Page 52 of A Man of Prestige

My life is so different than it was a year ago. It’s no longer all about work. Now, I come home to Aiden. We’ve even talked about having a family. He’s embraced my family, and we’ve had them come to visit us.

I finally admitted to my parents about my pregnancy loss. It was hard to talk about, but in some ways, it’s helped me to heal. I don’t have to hide Angela anymore. She was a part of my life, and I can celebrate her for the brief time she was with me. Aiden has been so supportive of me, as I finally deal with the emotions that I’d locked away for years. He even encouraged me to see his therapist. It’s helped. All of it has helped.

For a while, I wasn’t sure we could lead a normal life. Everything that happened was so intense. But somehow, we’ve made a new life in the middle of the storm. And now that things have calmed down, I am starting to envision what our future could look like. Could we actually have it all? Could we be a family? I want that. I want it even more than I did as a younger woman, filled with passion, waking up in Aiden’s arms each morning. Now, I look at him and I want to grow old with him. I want to argue with him, and then kiss and make up. I want it all. I just hope he does too.

I hear him walking up behind me. His strong arms come around my waist, and he kisses the top of my head.

“It’s beautiful,” I say as I lean back against him. “Thank you.”

He turns me around and I gaze up into his blue eyes. Somehow, when we have moments like this alone, the entire world around us disappears. All my stress, sorrow, anger, and anxiety leave. It’s just Aiden and me. I hope it will always be like this.

“You’re more beautiful than any flower or sunset,” he says as he brushes the back of his hand over my cheek.

Suddenly, he drops to one knee. I start to ask if he’s alright, but when he pulls out a small velvet box, my mind goes blank.

“Ella, I should have done this years ago. I should have made things right between us. I want to spend the rest of my life supporting you, being by your side, and sharing a life with you. I know my life can be…a lot. And I know this year has been…eventful. But these last few months have made me realize that I can’t live without you, and I don’t want to. I want us to be a family. I want to have kids with you. I want to grow old with you and sit in those wooden rockers under that pergola and watch the sunset. I love you, my star. I always will. Marry me, Ella,” he says.

I don’t wait for my name to leave his mouth. I jump into his arms, and we go tumbling to the ground, both of us laughing as I lean down and kiss him.

He pulls back with a laugh. “Is that a yes?”

I poke his side. “Yes, that’s a hell yes!” I yell.

He sits up, and with me on his lap, he places the ring on my finger.

“It was my mother’s,” he says softly. “I know she’d love you just as much as I do, well, maybe not as much, but she’d love.”

I giggle and sigh as I look at the beautiful diamond ring. “I love it. I wish I could have met her.”

He looks into my eyes. “She’s here. Angela’s here. They’re all here with us.”

I nod, a single tear escaping and running down my cheek.

He wipes it away with his thumb and kisses me as the sun sets and the evening’s colorful display gives way to night. The world may keep on spinning, life might keep giving us challenges, but as long as Aiden and I are together, I know we’ll make it because our vow to love each other is more powerful than any other promise we could ever make.

Epilogue - Sebastian and Alexis

Alexis

The cherry blossoms are in full bloom. It’s my favorite time of year in D.C. The weather has started to turn into the perfect spring medley of not-to-hot and not-to-cold. I hold on to Sebastian’s arm as we walk from the Jefferson Memorial around the Tidal Basin.

He squeezes my arm and I look up at him. He looks…content.

I smile up at him and he returns my smile and then leans down and kisses me. “Let’s go sit,” he suggests.

I nod. “Wonderful idea, Senator,” I say with a wink. He laughs as we continue toward his bench at a leisurely pace like we don’t have a care in the world, and compared to nearly a year ago, we don’t. So much has changed. I have one year of law school left. I don’t work at his office any longer; instead, I’ve been interning with a law office that does a lot of pro bono work with health care issues. Since winning the election, Sebastian seems…settled. He assures me that he has no plans of running for the presidency. He works hard but also wants to enjoy his life, and he has most definitely committed to that. We’ve started traveling all over the world, seeing some of those monuments he once mentioned to me. I permanently moved in with him after he won his Senate seat, although it was more of a formality at that point as I had spent nearly every night there with him.

I do miss living with Erin and Whitney, but they visit a lot. Erin is even starting to warm up to Sebastian.

My parents and little sister met Sebastian at Thanksgiving when he hosted his mother, my family, Conner and Vivienne, and Aiden and Ella. I was surprised his mother came, but he has slowly begun to make amends with her. My sister, Amelia, was completely enamored with Sebastian and his house. She’s even talked about going to college in D.C. My parents are skeptical still because of our age difference, but they are coming around. Sebastian surprised us all on my spring break a few weeks ago by flying my entire family down to the Bahamas for a long weekend after my parents said they always wanted to go there.

I look at the bench as we approach it. I’ve come here a few times without Sebastian. I feel as attached to this bench now as he does. It’s our spot and it makes me feel connected to Kara in some strange small way.

We sit down and look out at the water. Some ducks float by as I curl up and lean on Sebastian’s shoulder.

“Shall we get brunch?” he asks.

“In a minute, it’s so nice today. And it’s early still, so we get all of this to ourselves for a few minutes before the tourists start coming out of their hotel rooms,” I say.

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