“Goddammit, Addison, think. It has been months since the wedding. Have I made even one attempt to go find her? No. No, I’ve been with you. Right where I was always meant to be.” I jerk my chin toward the sky where two helicopters circle over our heads. “This is what happens when you leave me for two hours. You know why that is? If you think—and if you look at me dying over here—you’ll know why. I love you. I’m in love with you. I’m sorry I almost didn’t realize it in time, but the love has always been there.”
I struggle for the right words, but it’s hard when she’s shaking so bad and I want her in our home, warm in bed with me wrapped around her. But she hasn’t breathed since I told her I love her and I know she needs to hear more. All of it. Everything I’ve got.
“You have my heart. You have my soul. And you’re the first and last person to ever have either one. I loved you first. And last. I’ve only got this feeling for you. No one else. Never. Do you hear me?” I press a hard kiss to her forehead, then meet her eyes again. Eyes that are finally beginning to show hope. “I was a fool. I thought being your man and everything that came with it…meant I could lose you someday. Love meant loss, right? So I held one part of me back. But it was the most important part. I didn’t recognize what it was, because I’d never actually felt it before. And I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. I love you, Addison.”
I’m not expecting it when she bursts into tears, because it’s not an Addison response. But finally, there’s not just hope. There’s belief. She believes me. More than that, there’s happiness and love and trust. As I hold her tight and whisper those three words, over and over again, into her hair…I realize there’s even more of Addison that I’ve just unlocked.
I bring our mouths together and walk right through her door.
EPILOGUE
Addison
Mayor Gets It Right the Second Time Around
—Charleston Post
A Match Made in Southern Heaven
—Southern Insider News
Getaway Girl Charms at Gala in Bold Fall Colors
—Avant-Charleston
Can’t wait to share the throne with my queen. Although we might need a second throne…space wise…
—Twitter @DuPontBadonk
Three Months Later
Most days, I can’t tell if I’m floating or walking on solid ground. Even now as I cross the intersection and blow a kiss to the photographer, I’m light as air. If I held out my arms and wished really hard, I think I could reach the clouds. Everything seems possible. Everything.
Six months ago, I came to Charleston only planning to stay a couple of weeks. Just long enough to get my grandmother’s loose ends tied up, then back to Brooklyn. Now I can’t imagine my life anywhere else. I have this man, you see.
I have this man.
And this man has me.
“Getaway Girl!” shouts the photographer. “Where are you headed today?”
“The market!” I call back, reaching the sidewalk. “Where else?”
His grin is a little more smug than usual, but I’m in too good a mood to speculate why. After a quick stop at Jingle Balls to pick up the cash drop and post the employee schedule for next week, I’m meeting Lydia and Elijah’s mother for lunch. We’ve been doing it once a week for the last month and it’s turned into something I really look forward to. Mostly because there’s day drinking involved and when Virginia gets tipsy, she tells us stories about Elijah as a child. Turns out he had an imaginary friend named Albert. A zebra. And Virginia used to overhear Elijah asking Albert if he thought his butt looked big.
Priceless.
October is here and with Jolly Holidays Incorporated starting its maiden Halloween voyage, I no longer have time to work the booth. Although I plan to snatch up a weekly shift or two at the market in the spring—it makes me feel connected to my grandmother—right now the expansion has my attention and I’m firing on all cylinders. Taking a page from Elijah’s book, I hired local. With some artistic guidance, my newly formed team was able to land several commercial contracts…including City Hall…and we’re off to a roaring start. Walking through Charleston and seeing my handiwork in the form of scary window scenery, flickering lamps and orange fairy lights wrapped around trees? It’s like I have all this happiness inside me and my outlet is to decorate the whole city.
It’s magic. Wait until they see what I can do with Christmas.
I smile when I see the market up ahead, tourists coming in and out of the buzzing within. It’s probably a good thing I’m not working shifts very often at the booth anymore, because my Cooper River rescue gained national media attention, thanks to the news chopper that circled overhead when Elijah pulled me into the boat. And proceeded to strip us both down to the skin. And kissed me until we forgot about our surroundings.