Haze

The same woman who was accepted into Juilliard two hours ago because of her immense and undeniable talent. She'll begin her studies in the fall, just as the spring lines at our boutiques are launched.

One day, when we've been married for a time, I'll go to the concert hall with my mother and I'll hear my wife play with the Philharmonic. I know it will happen. I'll have seasons' tickets and I'll enjoy each performance more than the last. I will fulfill each of her dreams and if I can't, I will stand next to her as she does it herself.

I scoop the small jewelry box into my hand as I pull it from the pocket of my jacket. I slide down to one knee.

"Marry me, beautiful, Isla. Let me love you every day for the rest of my life."

She's on her knees in an instant, her blonde hair blowing in the wind, her blue eyes still lost beneath a veil of tears. "Yes, yes."

I slide the pear shaped diamond onto her finger, kissing it after it's settled. "You have changed every part of my life. I wasn't alive until I met you."

"Me too." She nods, her eyes glued to the ring. "You changed everything, Gabriel. You gave me my life back. You took me out of the haze."

EPILOGUE

One Year Later

Gabriel

"We need to hurry if we're going to make it to Zeek's birthday party on time." She stretches out on the bed. "You bought him a gift, didn't you, Gabriel?"

"Three gifts. I couldn't choose one. Why am I the only one getting dressed?" I pull a black sweater over my head before I finish zipping my jeans. "You're not going to the party nude, are you, Mrs. Foster?"

She looks at me under heavy lidded eyes. She'd been napping before I walked into the bedroom and woke her with a kiss. I wanted more. I always want more but I'd made love to her this morning when I first woke. It was slow, tender and perfect.

"I have a dress picked out." She points to the closet. "It's the blue one from Arilia that you gave me for my birthday."

It's the dress I'd seen her wearing in the photograph on her phone shortly after we'd met. I had gone to the boutique the next day and had taken it, guessing her size. I'd kept it here, in our apartment for months until I gave it to her on her twenty-second birthday. She was touched. She's worn it often since, even now that it's not fitting as it once did.

"Are you going to tell your mother today?" She slides her legs to the side of the bed. "I think we should wait. Today is for Caleb and Rowan. Their little boy is having his first birthday."

"We'll wait," I agree as I kneel on the floor in front of her. "We can tell her in a few days, or next week."

"Tomorrow," she counters with a kiss to my forehead. "Can we tell her tomorrow?"

"She's going to be as excited as the day you were accepted to Juilliard and the day of our wedding."

That day had been the best of my life. It was a simple wedding, at Isla's request, here in our penthouse. It was my family, some of my friends, and her friends, Cassia and Nigel. She'd worn a dress my mother helped design and as she said her vows to me, I cried. The words were so tender and giving.

"She'll be happy about it, yes?" Her finger traces over my left eyebrow. "I want her to be as happy as we are."

I place both my hands on the bed, next to her naked thighs. I lean forward resting my lips over her small, swollen belly. "My mother will love that we are naming our daughter, Ella Gianna Foster."

She lowers her hands to my hair, stroking it gently as I kiss her stomach. "We will have her in only four months. I'll be a mom in four months."

"I'll be a dad," I whisper into her skin. "I'll have everything any man can ever want and I'll never, ever let it go."