“I don’t know how you did this,” she says.

“I didn’t do anything. I made a couple of calls to people I know,” I say. “It’s your talent that made this happen, Sasha. Don’t you ever forget that. This is all on you.”

She shakes her head, an ecstatic smile on her face – the same one that’s been lighting up her face for days now. We’re standing on the back deck of our Laguna Beach home, staring out over the ocean. The sun is shining on a warm morning, glittering off the ocean, making it look like an endless sea of liquid gold.

Nate and I ended up moving our practice to posher digs down in Orange County. We’ve hired on a few more partners and are doing some amazing work in protecting people from abuse at the hands of the big corporations.

I’ve given up my quest for elected office. Nate was right in that it was a pursuit of vanity for me. With Sasha, I’m content. Satisfied. For the first time in my life, I don’t feel like I have to climb higher on the social or economic ladder. I can put all of my focus and energy into being the best lawyer, the best person – and the best father – that I can be.

“Good morning.”

I turn to see our live-in nanny, Tess, stepping out onto the deck, our little girl, Amber, in her arms. A smile immediately lights up my face as I scoop up our little girl and spin her around.

“You’re going to make her dizzy,” Sasha laughs.

I hold my little girl close and kiss the top of her head. Tess is smiling. She’s been great since we hired her on. I couldn’t be more thankful for her. Sasha has devoted herself to her writing and being a stay-at-home mom but having Tess in our lives gives Sasha the time she needs to work – and that’s starting to pay off.

Sasha takes Amber from me and kisses me on the cheek. Our little girl coos and makes noises, wriggling around in her arms. It’s a beautiful scene to me – mother and daughter – two of the most important women in my life together. My heart swells with love and happiness in ways I never thought were possible. Now that I’ve experienced it, I don’t know how I ever lived without it.

“Tess, we’re going to be having a couple of people over here shortly –”

Tess smiles. “I’ve got it covered, Miles.”

I laugh softly. “Sorry, I don’t mean to be a helicopter dad.”

“You’re both amazing parents,” she says. “I’m just happy to help out where I can.”

“We don’t know how we’d function without you,” Sasha says.

Tess’ cheeks flush. She’s not great with compliments and is a lot like Sasha that way. She takes Amber back from her mom and gives us a quick smile before retreating back into the house. We don’t like the little one to be outside for too long just yet. We’ll slowly introduce her to the joys of the beach soon, but we don’t want her soft, delicate skin to get too much sunshine.

“Thank you, Miles,” Sasha says. “Without you –”

“Like I said, it’s your talent that made this meeting possible.”

She shakes her head, a look of wonder on her face. “It’s just so strange to think that all of my dreams may be finally coming true.”

“Are coming true,” I correct her. “They’re coming here with a contract in hand. All you have to do is sign on the dotted line – after I read it over first, of course.”

She throws herself into my arms, squeezing me tight. The warmth and love from her is almost palpable and fills me with emotions that still overwhelm me, over a year later. The love I feel for her – and the love she shows me – steals my breath away at the strangest times. I don’t ever want to stop feeling like this.

“I’ve dreamed of this day for – I don’t even know how long,” she whispers, pressing herself against me tighter.

I squeeze her, reveling in how it feels to have her in my arms. “You deserve it, Sasha,” I say. “You deserve every second of this success. I want you to enjoy it.”

Two representatives from a large publishing house are coming over today. They read her latest manuscript and loved it. More than loved it, actually. I was lucky enough to get to read the first copy and I have to say, they have good taste. Her work is utterly amazing. I was blown away by it. I’m typically not a fantasy kind of guy, but her work is engaging and unlike a lot of the fluff you see today, it has substance. She actually has a message.

It’s powerful and I’m glad to see Sasha receiving the recognition she truly deserves.

We’re sitting at the dining room table, sunlight flooding through the floor-to-ceiling windows that make up the back wall and also offer a stunning view of the waves crashing against the shoreline outside.

The two people sitting across from us – Amanda Wells and Donny Aiken – are dressed smartly and are as friendly as can be. They’ve been nothing but complimentary from the moment they walked in the door, even though Sasha has been on edge – like I said, she doesn’t take compliments well. I’ve been doing what I can to put her at ease, but she’s a tough nut to crack sometimes. Which is something I know very, very well.

“We have to say, we were more than impressed with your work, Mrs. Churchill.”

“Sasha, please,” she replies, a small tremor in her voice.

“Very well, Sasha,” says the woman sitting across from me. “As Donny said, your work really blew us away. Your prose is beautiful, but your story is gritty and actually carries a strong message.”

“I had the same reaction,” I say. “But she says I’m biased.”

“You are,” she says and laughs, then turns to the two people across from us. “Thank you. I appreciate that.”

Amanda opens up her bag and slips a document out of it. Since I am her lawyer of record, she slides it over to me. I pick it up and start reading through it as they talk about books and the publishing industry itself. It’s actually an interesting conversation and I find myself learning a lot of things I didn’t know.

I’m beyond happy to help foster and nurture Sasha’s career in any way possible. I absolutely believe in her talent – because I believe in her. What I love knowing is that by living in our home, with our child, and in an atmosphere with nothing but unfettered support and encouragement, Sasha has really flourished. She’s grown more confident in her ability to actually make a living as a writer.

Her relationship with her own family is also stronger than ever. She talks with her mom and sister all the time and they seem to be really forging a strong bond. Also, last I heard, Sarah and Neal were growing incredibly close. Not so coincidentally, Neal has also been putting his head down and working hard – he’s gone into the family business on the research and development side and has done some amazing things in a relatively short amount of time. He seems to be happy and thriving.

All in all, life is getting better every single day. For all of us. And I couldn’t possibly be any happier – or more in love. Both with my wife and my daughter. This level of happiness is one I never knew existed – and one I would have never known if not for one woman who was desperate for a ride and conned me out of one.

I’m finally finished going over the contract and it all seems to be in order.

“Looks good,” I say. “Seems standard with some very generous terms.”

“We believe in Sasha,” Amanda says. “We know she’s going to do some great things.”

“And we want to be able to say that we were there on the ground floor,” Donny adds.

Sasha’s face is bright red and her eyes shimmer with tears as she realizes she’s on the cusp of achieving her dreams. All of her hard work and sleepless nights –all of the sacrifices she’s made – are finally about to pay off. I’m not going to lie, seeing the emotion on her face chokes me up a little as well and my eyes grow a little misty.

I set a pen down on top of the contract and slide it over to her. She looks at it for a long moment, then turns her gaze to me. I see nothing but gratitude and love in those fathomless blue eyes and it makes my heart skip a beat.

“This is it,” I say, my voice thick with emotion. “This is your dream.”

She nods and gives me a trembling smile. “Thank you, Miles,” she says. “Thank you for always believing in me and helping me believe in myself.”

“It’s all your talent,” I say. “I did nothing.”

“You did more for me than you’ll ever know.”

As if she’s trying not to give herself a chance to think, Sasha takes up the pen and quickly scrawls her signature on all of the appropriate lines. And as she signs the last one, tears start to slowly roll down her face. Amanda and Donny look at her with wide smiles on their faces, clearly ecstatic. I have no doubt they’ve seen this happen to people before.

With her signatures down, Sasha throws herself into my arms and squeezes me tight. Her tears are warm and wet against my cheek and the smile on her face is warm and earnest.

“I love you, Miles.”

“I love you too, baby,” I reply.

“I can’t believe this,” she says. “All of my dreams have come true. Thank you.”

I pull back and hold her gaze for a long moment. “You’ve made dreams come true I never even knew I had before,” I say. “Thank you.”

Right now, with the waves crashing against the shore, the love of my life in my arms, and our baby cooing nearby, I know that life can’t possibly get any better.

I never expected this life. It came at me from out of the blue. It’s a life that started off with a con-job, progressed into a fake engagement, and eventually transformed into one filled with pure, unadulterated love.

And I’m never going to give it up.