Page 69 of Summer's Echo
Echo smiled, but hisusual easy banter was missing.His grip on the steeringwheel tightened, his focus locked on the road ahead.Summernoticed immediately.
“E?” She turned to look at him glancingout the window as the streets blurred past. They weren’t headed toward her favorite burger spot like they usuallydid after appointments. Instead, they were going in the oppositedirection.
“Where are we going?” she asked, curiosity creeping intoher voice.
“I just need to make a stop,” Echosaid, his tone unreadable.
Summer furrowed her brows. “Me andyour baby are way too hungry for stops, Daddy,” sheteased, rubbing her belly for emphasis.
“Keep calling me Daddyif you want to,” he said, throwing her a winkthat sent a shiver down her spine.
Shaking her head, her curiosity deepened as they drove another five minutes insilence, then Echo pulled up in front ofthe LosAngeles Courthouse.
Summer’s breath caught, her eyes darting fromhim to the building. “Echo?” she said. “What’s goingon?”
He shifted in his seat, turning toward her fully. His hands found hers,his touch easy and assured.
“Irealized something,” he started, his voice deep,laced with conviction.“Tradition isn’t just about rules and protocols—it’sabout building something real, something lasting. I may not betraditional like my father in most ways, but when itcomes to us?” His thumb traced gentle circles over herpalm. “The one thing I am traditional about ismakingsure our foundation is solid before our baby ever takestheir first breath.”
Summer’s lips parted, her pulsethuddinglike a drum against her ribs.The baby must havefelt it, too, becausea flurry of tiny kicks flutteredagainst her belly, as if expressing happiness for their parents.
Echo held her gaze,his own glistening with surety.“Iwant to bring Baby Abara into this world asMr. and Mrs. Abara.”
And just like that, the dam shattered. Tears streaked down her face before his words were evenfully spoken.Her breathing turned uneven, chest rising indeep, trembling waves. One hand clutched his, the other pressedinstinctively to her belly—cradling the life growing inside her.
“Summer,” Echo said,his voice rough and raw with love.“Will you marry me—right here, right now, today?”
Awatery laugh bubbled from her puffy lips as shegrippedhis face between her hands, memorizing the moment. “Yes,” shesaid. “Yes, Echo Abara. I will marry you anytime, anywhere, anyplace.”
The tension drained from his body as he meltedinto her, his broad frame extended over the car’sconsole, pressing against hers. Echo’s fingers tangled in herhair, his other hand cradling the gentle curve of herbelly. He pressed soft, lingering kisses across her face, asif marking her with his love, with his promise. Somehow, without him even realizing it, their future had already begun.
As the sun dipped low in the sky, casting agolden hazeover Camp Quest, Summer and Echo stood together,hands clasped, hearts open,in the place where their story first began.This was their sacred sanctuary.The place that had held their secrets, where their love had been whispered into the wind,where they had lost and found each other all over again.Now, it would bear witness to their forever. Summer’s eyes misted as she looked up at Echo—the boy who had beenher best friend, her first love;the man who had becomeher home.
“This place has always been ours,” she said.“Where we met, whereIbroke, and where we found our way back to each other. It’s only right that we promise forever here.”
Echo sighed, his griptightening around hers.His thumb traced slow, deliberate circles over her skin, a silent reminder thathe was here, and he wasn’t going anywhere.
“I prayed we’d find our way back to each other,” he admitted.“For a minute, I thought I’d lost you, but God had a different plan.” He curled his lips into a small, knowing smile.“I will always find you, Sunshine, and I’ll spend the rest of my life fighting for us.”
Just like their love, their vows were fast and furious—no grand speeches, no rehearsed words, justreal and unfiltered.Echo lifted her hand to his lips,kissing her palm, while his head rested against hers.When they were teenagers, it was a promise. Today, it was a vow.
“Come here, Sun,” he whispered,pulling her into him, pressing his lips to hers in a kiss that held everything—the past, the present, and every moment yet to come.
The intimate crowd offamily and friends erupted in cheers and happy tears,knowing they were witnessinga love reborn, a second chance written in the stars.As the guests transitioned to the reception space, the newly minted Abara family stayed behind, sharing a quiet moment beneath the vast evening sky. They sat one ofthe old wooden swings facing the lake,watching asthe first stars peeked through the dusky haze.The same stars that hadwitnessed their first love.
Quest slept soundly againsther daddy’s chest, his rhythmic heartbeat lulling her into peaceful dreams.Summer sighed, burrowing deeper into his side,her head tucked against his shoulder, wrapped inhim. Echopressed a kiss to their daughter’s tiny forehead, then let his lips linger against Summer’s temple.His smile curved against her skin,memories flickering behind his eyes—splashing in the lake, sneaking snacks under the old oak tree, wordless dreams whispered beneath the stars. She sighed softly, andhe knew she was remembering, too.
“You good, Sunshine?” Echo asked.
She tilted her chin,meeting his gaze, her eyes filled with something adoring, something unbreakable, something that would last forever.
“Mm-hmm.”She nestled even closer.“I’m happy to be home.”
THE END
