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I see everything in those blue eyes. I see the first sparks of love, the first comfort I’d ever felt. I see my best friend. I see crashing waves and wind chime laughter. I see my past. I also see my future. I see those lazy Sundays. I see quiet evenings on the beach. I see the sunset against the ocean, and I see us floating through the cosmos. I see his skin
mine, those whispered promises in the dark of night. I see the place I’ve been searching for and never thought I’d find again. “I’m already home, Leo.” He smiles, cupping my face as I feather my lips against his. Years ago, I thought I lost us here in this canyon, thought I left us behind in the desert, never to be recovered. But as Leo kisses me fervently, with every ounce of himself, it feels like two shattered souls healing together, bound by golden light.
“You bought me a house.” “No, honeysuckle.” I smile. “I bought us a house.” I set her down, and once she’s steady on her feet, she moves in a slow circle around the room before landing back on me. “We’re gonna live here?” Her voice is shaky. “Yep.” “Both of us?”
“I’m not spending another moment of my life away from you, Darby. We lost ten years, and I won’t question the universe for that. Not anymore. I accept it for what it is, for whatever lessons we needed to learn or experiences we needed to have, whatever free-willed decisions we made that caused that. I won’t waste my time wondering that anymore, but I also won’t waste another night apart from you. You’re it for me. I’ve known that since I was seventeen years old. I bought this house for us. “For you to plant a garden in. For us to build a path down to our beach with, so you can watch me surf,
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the home you’ve always deserved and never got to have.”
And you know what’s more powerful than fear, sunshine? Love. Love is brave. Love is courageous. That’s terrifying to people who are incapable of it.
“You’re an angel,” I whisper. “An angel and her demon.” She sighs against my lips. “A heathen and his honeysuckle,” I respond.
on me. He raises one arm, holding up his pointer finger and his pinky, sticking out his thumb. I immediately make the same gesture back. “I still don’t know what that means.” I laugh. “It means I love you,” Everett responds. Tears well up in my eyes as that settles in me. I remember him making that gesture every morning as he surfed and I watched him on the shore all those summers ago, before we ever said those words. He’d been telling me back then. Every day. He loved me. He loves me. He always has.
“Speaking of luck, I notice you’re not wearing the staple chain around your neck that you normally keep tucked into your wetsuit. Is it no longer your good luck charm?”
personal life, but Leo smiles now instead. “My good luck charm is here with me today, actually.” His eyes dart to mine as he winks, and I blush as dozens of curious stares fall on me. “The necklace was only ever a representation of something greater, and now that I have the greater thing, I don’t need a token of it.”
“There have been times where I’ve struggled with faith and fate, where I’ve had a lot of questions I never thought I’d get the answers to. Where I’ve felt like a soulless ghost, lost and wandering.” He takes my trembling hand in his steady one. “But meeting you made me believe in things I never thought were real. Knowing you answered every question I’ve ever had about the world. Finding you again brought me back to life.”
“You’re my once-in-a-lifetime love, Darby, and I don’t want to live another moment without the entire world, all the universe and the heavens above it, knowing that we’re meant to be.” He lifts the black velvet box,
“Will you marry me?” The familiar gold band now holds a round diamond, accented by smaller tear-drop diamonds around it. Vines of gold wrap around the band, looking almost like stems. The entire ring looks like a flower. “Leo,” I gasp. “I got the idea to add a diamond to this ring the night you gave it to me all those years ago. I’ve always known it was gonna be you, honeysuckle.”
“It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” I find myself falling onto the ground, too, leveling my face with his. Despite this technically being my second proposal, nothing in my life has ever felt more real. Nothing else will ever compare to this moment, and I know with certainty that every decision I’ve ever made has led me right here, back to him. “Yes, of course, I’ll marry you, Leo. I’ve wanted to marry you my whole life.”
“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” Leo raises his hands to my face and cups my cheeks. “I love you, honeysuckle.”
“I love you, Heathen.” While I’m faintly aware of the flash of cameras and the cheer of crowds, the only thing that exists in this moment is him, the two of us alone, floating through the stars. And when he kisses me in a way that feels like crashing waves and blooming flowers, I know I’m home.
Some kids don’t get to see parents who love each other. Some kids don’t get to have parents at all, or they get really shitty ones. We knew we were never going to give her that. We were going to make up for everything we never got to have. We were going to make sure our daughter knew exactly what love looked like, how much fight it took, and how real it could be.
