Hannah

Memories wash over me, and I inhale the scent of ink and paper.

"Wow," I whisper, keeping my voice low.

I never thought I'd be back here.

Where it all started.

I pull on Maddox's arm, making him look down at me.

"I love you." I tell him what he already knows.

He leans down to press a kiss to my forehead. "I love you too." He takes a step. "Now, come on."

"What…" I don't bother finishing my question. He's clearly decided we have time to venture around. And honestly, it's so surreal to be here that I want to stay longer too.

Students are spread around, lounging in chairs with books or laptops in hand.

The furniture is a little different, a new shade of blue, but the rest of it is the same.

We walk across the main floor, and my heartbeat picks up as we near the stairs.

We're going to the study room.

Each step takes us closer to where it all started.

Each step takes us back to where my love for this man started.

The carpet beneath our feet is the same as we walk past the stacks.

I glance down the rows, remembering how Maddox caught me that time I almost fell off the step stool.

And I remember that first time when he surprised me in the far corner on the top floor. Where we sat, and he shared his extra ham and cheese sandwich with me.

I remember him sitting in the main area downstairs, waiting for me after my shift so we could come up to this very study room.

Maddox lets go of my hand and opens the door to the small room.

I remember the way it felt to sit next to him.

How he felt so right, even back then.

I remember the pain of all those years apart, and as I step into the room, I remember how he's made all that pain disappear.

And as I look up at the dozens and dozens of paper footballs hanging from the ceiling, I know he'll never cause me pain again.

And when I see the copy of The Count of Monte Cristo on the table, it's open to the first page. And I see that the first part of the first sentence is highlighted.

On February twenty-fourth…

And when I realize what day it is. When I realize that today is the twenty-fourth day of February, I can't stop the tears from falling.

And when I turn to find Maddox down on one knee, I press my hands over my mouth, trapping the sob of happiness inside my chest.

"I've loved you for so long, mon petite lapin. You've been mine since the night we sat in this room. You've been mine since you let me lay my head on your shoulder as you read to me. You've been mine, even when we were lost to each other." Maddox holds up a final paper football, this one sparkling from the ring tucked between the folds. "Say you'll be mine forever."

I stare at the ring, a twisted rope of diamonds, mimicking the string Edmond Dantès used to promise his love in the book behind me. In the book that started it all.

I look at the little paper football clasped in Maddox's fingers.

"Do you remember…" I have to focus on taking a breath. "Do you remember that night, when you told me to make a wish?"

Maddox nods, and I know he's picturing it too. Us lying together on those benches, using his sweatshirt as a blanket as he propped the paper football on his chest.

He presses a kiss to the top of my head. "Now make a wish and flick it."

I rest my hand just behind the football, the edge of my palm against his chest.

Then I close my eyes and make my wish.

"Do you know what I wished for?" I whisper.

He shakes his head.

I swallow and move closer. "I wished for Maddox Lovelace to be the man I marry."

Maddox pulls the ring free, tossing the paper football onto a chair. "Hannah Utley, will you allow me to make your wishes come true?"

I nod as he slides the band of diamonds onto my finger.

And where it all began, it ends.