Page 109 of Your Second Chance
After everything I went through in my last marriage—the isolation, the gaslighting, the slow, painful unraveling of who I was—I never thought I’d want to be someone’s wife again. I’d clawed my way out of that life piece by piece. I’d rebuilt myself from nothing. Still, some nights, I didn’t recognize the woman I’d become.
The idea of standing beside Ollie, someone so steady, so good... it terrified me.
What if I wasn’t enough? What if the broken, bruised parts of me still weren’t lovable, even after everything? What if he changed his mind once he saw all of it—all of me—laid bare?
Even though he’d already seen me at my lowest. Even though he’d held me through it. Even though he never once turned away.
Still. I couldn’t stop the voice in my head whispering:He deserves more. And one day, he’ll realize that.
“I-I...” My voice cracked, my throat tightening as the fear bubbled up. “The last time I was married, I was in a spiral. I ended up at the lowest point of my life. I’m terrified of that happening again. You saw me.”
Ollie’s jaw tightened, and he closed his eyes briefly before gently pushing me to the other side of the sofa. The space between us felt like a chasm.
“I am not him, Nova,” he said, voice low and tense. “You know that. I’ve spent years—years—proving that.”
“I know.” I inched closer, trying to reach him. “I do, Ollie. I’m scared.”
“You’ve been scared. Nova, we’ve beenengagedfor almost four years. At some point, it’s not fear anymore—it’s avoidance.”
The words hit hard. He wasn’t angry, not really, but he was tired. Bone-deep tired.
“I never asked you to marry me on a whim. I asked you because I knew, without a doubt, that it wasyou. That it wasus. I’ve waited. I’ve understood the trauma, the hesitation, the need to feel safe. But how long am I supposed to stay in this limbo, waiting for the day you finally believe we’re not doomed?”
“I’m not saying never,” I whispered. “Just... let us settle in first. Give us a year in the States. If we both like it, then?—”
“No.” The word was quiet but final. He shook his head slowly. “I’ll give you space to adjust, sure. But I’m not waiting another year for a ‘maybe.’ We don’t need more time to prove what we already know.”
I looked away, but he reached for my chin and gently turned me back to him.
“At the end of Scarlette’s school year,” he said, “we’re getting married. That’s the line I’m drawing. You can spend the year settling, thinking, healing, whatever you need. But I won’t keep holding us in place. We deserve more than that.”
Tears stung my eyes. “You’re really going to put a deadline on this?”
“No,” he said. “I’m givingusa moment to step into the future we’ve been dancing around for years. I tuck that little girl in like she’s mine, because sheismine. I’ve been showing up for you both with my whole damn heart. I want this life to start.Ourlife.”
I couldn’t speak. Could barely breathe.
“It’s not that I don’t want to marry you,” I finally whispered, voice cracking. “I do. I just... I’m scared it’ll fall apart like everything else.”
Ollie pulled me into his arms, holding me like I was something precious.
“Then let it fall apartwith me, Nova,” he murmured into my hair. “But don’t keep running from it before it even begins.”
He just held me as if the silence didn’t scare him the way it scared me. That’s what undid me.
I leaned back, looking at his face. His eyes were still steady, still full of all that love I didn’t know how to hold without trembling. I needed to feel it—feelhim—without words, without fear, just for a moment.
So I kissed him.
His mouth was on mine in an instant. His hands roamed, sliding beneath the hem of my shirt as if reacquainting themselves with a map they’d memorized long ago.
I gasped when he pulled me closer, my jeans dragging tight as I climbed into his lap, clinging to him like a lifeline. There was no hesitation, only heat, only need, only this dizzying collision of comfort and hunger as our bodies tangled together.
He didn’t ask if I was sure. He knew I was.
Because this—this was the one thing I never ran from.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve had the whole house to ourselves, love.”
