Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 124135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 621(@200wpm)___ 497(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
I was determined. And my beating heart echoed that wish.
Epilogue
Cromwell
Five years later…
The sun beamed down on me as I sat on the bench. I closed my eyes and looked up. Warmth spread on my cheeks, and I heard mustard yellows and bronzes. Birds singing and leaves rustling.
Then they came, the notes that always filtered into my brain the brightest. Colors bursting into complex patterns. I opened my eyes and scribbled them down in my notebook.
“Easton!” Violet blue burst into my head as Bonnie’s voice carried over the wind. I looked up and saw pink as Bonnie’s laugh followed behind. Bonnie came jogging around the tree, her cheeks flushed. She lurched forward, and a yellow-colored giggle burst from behind her.
I smiled as our son, Easton, jumped out from the tree and grabbed her legs. Bonnie turned and scooped him in her arms. She threw him up in the air, and his giggle turned from pale yellow to a shade bright enough to rival the sun.
Bonnie and I had a child. I still couldn’t believe it. We married straight after college, and Bonnie came around the world with me wherever I played. After the gala, we were never apart again. Not even for a night. I wasn’t ever letting her go.
With her heart, we were never guaranteed time. But we’d gotten this far. And her heart was strong. I knew in my soul that Bonnie would live a long life. And when a miracle happened and baby Easton was born, I knew she wouldn’t ever be leaving us behind.
Farraday was going to defy the odds.
Because this was it. This was the life she had wished for. It was her dream. To be a wife and a mother. And she was perfect at both. My heart melted when I heard Bonnie start to sing. Violet blue danced into my mind. I couldn’t take my eyes from her as she sang to our boy, him looking at her like she was his entire world.
And she was. To us both.
Violet blues and whites and pinks played a lullaby in my head. When she was finished, Easton turned to me, smiling wide, dimples out, and said, “Papa! Mama sings as blue as the sky.”
My heart swelled as Bonnie laughed and kissed his cheek. Because Easton was like me, in both looks and soul. He was like his Grandad Lewis too, who he loved beyond words. Bonnie put Easton down and he ran to me. I scooped him up in my arms and kissed his chubby cheek. Easton giggled, the sound the most vivid of yellows.
Easton sat on my lap on the bench. Bonnie walked past her brother’s grave and ran her hand over the headstone. We came here often, Bonnie unable to be away from her brother for long. Even in death, they were tethered to one another. Their shared heart still beating strong.
And like she’d once told him—she was determined to live a life for them both. And she did. With every breath, she did. She was happy. And because of her, so was I.
Bonnie came beside us and curled into my side. I wrapped my arm around her, and she closed her eyes. “Hum to me what you’ve composed.”
So I did. I always did whatever she asked. I’d learned that life was too short to deny her anything. I hummed the colors that had come into my head as I’d sat on this bench, my wife and my son listening in. And I couldn’t imagine a life more perfect than this. I composed every day, made music that lived in my heart, living the life I was always meant to live. I had my son, who showed me how to love more than I could ever have known.
And I had my Bonnie. My girl who still inspired the music that came from my heart. The girl who was always by my side. The girl who was the bravest person I knew.
The most beautiful.
The most perfect.
And the girl, that with one single smile, still completely illuminated my world.
I knew, wherever they were, both my dad and Easton would be looking down at us all, smiling. Proud of the people we’d become. Happy at the peace we had found. And content to know that we wouldn’t ever waste a single breath.
At that comforting thought, a warm breeze flowed over us, bringing with it a blanket of peace. A bird sang its song from up above, gifting my eyes with bursts of silver. Then a white dove landed on Easton’s headstone. It looked directly at us…
…and I smiled.
Playlist
Without You (feat. Sandro Cavazza)—Avicii, Sandra Cavazza
Symphony (feat. Zara Larsson)—Clean Bandit, Zara Larsson
More Than You Know—Axwell /\ Ingrosso
Back 2 U (feat. WA:L THE MOON)—Steve Aoki & Boehm, WALK THE MOON
Slow Acid—Calvin Harris
Stargazing (feat. Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra)—Orchestra Version—Kygo, Justin Jesso, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra