“I think I sort of just fell into him. You would have had it.”
I let out a shaky breath. “We saved each other, how’s that?”
“I’d rather not have had any of that happen.”
That made me smile. God, I loved this woman. “Okay, I’ll take that, too.”
I wanted to hold her, but neither of us was in any shape to do that. Instead, I simply gripped her right hand and leaned against the bed as we stared at each other, both of us exhausted and too tired to even speak. A nurse would probably come in at any moment and pull me away, so I had to talk quickly.
“I love you,” I whispered. Her eyes widened, and I squeezed her right hand. “You can tell me to go away again. You can say you need more time, and I will understand that. But I want you to know that I love you. And if it’s too fast for you, then we’ll deal with that. Take it one step at a time. But like before, I shouldn’t have run away. I shouldn’t have left you alone. I’m never going to run again. I’ll go if you tell me to, but I won’t run. I will always be here if you need me. I want you in my life, Myra. Any way I can get you. I almost lost you yesterday. I almost lost the best thing in my life, the person who brings me hope, and beauty, and everything I need. And I never want that to happen.”
Tears fell again, and I brushed them away once more.
“I can’t believe I almost lost you,” she choked out, and I swallowed hard. “I was on my way to you, by the way. To tell you that I didn’t want you to leave. That I wanted to stay and work things out and find a way to make us work.”
Relief flooded me. “We can do that—you and me. We’ll go as slowly as you want. We probably should have started glacier-slow to begin with. But it’s hard for me when you’re around. You burn everything up inside me. You bring me to life.”
“And you saved mine,” she whispered. “When I was fading, I tried to say the words, but I couldn’t. I didn’t have enough energy.”
I frowned, looking down at her even though she was so exhausted. “What words?” I whispered.
“I love you, too. I always have. I love you, Nathan. Don’t go. Don’t run. And don’t let me run. Let’s just be.”
I leaned forward and kissed her softly. When I moved back, she was asleep, the pain clearly too much. I did my best to lean against her bed, trying not to hurt my stitches or her, and let my eyes close. The nurse would eventually come for me, and I would get yelled at, but it didn’t matter.
I had almost lost the woman I loved, the one I had fallen for the moment I ran into her that day on the quad when we were late for coffee. I had fallen in love with her when she stole my food, and I had done the same to her. When she let me kiss her for the first time and then be with her after. I loved her when she yelled at me, and when pain crossed her face for the stupidity I brought to her life. She was the only person outside of my family who had always been steady in my life, even if it was only a memory at times.
She was my first, my only, and now, she would be my forever.
And though I had nearly lost her again to make this happen, I hadn’t. And I would never let her go again. I knew she would never let me go either.
I had found my first. And my only.
I had found my promise.
Epilogue
Myra
“I think we’re living in a zoo. Or maybe a circus,” Nate said, leaning against the back of the couch. I snuggled into him, and he kissed the top of my head.
“Perhaps. But I think I like all the noise. Who knew?”
Macon’s two dogs chased after Arden’s Jasper and our Daisy with Joshua following behind, laughing and trying to make barking sounds. Macon shook his head, then went after them as if he were going to wrangle the crew.
Dakota looked over from the kitchen island where she set up dinner, laughing at the two loves of her life before going back to work.
Paris was trying to help, but kept getting her hand slapped for daring to touch Dakota’s deviled eggs with her special new recipe.
Dakota let out an exasperated breath. “Seriously. It’s fine. It does not have to be at the perfect angle.”
“It’s like you don’t even know me,” Paris complained.
“Come on, darling. It is time to go sit over with Nate and Myra and see how they’re doing.”
Paris scowled. “You only want me out of the kitchen so Dakota cooks faster.”
“I can’t help it if you’re right,” Nate added on a laugh.
I held back a laugh at Prior and looked over as Paris stomped her way over to where we sat and took a seat herself.
“I feel like I’m never appreciated.” Paris mock-pouted.
“I appreciate you,” I said, leaning into Nate.
“You’re only saying that because you’re cuddling with the love of your life and acting all lovey-dovey. Believe me, it doesn’t last,” she growled, and Nate blew her air-kisses.
“I’m kidding,” Paris added quickly.” I shouldn’t even joke like that,” she muttered.
“Good, because I was going to have to hurt you,” Prior said as he moved into the living room, kissing the top of Paris’s head as he winked at me.
“You two feeling okay?” Hazel asked as she joined us.
I let out a sigh, the same as Nate. “Yes, for the eighteenth time, we’re both fine. We could stand, you know. Help out.”
“If you two stand up, we will push you right back down,” Cross growled. “Don’t make me hurt you.”
“He sure is grumbly,” I muttered, and Nate snorted.
“Oh, this is him in a good mood. You should have seen him before he met Hazel.”
“Hey,” Cross said.
“Nate’s not wrong,” Arden added, coming into the room with Liam following behind her. “Okay, I am going to go help Dakota because now that Paris has been kicked out of the kitchen, she’s all on her own.”
“No, no, we have it.” Nate’s mother waved her hands, his father right by her.
“Yes. All of you guys just take a seat and let me help my future daughter-in-law,” Nate’s mother said, clapping her hands before making her way into the kitchen. Because the room was large and open-concept, everybody was pretty much hanging out in the same area anyway. Still, I knew Dakota liked having a little bit of space. However, one look at the three of them together, and I knew that this was what Dakota wanted. She wanted to get to know her future in-laws, two people I was now getting to know, as well.
It was weird to think that I was only just now finding out who they were and how we fit together. Even though I had once been married to their son, this was all new.
That hadn’t been an easy conversation at all, telling them about our marriage and divorce, but there was no going back. We had made our apologies, and now we were living with our consequences. But nobody held a grudge. I think we were all simply happy to be alive and able to annoy and be annoyed by each other.
“Okay, dinner’s ready. We’re sitting around the house, not at the table since I don’t think we have one big enough for all of us,” Dakota commented, looking around her. “Macon, you’re going to have to convince your brother to build something.”