Epilogue

VICTORIA - 22 YEARS LATER

The horizon was painted in purples that faded to pink and then red. It had to be the prettiest sunrise I’d ever seen. I sat there in my wooden white rocker and watched as the morning light slowly dimmed the shine of those colors only to make way for orange and golden hues to take center stage.

“Gorgeous!” I turned to see my husband walk toward me and I smiled at him.

“You should have seen it a few minutes ago. The colors were so different.”

“I wasn’t talking about the sky, baby. All of those colors pale in comparison to you.” I rolled my eyes at the cheesy line the man started spinning way back on that fateful day when he declared his love for me in front of everyone. It made me grin to think back on that moment, with him on his knees.

“What’s that smile for?”

“Do you remember that New Years’ Eve?”

“The one when you agreed to finally be mine forever?” He asked. I nodded. “Of course, I do.”

I patted the rocking chair next to mine and he came to take a seat beside me. “Well, your vision of the future is finally here. It only took 22 years, but here we are on our rocking chairs staring at the sunrise and remembering all those years of loving one another.”

“She’s a romantic today!” Devin declared to the sky and followed it up with a hoot and laughter as he took my hand in his. “I had another vision of our future.”

“Yeah?”

“Yup, a few years from now, we’ll be rockin’ our grand babies together.”

“Stop it! Jessie just graduated high school.” I mentioned as a wave of sadness hit me at the prospect of being empty nesters too soon for my liking.

“Maybe so, but Josh already has two years of college under his belt.”

“Hmm,” I mumbled as I thought back to the day Devin first made me a promise about sitting on our porch and reminiscing in our rocking chairs. “Little did we know that Josh would come into our lives so soon.” I giggled.

“Seems to me fate was at play when you weren’t able to go get that shot, baby.” That was true enough. I wouldn’t ever wish to relive the heartache of thinking the love of my life was building a family with someone else. Devin had a point though. It was precisely that moment in time that set the stage for Josh to come along the following October after we officially got back together as a couple who didn’t try to hide their relationship. I had never gone back for my shot and we didn’t bother with condoms during our makeup marathon sex that lasted the rest of the holiday break before we both went back to work. Three days and four wild nights together amounted to a brand new start and a little bundle of joy on the way shortly thereafter.

I never regretted the way our lives spiraled ahead at full steam. It felt natural, and we learned some solid lessons during that time that served us well throughout the rough patches that inevitably happen in every marriage. When all was said and done, Devin was still my person. I was still his. And now that our youngest child was off to college too, we had plans to go explore the world together.

“You ready to go rekindle that old flame in Italy?” My husband asked, as if he had just read my mind.

“I’m ready for everything with you.”

“You better be, we already got our happy ending, now the rest is just the cherry on top, baby.”

I rolled my eyes at the way he laid the cheese on extra thick. “I love you, Dev.”

“Always have and always will, Vic.”