“Oh my god.” I put my hands on his face and sob while I kiss his lips.
“I kept calling for you,” he tells me, breaking my heart that I wasn’t able to be there with him. “I whispered your name over and over again. All I wanted was to see you one more time before I left this earth. I just wanted one more chance to tell you how much I loved you. I wanted one more chance to tell you that you made my life magical. I wanted one more chance to marry you and be the father of our children. I wanted one more sunrise.” He smiles through his own tears.
“Sunrise, I want to watch every single sunrise with you. I want to hold your hand while we sit side by side. I want to fight with you just so we can make up. I want to be the one who dries your tears and makes you smile. I know I asked you this before, and I know that I don’t deserve another chance, but it’s always been you.” He reaches into the pocket of his shorts and takes out the brown box he held just five years ago. “I gave you back everything that was yours last time except this.” He opens it, and there is the ring. “Emily, will you marry me?” he asks. “Will you make my nightmares become sweet dreams?”
I nod my head as my body shakes with sobs. “Yes.” He slips the ring on my finger and gets up, pulling me to him and kissing me softly. “I’ll marry you,” I say, wiping the tears away from my cheeks.
He picks me up and turns us in a circle, celebrating. “I love you,” I say, and he carries me toward the back door. “What are you doing? We have to celebrate in the hammock.”
“No way in hell,” he says, walking up the stairs. “I don’t know if Quinn and Keith are out there.” I throw my head back and laugh just as the sun rises.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Ethan
“Why are you so quiet?” she asks, and I look up at her. She leans against the counter, holding her cup of tea. She’s wearing shorts and a shirt that goes off her shoulder with her hair piled on top of her head.
I look down at my plate and push around the food she just cooked. “I just.” I look up at her and see the glistening of the ring on her hand. “I have to go and speak to my father.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” she says softly, coming to me now and sitting down beside me. “It’s time.”
“I know it is,” I say, my stomach turning. “I just, fuck …” I put my head down. “I said some shitty fucking things.”
“You did,” she says, putting her hand on my neck. “And a coward would walk away, but you are going to go over there and make things right with him. You have to, Ethan. He’s your dad.”
I nod at her, knowing it’s the truth, and when I kiss her goodbye ten minutes later, she shocks me by putting on her shoes. “Where are you going?”
“I’m not letting you go there all by yourself,” she says. Walking out of the house, she waits for me to walk out, holding up her hand to block the sun. “I mean, you have to talk to him by yourself, but I’m going to be there for you when it’s over.”
I don’t even tell her that it’s fine, and it’ll be okay. Instead, I grab her hand and bring it to my lips. “I love you.”
“You better,” she says, and when we pull up to my father’s house, my heart speeds up faster in my chest.
“Maybe we should have called before coming over,” I say, tapping my finger on the steering wheel. “We’ll come back,” I say, but she is getting out of the truck, waiting for me. I take a huge deep breath and get out.
“It’s going to be okay,” she says, grabbing my hand as we walk up the walkway. I look around to see if anything has changed, and it all looks the same. “Should we ring the doorbell or just go in?” she asks, and I swear I feel like I’m going to be sick. She leans over and presses the bell, and we hear screaming from inside.
The door opens, and Kallie stands there with her hair piled on her head, and when she sees me, a big smile forms on her face. “Well, this is a wonderful surprise.” She looks at us. “But why did you ring the doorbell?” She shakes her head. “Come on in.”
Emily walks in first, and I follow her. Looking around, I see that the pictures on the wall are still the same. More have been added, but mine stopped when I turned twenty. The last picture they have of all the kids together was two months before I left. The smile on everyone’s face is everything. “Hey, you guys.” I hear Amelia and look over at her as she comes down the stairs. “I didn’t know that you were coming over.”