Page 109 of Before Broken Vows
My roses.
The same soft pink ones he gave me the night of our first official date, back when we were just starting to believe we could have something real.
Among them are candles. They line the dresser, the window ledge, and the nightstands. Small, flickering flames cast a golden glow across the room. Tiny shadows from the scattered petals across the bed move and dance on the sheets.
"Oh, Theo…" I say, my head and heart racing.
He doesn't say anything at first. Just closes the door behind him and stands there, watching me take it all in.
"I got them from that same florist in Athens. Took a few calls to get so many on short notice, but you know," he says with a smile.
I turn toward him slowly. The candlelight kisses his face, highlights the angles of his jaw, the sharpness of his cheekbones, the intensity in those ice-blue eyes that have never looked at me like this.
"They're beautiful, but why would you do all this for me?"
"Because you never got to come back to me properly." He steps closer. "You left carrying my child. You came back with the weight of worry and guilt on your shoulders. It's time we rewrite our story."
"I didn't expect this," I say.
"I didn't expect a second chance." He pauses. "But life has an interesting way of reconnecting people that are soulmates."
He guides me gently to the center of the room where a small velvet box sits on the corner of a table surrounded by roses and candles.
My heart pounds harder.
"I told myself I would wait until the danger was behind us, but I don't want to wait anymore," he says, voice low and smooth. "Not after everything we've been through."
He lifts the box but doesn't open it. "Because the only thing that makes any of our crazy lives make sense is you."
Tears sting my eyes.
He drops to one knee.
"I never thought I'd have this. A real family. A chance to be more than a shadow behind Ares. But you gave me something I never knew I needed—meaning. You and Xander. You made me want to build something that lasts," he says, opening the box.
The ring is a large diamond in a claw setting. Smaller diamonds flank it. It's elegant. It's beautiful. It's me.
"Anastasia Milonakis," he says, taking my hand. "Be mine now and forever. Will you be my wife?"
Tears blur my vision.
I realize my chest is rising and falling rapidly. My body feels numb and I can't even think straight. It's always been Theo. He's the only person who makes me confront myself. When I don't feel like I deserve something or I'm not worthy of receiving it, he gives it to me. He makes me feel it.
Since that night in his office, my dress covered in vodka, I knew then what I know right now.
I was put on this earth to find this man before me.
Tears stream down my face. Happy ones that I'm not eager to wipe away or hide.
"Yes, Theo," I say. "God, a thousand times, yes."
He springs to his feet, pulls me into him, and kisses me. Deeply. Passionately.
We pull back and I hold my hand out to admire the ring.
"It's so beautiful."
"I'm glad you like it."
