Page 86 of When Our Stars Aligned

“I know it sounds crazy but let me explain. I told you how I discovered who you were when I found the picture of you with my cousins, but I didn’t tell you everything. The night I got the call that Gram was back in the hospital, I knew it would be thelast time I would see her. Her body had been weakening for some time; she just couldn’t hold on any longer. The family took turns visiting with her, and when it was my turn, she told me something that, at the time, I thought was complete nonsense.

“Gram hated how I handled my life after everything happened with Maranda,” I continue. “I was convinced that I would be alone for the rest of my life because I never wanted to feel that level of hurt again. But, during our last conversation, Gram told me that she always knew who I was meant to be with. She said that Pop had been visiting her and they came up with a plan to bring her here, to bringyouhere.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“I didn’t either, but I put it all together while you were in Maine.” I reach into my pocket and pull out the photograph of Aly and my cousins. I had told Aly about the picture, but I left out the part about the rings until this moment.

“This,” I say, holding up the photo, “was not the only thing that was left for us to discover, but I wanted to wait until the time was right to show you what else she left.”

I pull out the white gold antique-style engagement ring.

“Is that…?” I watch Aly’s eyes go wide. “It can’t be!”

“Do you recognize it?” I ask with a little bit of surprise.

Aly responds by nodding. “It would always catch in the sun when Nonna Grace would sit and read outside. I swore you could see that thing sparkling for miles.”

I chuckle at her response. “Gram wore this along with her and Pop’s wedding bands on a necklace. She didn’t have it on the last time I saw her, but I figured the doctors removed it for some reason. Turns out, she had stored it away for us.”

Aly opens and closes her mouth, but no words come out.

“Remember what Jess said about your job?” I ask her.

“D-divine intervention,” she stammers. “Do you think it was Nonna Grace and Nonno Steven?”

“I do now. It all makes sense. You were hired for a job that you never applied for, you found a roommate who conveniently lived across the hall from me, the water damage to your room sent you right into my place, the recipes…” my voice trails off, wanting to get to the task at hand. “Alyssa Winters…” I get on one knee and take her hand. “I never knew true love and I never cared to know what true love was. But then you showed up out of nowhere and completely turned my world upside down.” I pause. “Actually, you turned my world right side up since I wasn’t exactly headed in the best direction. My life is exponentially better with you in it. All of my hopes and dreams…” I look into her eyes. “It’s like you’re the key to them all. Now, God knows I wish we’d met when we were supposed to and I don’t know why it took fifteen years for our stars to align, but I will be forever grateful that they did.

“So,” I continue. “Would you make me the happiest man in the world and become Alyssa Parker…for real?” I take Gram’s ring and slide it on her finger; it fits like a glove.

“I think you’re supposed to wait for an answer before you do that,” she says through happy tears.

“I knew you’d say yes. I mean, do you really want to disappoint Gram and Pop?” I wink.

“No!” Aly laughs. “I definitely do not!” She leaps forward, wraps her arms around my neck, and presses her nose up against mine. “You’re really stuck with me now!”

“There’s no one else I’d rather be with.”

From this moment on, life is going to be amazing.

Epilogue

Jax, Six Months Later

Today, Aly and I are getting married…again. Yup, you read that correctly. Aly and I had no intentions of waiting to have a wedding; we both wanted to seal the deal right away. However, my family insisted that we should get married at the Parker Family Reunion this summer. That way everyone important to us could be together.

At first, Aly said she didn’t even want a wedding, but when Uncle Chris, aka Papa Chris, announced that he wanted to walk his long-lost daughter down the aisle, well, Aly changed her tune. We still didn’t want to wait until summer to get married, so Aly and I eloped back in February, just a mere two weeks after we got engaged.

I look behind me to see my parents beaming. My mom’s mascara has already begun to leak with tears of joy. Just as I expected, my family adores Aly. How could they not?

My sister and Grant sit to the side of my mom, each of them holding a baby. My nieces are at that cute stage where they smile at everything but still can’t walk or talk. Aly calls it the “happy blob” stage, and honestly, it’s a pretty accurate description. I still have trouble telling them apart, but Aly can tell who is who just by the sound of their laugh or cry. We try to babysit as often as we can. We need the practice since we’re going to have a little one of our own by the end of the year.

We wanted to start a family as soon as possible, so we threw out all birth control the day we were married. We figured it would take a while to conceive. Imagine our surprise when just a few weeks later, we were staring down at no fewer than half a dozen positive pregnancy tests. We were convinced it was too good to be true, but as the months have gone by, it has finally sunk in that we will be parents in just a few months.

Aly’s pregnancy has gone well so far. She had a rough battle with morning sickness for a while, but that has finally subsided. She was worried that she wouldn’t fit into her dress, but she is only just starting to show.

I look beyond where my immediate family is sitting and notice a bunch of empty chairs. Aly’s side of the small venue is packed. “Why are you all sitting on the bride’s side?” I ask my cousins. I really don’t care who sits on what side, but it looks a little lopsided.

“We all got together and decided we were Team Aly,” Mia answers.

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