Page 122 of The Moment Promised

I am turned around to face the perpetrator, I squeeze my eyes tightly, refusing to look my fate in the eyes.

“Adeline.” His breath trickles against my face, my eyes shoot open and meet amber eyes.

I gasp, mouth hanging open as he pulls me hard against him, this time, not letting go. I’m in complete shock, I don’t even think I’m breathing. I cry into the nape of his neck as he lifts me off my feet. “Is this real?” I ask myself.

He sets me down, kissing me like we’ve been apart forever. It feels like we have. He deepens our kiss, never wanting it to end. His hands touch everywhere he can reach. Cinnamon and clove invigorate my senses until thoughts form in my mind.

“What are you doing here?” I ask against his swollen lips, never letting my hands leave his body. They constantly move to touch a different part of him, like they’ve missed what he felt like. I squeeze his bicep, then his shoulder, then his hair.

“What, you’re not happy to see me?” he teases with a goofy grin. “I came here to tell you something.”

His face is serious. All the blood in my body drains, leaving me pale and terrified. I step back, thinking back to the plane, to that split second where I thought he was coming with me.

But then the disappointment I felt when he left.

Please don’t leave and break my heart again.

“You’re such a spectacular woman, Adeline. I’ve always known it.” He stands tall, confident, his eyes never straying away from mine. “When I saw you sitting on that swing set, crying into your hands, I felt so angry.”

I brace myself for impact, not knowing where he’s going with this.

“There was something about that initial moment when my eyes met yours that changed my entire fucking life. I can’t put it into words properly, other than saying I simply fell in love with you, right then and there.”

My heart sings, begging to hear more.

“I knew you were special. I knew you were too good for this world. I see you as an angel, Adeline. A girl a simple man like myself wasn’t enough for.” He looks down, his confidence wavering. “But I fell in love with you before I even knew what love meant. All I knew was I wanted to be around you all the time. You became my breath, my thoughts,my lifesince the moment we met.”

He steps closer to me unconsciously, like we’re magnets. “Ten years later, when you told me you felt a sliver of what I felt, I couldn’t fight my selfishness,” he says. “At the time, I believed I wasn’t good enough for you. I knew you deserved the whole fucking universe and everything outside of it, and to be honest with you, Adeline, I wasn’t sure I was the person capable of giving you that.” He stands tall again, pulling his broad shoulder back. “So, when you told me you wanted to move away, I let you go, feeling like my selfish time with the most amazing woman in the entire world was up. I wasn’t going to invade your life anymore. I didn’t want to dim the happiness you deserve.” His hands hold onto my arms, rubbing me and lighting me on fire.

I can’t look anywhere but his face, not caring what exists outside of us.

“I realized shortly after you left that my life without you was close to meaningless. I realized I should be with my fucking soulmate, and I can work every day to make you happy. To give you everything you deserve.” He laughs. “I realized a world without Adeline and Finn together was a shitty place, so I transferred schools, packed up all my belongings to be with the person my soul calls home.” He smiles with tears shining in his eyes. “Fuck, sorry that was cheesy.”

I laugh against his lips. “You’re the place my soul calls home too, Finn.” I close my eyes. I realize how significant this moment is.

This is the finish line. This is my happily ever after.

It’s here, and I can finally touch it.

“So, Adeline Marie Miller,” he whispers against my lips, before slowly moving down.

My eyes widen as his knee meets the dusty trail we stand on.

He grins up at me, like he did all those months ago at Pete’s. “Put me out of my misery and marry me already,” he says likehe’s been waiting ten years for this. I glance down at the dainty ring in his hand, the stone glittering in the sun.

Everything from my broken past disappears, becoming a hazy, faraway memory. It happened, but I survived, and now I get to live.

“Yes, yes, yes!” I scream more than say. I feel every ounce of the moment promised, as I jump up and down, fogging the air with dust before Finn lifts me higher than the sun.

He whispers slowly against my lips, “I think we’ve reached the edge of the world, my love.”

Whispering to my fiancé, I say, “I think so too.” I smile, like I always do in his presence. Like I will for the rest of my life.

“And they lived happily ever after,” he says into the next kiss.

Epilogue

There are childlike smiles plastered on everyone’s face as I plug a cord into the wall, lighting up the entire log cabin I share with Finn and Chloe with colors. I slowly step back, staring at the now decorated Christmas tree, and its colorful lights that paint my family’s faces.

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