Three, Two, One (321)

Blue walks up to the largest picture and touches my little girl’s face. “She’s beautiful.”

“She looks just like him, don’t you think?”

Blue nods and then she turns. “What happened? I run that night through my head every day. Why? Why did he do that?

I can only shrug. But it’s a copout and I know it. You’re invested now, I remind myself. “He was sick, Blue. He was sick since the day I met him. Manic-depressive. Bipolar, whatever you want to call it. And the guilt he had…” I shake my head. “He’s the one who heard about the baby-sellers. He’s the one who made Marie go work for them to pay for his drug habit. He’s the one who handed the baby over. She disappeared the same day as the baby. And I can only assume they are the ones who killed her, but we just don’t know. JD said she killed herself because he made her sell the baby. He couldn’t live with the guilt.”

Blue walks over to me and I wrap her up in my arms. “I couldn’t save him, but I could save Paige by getting her back. I could save you by walking away and letting you figure out who you are and what you want. And I could save myself by walking away from that life and starting this one.”

“I love you,” she says.

I swallow hard and step back half a step. “Then stay with me, Blue. Let me love you back the way you deserve to be loved. You don’t need me to save you. I don’t need you to save me. She doesn’t need us to save her.” I motion to Paige’s picture on the wall.

Blue hesitates, and then looks me in the eyes. “JD was right and you were wrong, you know.”

“I’m wrong a lot. But please don’t hold it against me.”

She smiles and places her small hands on my rough cheeks, pressing against my skin. And then she rises up on her tiptoes and kisses me. “You were wrong about the motto on your back, Ark. Everything should come in threes. Especially us. Because one is where it all starts. Two is only halfway there. But three…” She rises up to kiss me again and then she whispers, “Three was always our perfect ending.”

I hold Blue’s hand and lead her over to the elevator. She draws in several deep breaths, betraying her apprehension. But I squeeze her hand until she brings those blue eyes up to meet my dark ones. And then I kiss her. Our mouths come together—hesitantly at first, then with more passion. I slide my hands up along her face and fold her into my embrace. She pulls back, resting her head on my chest, like she’s listening for my heartbeat.

“I miss him,” I say. She nods her head, but her back shakes from the silent sobs. “But Paige… she helps. You’ll see.”

We ride up to the top and the doors open into my penthouse apartment. Paige waits with the housekeeper in her pajamas. You only have to look at her to know that JD is still here with us.

Paige stands up and does this little curtsy, turning on the charm she comes by naturally. “I know you,” she whispers.

Blue stares at her, her sadness receding before my eyes. And then she wipes her tears and smiles. “I know you too,” Blue replies back in her own hushed voice. “I know you too.”

And that’s how we start it. Our new life together.

One little girl.

Two soulmates.

And three mended hearts.

I’m a believer now. I can see it with my own eyes.

Everything should come in threes.