Desolation

Everyone is happy.

We’re all a family again.

Tyke brought me here today because he wanted to do something nice. It’s been crazy lately, with work and moving in together. I jumped at the chance to spend some one on one time with him. He brought me here, which I thought was super sweet, considering it’s where everything really started between us.

“Want to go for a walk?” he asks, smiling over at me.

“Yes,” I groan. “My stomach is so full.”

Laughing, he stands and reaches out for me. I join him and we walk down to the beach and along the sand. He stops us in the spot we first stopped at, when I so foolishly kissed him. He steps in front of me, and stares down, a small grin on his face. “You can kiss me safely this time.”

I snort. “Are you sure about that?”

He chuckles, stroking a finger over my cheek. “Mostly sure.”

I reach up on my tiptoes and press my lips against his. He kisses me like that for a long moment before pulling back and turning me around so he’s standing behind me with his arms wrapped around my middle, both of us facing the sunset.

“Do you see how beautiful that is?” he whispers into my ear.

I nod. “Yes.”

“That’s how beautiful you are to me, little one.”

I swallow and squeeze his hands.

“Words won’t ever come close to explaining what you do to my heart, but I’m going to try. You came to me as a broken angel, fragile and sweet as hell. Over time you came out of your shell, and I fell even harder in love with you. Now, you’re confident and beautiful, and all the things I could ever want, but you know the best part?”

I shake my head, my chest swelling with his words.

“You’re still my broken angel. You’ll always be my broken angel. But that’s okay, because it’s what broke you that makes you beautiful. I don’t want those parts to ever fully be fixed, because that’ll mean you disappear.”

I let out a choking sob and he releases one of his hands, reaching behind him. He fumbles about for a second and then brings his hand back, clutching my left one. He pulls out my ring finger and slides a stunning diamond onto it. I start crying harder and go to turn, but he holds me there.

“Every time you look at the sunset, Pippa, I want you to think of me. Every time you cry, know that my shoulder is always yours. Every time you feel joy, I hope that it’s me who gave it to you. Every time you try to pick up the pieces, thinking it’ll make you a better person, remember how much I love that broken part of you.”

“Tyke,” I say in a shaky voice.

“And when you walk down the aisle towards me, know that I love you with every single part of my heart, body and soul.”

I turn towards him and he’s staring down at me, his face full of love.

“Marry me, my beautiful broken angel?”

“Yes,” I cry, throwing my arms around his neck. “A thousand times yes.”

He wraps an arm around me and holds me tight, standing there in the sunset holding me as if I’m the only reason he breathes. His words sink into a part of my soul that I’ve been trying to fix for so long. I never realized that I was trying to fix what had become a part of me. I might be fragile, and a little broken, and a whole lot sensitive, but I’ll always be the most amazing thing in the world to him.

His broken angel.

THE END