Page 1 of Revived

Prologue

Luke

Seven Years Ago

“Hannah Richards… will you marry me?”

Staring up into the dark brown eyes of the woman that completes me, I ask her on bended knee if she’ll spend the rest of her life with me. My heart is about to break free from my rib cage, my throat is suddenly dry, and each second she doesn’t answer only terrifies me even more.

“Yes, Luke. Yes, I’ll marry you!” Her words echo in the night. I release the air I was holding in my lungs before I jump from the ground and kiss her with everything I have. I found her, the woman I’m going to spend the rest of my life with, and everything feels complete.

Our lips collide, drowning out every sound of owls hooting in the distance, the hum of cars gliding on streets nearby, and the chirp of crickets in the bushes. It’s just her and me, promising to love each other until our very last breaths.

“I can’t believe you did this!” She beams when we part, looking down at the ring I placed delicately on her finger before she could even answer me. Call me confident, but I knew she would say yes.

“Believe it, baby. You and me, forever.” I press my lips to hers once more and then guide her over to the hammock between the two trees in the backyard of the house we just purchased together. Settling in carefully, I wrap my arm around her shoulders and tuck her into me so every inch of our bodies is touching. I inhale her scent and the smell of the night around us, memorizing every detail of this moment, vowing to never erase this cosmic feeling from my mind.

“I thought we were going to wait,” she whispers, her fingers tracing a pattern on my forearm as she admires the way her diamond shines in the soft glow of the porch lights.

“I couldn’t. I know what I want, Hannah, and I want you. We had this discussion when we bought the place, remember? We knew this is where we were headed. But now, I get to come home every day to my fiancé, not just my girlfriend, which makes me even happier than I thought I could be.”

Hannah peers up at me, her eyes so full of love and optimism, one of the things I love most about her. She can take any situation and find the good in it. Her presence in my life has opened up my eyes to the power of positive thinking and makes me appreciate things now that I never would have noticed before.

“Fiancé… I like the sound of that.” She flashes me that teasing smirk of hers that I love before placing a lingering kiss on my mouth. But when we part, the happiness that was just on her face falls completely, replaced by worried eyes and a trembling lip. “I’m not going to lie though, Luke. I’m scared.”

“About what, baby?”

“I love you so much. I can’t imagine my life without you. But your job is dangerous, and my worst fear is that something happens to you while you’re on duty and you leave me here all alone.”

I swallow hard. I wish there were something I could say or do to quell her fear, but there are no guarantees in life. All I know is that she and I are meant to be together. I feel that in every fiber of my body and a feeling that strong can’t be a coincidence. Fate can’t possibly mess with that.

“I know, Hannah. And I wish I could guarantee with certainty that nothing will ever happen to me. But I can’t. What I can tell you is that I will do everything in my power to come home to you every day. I will always have you in the back of my mind as I make choices that could affect our future. But our love is destined to be, baby. That I am sure of.”

“What if it’s not, Luke?”

“Hannah…” I breathe out in frustration, hating that one of the happiest moments of my life is being turned into a morbid one. “Where is this coming from? You’re usually the one who’s all about looking for the positive and living in the moment. We should be talking about picking a date and centerpieces, not me dying…”

“No, just hear me out, please.” She adjusts herself in the hammock, brushing her blonde hair from her face, and then propping herself up so we’re facing each other head on. “I’m not naïve. I know your job is dangerous and I know what I’m signing up for in agreeing to marry you, okay? I’m not wavering in that choice. I love you so much Luke Henderson and I can’t wait to be your wife.”

“Hannah, I love you with every ounce of my soul. From the moment I saw you walking up the driveway of my parent’s house, I knew you were meant to be mine.”

“So confident,” she teases.

“But yes, I know something could happen to me,” I pause and then take a deep breath before I continue. “Heaven forbid it does, I want you to always remember how much I loved you. And I don’t want you to be lonely forever. I want you to move on, find someone to spend the rest of your life with, fall in love and create a new life with a new man. Promise me that.”

Her eyes start to well with tears as I talk about my death after just asking her to marry me. This conversation is beyond fucked up, but I guess necessary.

“Same, Luke. I don’t want you to be alone for the rest of your life if something happens to me either.” One lone tear falls from the corner of her eye as I brush my thumb across her cheek to catch it.

“Nothing is going to happen to you, baby.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I don’t, but I don’t want to think that way. I don’t want to fathom a life without you. I love you, Hannah. No one can control what happens, but I know I’ll always have control over how much I love you.” I cradle her face in my hands as she stares back at me intently. “But heaven forbid our time is cut short, know we will see each other again one day and I will never regret the time we had together.” I lean in to kiss her, assuring her with my lips that everything will be okay, and then she settles back into the nook in my arms.

After a long silence, her eyes searching the sky for what seems like forever, she turns to me and smiles. “If anything happens, Luke, I’ll meet you on the other side of the stars.”

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