Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 122578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122578 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 409(@300wpm)
“What do you say?” I murmured as I reached out to trace my thumb along the apple of her cheek.
“Nothing would make me happier than getting to share this wild ride of a life with you.” She said it as she glanced at Evelyn with a wistful smile on her face, the woman so in tune with the child who grinned at my side.
My heart drummed a wayward beat as I dug the ring from my pocket and took her trembling hand and slipped it onto her finger.
I never thought my life would come to this. That I’d get a chance at something good and right. That after everything I’d done, two people would look at me like their lives were better with me in it. I thought I’d deserved a world of isolation spent in my penthouse suite in Seattle with the proof of my sins hidden in the shadows below me.
But they’d proven to me I wasn’t defined by what I’d done, but instead I was defined by the man I chose to be.
And I’d chosen to be one that lived for them.
Fought for them.
Cared for them.
Supported them as they chased down their dreams.
The greatest gift and honor I could ever receive.
Evelyn leaned in close to my ear, whispering, “Do you think it’s okay if Ms. Dae is my mommy now?”
A deep ache stretched across my chest. I would forever miss my sister. Would forever regret the way everything had happened between us.
But in the end, I knew she had trusted me.
She’d trusted me with her daughter.
A child who’d knitted Paisley and I together.
Irrevocably.
Permanently.
Completely.
Tears streaked down Paisley’s face. Paisley and I had talked about it at length. We’d decided to give Evelyn the time to make that choice for herself, knowing it would be confusing for her. Paisley never wanted to take Kimberly’s place. Never wanted to try to erase her memory.
She just wanted to be there for Evelyn in whatever capacity she needed her.
“If you would like that, Evelyn, then I would very much like it, too.”
Evelyn grinned and stuck out her hand. “Then it’s a deal.”
Paisley choked over a laugh, pulled Evelyn to her chest and hugged her instead, and I wrapped my arms around them both.
Breathed them in.
This gift I’d never expected.
A love I’d never thought I’d possess.
And I’d cherish it.
Today, tomorrow, and forever.
Because in them, time beat again.