tried to plan the tour over summer break, but they insisted on starting it during the month of May. It was hard, but we managed to make it work.
I stayed in Telluride to take care of Tommy and Sarah while Sean started his tour on the west coast. On weekends, I flew Tommy and Sarah out to see him, and sometimes, when he had enough time, he came home to spend the day with us. It was difficult, but now summer vacation was upon us.
I packed up the kids and my luggage, and Janie drove us to the airport. We were meeting Sean in Chicago that morning. He already had three events booked for today, and the kids and I would meet him at the second. His agent had everything set up: our car, our hotel, everything.
I was so excited as I got the kids situated in their seats and stowed our bags away above us. When I sat down, I tapped my fingers against my knee until the flight took off. I was so impatient to see Sean that I could barely sit still throughout the entire flight.
We landed in Chicago right on time. Tommy and Sarah both jumped out of their seats with excitement. I followed right behind them as we all hurried through the airport. At baggage claim, a man was waiting for us with a sign that said, “Sean Evans’s guests.” The three of us felt like VIPs as we headed outside and were loaded into a black car. The driver threw our luggage in the trunk and then drove through the city of Chicago. It took an hour for us to reach our destination, but when we did, we were all speechless.
Sean’s second event of the day was at a college campus. He was giving a speech to a class full of undergrads, all pursuing the art of children’s books. They were aspiring writers who hoped to learn from someone successful. The campus was beautiful, and I couldn’t stop looking around as the driver drove us closer to the building. When we pulled up to the front, Sean’s agent was waiting for us right outside. She waved and smiled brightly, running over to open the door and let us out.
“What about our bags?” I asked as the driver suddenly drove away.
“He’ll take them to the hotel,” Anne Marie, Sean’s agent, said. “They’ll be waiting for you tonight.”
“Okay,” I said with a nod.
“He’s right inside,” Anne Marie said.
She led us through the front door of a tall building. We followed her down a few hallways and up a flight of stairs until we reached the entrance to a classroom. Sarah was vibrating with excitement as she jumped around, trying to catch a glimpse of her dad. Tommy was doing the same, but he kept stopping himself, as if he wanted to appear older, more mature.
“Where is he?” Sarah complained after a few minutes. “I don’t see him.”
“He’s in there,” Anne Marie said. “We’re going to wait until everyone is seated, and then we’ll sneak you guys in the back. Remember, this is really important so we have to be quiet, okay?”
“We can’t say hi to Daddy?” Sarah asked. “But we haven’t seen him in so long.”
“You’ll be able to see him right after the event,” Anne Marie said. “It won’t last long. Only an hour at the most.”
“An hour?” Sarah whined, and I bent down to talk to her face to face.
“It’ll be fine,” I said. “Just think, you’ve gone weeks without seeing him, and now, he’s right inside that door.”
Sarah smiled and tried to remain calm. When we could finally go into the classroom, we were ushered into three seats at the very back. I could see Sean standing at the front of the classroom, his eyes focused on the notes in front of him. A smile spread across my face when he finally looked up and his eyes fell on us. He waved, and the kids waved back, practically jumping out of their seats.
I’d never been prouder of Sean as I sat there and listened to his speech. He said so many wise, intelligent things about the art of writing children’s books. My mind was racing with his every word, but what was most impressive was how many applauded him for choosing such a difficult subject.
“You know,” he said after someone brought it up. “Just over two years ago, my kids lost their mother. She died from cancer, and it shook all of us deeply. But they were both so young that there wasn’t much I could say to comfort them. They barely understood what happened, and because of that, I felt lost and hopeless. My own emotions were nothing compared to theirs, and I found myself wishing for a way to break through to them. About a year later, I thought of an idea for a book. It was hard at first. Writing didn’t come easily to me, and I had to push myself a lot. I had the support of so many amazing people though, and eventually, it worked. I wrote the book, and well, here we are now.”
The room erupted in applause, and I joined in, slamming my hands together frantically. Just listening to Sean talk was enough to make my heart race. As I watched him finish out the class, I became more desperate to be near him. I hadn’t felt his lips against mine in far too long, and when we were finally able to walk over to him, I threw myself at him with desperation.
He laughed and caught me, kissing me quickly before turning to greet the kids. Tommy and Sarah both erupted in stories they just had to tell him. It took hours for them to quiet down enough for me to get a word in, but I didn’t mind. I was just happy to be there with Sean, in Chicago, while he lived out his dream.
***
That night, we were all exhausted but starving. Sean had made us a reservation at a fancy restaurant across town, but none of us were up for it. Instead, we went downstairs to the hotel restaurant and ordered dinner. Tommy and Sarah were both surprisingly wide awake throughout the entire meal. I expected them to be falling asleep in their soup bowls, but they weren’t. They kept glancing at Sean nervously.
As we ordered our dessert and talked about the rest of Sean’s tour, I found myself waking up a bit too. There was so much excitement in the air around us that my exhaustion faded from my body. I laughed and talked with Sean and the kids for what felt like hours, until finally it was almost time to head upstairs.
“It’s getting late,” I said sadly. “We should probably get them to bed.”
“Not just yet,” Sean said with a smile. “There are a few things I want to say to you first.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. “Is everything okay?”
“That’s just it,” Sean said. “Everything is okay. Actually, it’s much more than okay, and that’s all because of you.”
“What?” I asked nervously. When I glanced at Tommy and Sarah, I saw that they were both smiling widely at me.
“You see,” Sean said. “Ever since we met you, things started to change. All three of us were so sad for so long that we didn’t think we would ever be happy again. I know I didn’t feel like I’d ever find love again. But then you came into our lives and changed everything. You made me feel like I could really be myself again, like I could finally be happy. This past year has been the best year of my life for so many reasons. I got closer to my kids, I finished my book, and I found you. You, Emily Ward, are the reason for my happiness. None of this would be possible without you.”
I felt my heart racing inside my chest. My stomach was full of butterflies, and I knew what was coming next. Sean and I had talked about marriage before but never seriously. It was always just a nice idea. Something to dream about for the future. When we sat down to dinner together, I never imagined he would propose, but that’s exactly what he was doing.
“Emily,” he continued. “You know how much I love you. I could spend all night telling you just what you mean to me, but you already know. I trust you with my children, with the two most important things in my world. That, more than anything, is proof enough of my love for you. I never, ever want to live a day on this earth without you by my side.”
I felt tears falling down my cheeks uncontrollably.
“Before I ask you my question I want to tell you something. I know how important it is to you to open your daycare center, and I genuinely believe in your vision. I know you can make a difference in the lives of so many children. I want to personally invest into your center and we can start the ground work on it right away or wait a little while whenever you are ready.”
“Sean, I don’t know what you say. I love you so much!”
He paused and turned to Tommy. Tommy dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small black box. He handed it to his dad and then turned to face me. His little eight-year-old face smiled up at me, full of innocence and love.
“I was really sad after my mom died,” Tommy said softly. “Really sad. We didn’t talk about it much, but I know Dad and Sarah were sad too. Now, I don’t feel sad anymore. I still miss my mom, and I always will, but I think you’re kind of like a mom too. You take care of us. You love us.”
“Yeah,” Sarah said, jumping up and walking over to me. “I love you a lot. I don’t really remember my mommy very much anymore. I still think about her a lot, and I think she’d really like you. She would want you to take care of us and Daddy. She still loves us, just like you do.”
“Emily,” Sean said, pulling my attention back to him. He was kneeling in front of me, his hands outstretched, holding open the box.
Inside was a sparkling diamond ring that took my breath away. I felt tears slide down my cheeks as I stared at it, my mouth hanging open. When I finally looked back at Sean’s face, he was crying too. He cleared his throat and held the box out to me.
“Emily Ward,” he said softly. “I am so in love with you. You are the piece that was missing from our family, and now, we’re all whole again. So, will you please do me the honor of becoming my wife and spending the rest of your life as part of this little family?”
I couldn’t speak. My throat felt tight, and tears were still streaming freely down my cheeks. I cried with earnest, unable to stop. Finally, I nodded my head and fell into Sean’s arms. He caught me and kissed me quickly, wrapping his arms around my body and holding me tightly against him.
I sobbed into his chest while the kids surrounded us with hugs. Sarah wedged herself between us for a group hug, and then Tommy did the same. We held the kids and all laughed together, happier than we could ever remember being.
That night, Sean and I tucked the kids in bed in their room and then closed the door. We had adjoining rooms and were eager to be alone. We didn’t speak. We didn’t need to. Everything had already been said, and when we fell into each other’s arms, it felt like coming home.
We made love that night, slow and sweet. Our eyes never once fell from each other’s faces, and our hands never stilled as they moved across each other’s bodies. Sean whispered “I love you” in my ear, over and over again, creating the perfect soundtrack to the perfect night.
The End