7. Epilogue: Karin

EPILOGUE – KARIN

I'm sure people gossiped about it when Ryan and I began dating. But I didn't care if they did. The simple truth of it was that Ryan made me happy. If anyone had something to say about that, it was their problem.

The only person's opinion I did care about was Amelia's. But she was thrilled about the change in my relationship with Ryan. She was so thrilled, in fact, that three weeks after Ryan and I started dating, she asked us if we were going to get married, and if so, could she please pick out the color palette?

In response, Ryan burst out laughing. Meanwhile, I stammered something incoherent.

"I'm just kidding, Mom," Amelia said, grinning at me. "You should pick out your own colors."

Six months later, Ryan proposed to me. Although I didn't see it coming and was utterly speechless when he got down on one knee, I knew my answer before he even finished asking me to marry him. It didn't matter that we had only been together for a handful of months. He was the one I was meant to be with. He was it.

We were married the following June, just as the weather started to warm up again. It was a small wedding, extremely casual, and absolutely perfect. Ryan looked delicious in his tux. I almost didn't want him to take it off that night. But, of course, he quickly gave me other pleasures to get lost in—more times than I could count.

We weren't planning on moving into a new house right away. It just kind of happened. A lovely older couple contacted me to help them sell their home—they had both just retired and were about to move to Virginia—and when I arrived at their house to conduct the initial walkthrough, I was stunned by how much I loved the property. It wasn't the biggest or nicest house I'd ever seen, but it felt like home.

And when Ryan and Amelia saw the house, they both wholeheartedly agreed.

It's been a year since we moved in. It's safe to say we're fully settled in now, although a big change is coming soon. I'm a little nervous about taking care of a newborn again. It's been a long time since Amelia was a baby. But I also can't wait for our family to expand from three to four.

Ryan is the best father to Amelia that I could ever ask for, and I know he's going to be amazing with two kids…and with however more we end up having in the future. He's the most loving, patient, loyal man I know.

Because of him, I feel whole in a way I never expected, and I never let a day go by without feeling deeply grateful for that.

A few days ago, we were sitting out on our back deck, watching Amelia dance around the yard in a dinosaur costume she had just made. The sun was setting, the air smelled sweetly of summer, and Ryan and I were sipping on watermelon lemonades. It was one of those moments that felt perfectly ordinary, but also perfectly extraordinary, and I turned to Ryan to tell him that.

He was already looking at me, smiling in that subtle way that always makes my heart race.

"Hey," he said. "I love you."

His words shimmered through me as much as they did the first time he ever said those three little words to me.

"I love you, too," I said.

And I knew, without a doubt, that for the rest of our lives, he would continue to make me swoon.

Thank you for reading Swooning for the Summer Manny!