Angel - The Weeknd
Young and Beautiful - Lana Del Rey
Love Will Save The World - Jessie J
-
10 years later
October 2030
Tre
Love used to not be a familiar feeling to me. I had gone so long without it, I forgot what the definition was. I used to spend my childhood reading books. Everyday I'd come home from school and read a page in the dictionary, absorbing the words and definitions into my young mind. After I finished reading, my mother would ask me what my favorite word of the day was. I'd tell her everything: the word, part of speech, definition, synonyms, and antonyms. I'd spell it out and then use it correctly in a sentence.
This routine was clockwork for us. Everyday, never missing a day. It was one of my favorite things to do with my mother. We bonded over words. This was my safe space, it was where I felt most connected to her. It's the reason why I eventually started writing on my own.
After she died, I stopped reading. I couldn't look at a dictionary without wanting to rip it to shreds or burn every single page. I could barley pick up a novel to read for school because I'd see them all over the pages in tiny black ink. They were everywhere, I couldn't escape them. Every time I looked at a book, I was reminded of her. She had been my connection to words, and for so long I was voided of that feeling.
I was in high school when I forced myself to finally read a novel again. I just wanted to feel that connection again, even if it pained me.
Into the Wild. I read it in two days. I identified with Christopher McCandless and his need to be self-reliant. He wanted to depend on himself and be isolated in the wilderness, but he made mistakes that cost him his life. Because of his resentment and anger towards his family life, he became reckless and endangered himself. He viewed the world as corrupt and searched for those who shared his perspective. Christopher died alone in the wilderness, with his books and journals being the only things to tell his journey to self-destruction.
This was the start of my fascination again for reading and where I began to write my own stories. My school notebooks would be filled with my writings and scribbles. I'd get in trouble by my teachers for not paying attention in class, but I didn't give a shit. I just wanted to feel something else besides pain and anger. Writing and reading was my escape.
Every time I read, it's like I can feel my mother sitting next to me, waiting for me to tell her my favorite word of the day. And when I write, I can feel myself bleeding out all over the notebook paper. I stain the paper red as I bare my soul of the atrocities I have endured.
Words became the connection to feel my mom again. It's how she'll always be with me.
I didn't think I would ever meet anyone else who connected to words like the way my mother and I did.
Evangeline was a sweet surprise.
I knew right away that she was special. Seeing her nose always buried in a book, I knew that she appreciated words as much as I did. She knew how important they were and how much they could connect souls together. She took them seriously and understood the power they hold. She loved words and as she read them in her books, I fell in love with her.
She was the most precious and sacred book with gold pages. I loved each word of her. I drank them up every time she allowed me to read her soul.
Once I met her, I eventually came to understand the one word that I had abandoned in my life.
Love.
L o v e.
Noun
(1) : strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties
(2) : attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers
(3) : affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests
Synonyms:
affection, attachment, devotedness, devotion, fondness, passion
Antonyms:
abomination, hate, hatred, loathing, rancor
// After all these years, they are still very much in love.
Verb
(1): to hold dear : CHERISH
(2) : to feel a lover's passion, devotion, or tenderness for
(3) : to like or desire actively : take pleasure in
Synonyms:
appreciate, cherish, prize, treasure, value
Antonyms:
disvalue
// I love you, forever and always.
It's been a privilege getting to spend my life reading Evangeline's book. And like I read hers, she also read mine. She was patient as I opened up my pages for her, handling them delicately as she read each word that was sewn into my heart. It didn't feel like an invasion, she kissed the painful words in understanding and compassion. If one of our pages was torn, we placed tape on the tear and made it viable again.
Seven years ago our books officially merged together. Now we just have one book where we each take turns writing the pages of our life experiences. We're both the authors of our life together.
"How many stories did you have to read them tonight?"
I smile as I quietly walk into our bedroom and shut the door behind me. "We read Goodnight Moon three times and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie two times."
Evangeline chuckles and adjusts the blankets that she's laying under. "They always love hearing you read more than me."
"Because I make all the funny voices," I tell her and take off my shirt before climbing into bed next to her.
"I don't know whether I should feel offended or not that our children prefer your bedtime stories over mine," she purses her lips in a pout.
I scoot closer to her and press a kiss against her temple. "They love when you tell our story though."
She hums in agreement and nods. "Almost every day they still ask about it. They never get tired of hearing it and I'll never get tired of telling it."
"It's a great story, my love."
She slowly turns on her side and I put my hand on her waist, rubbing my hand up and down on the exposed skin from her t-shirt riding up. We both are laying on our sides facing each other and our legs intertwined.
"Are we still planning to take them to the beach tomorrow?"
I nod. "Yeah, it's probably going to be our last warm day of the year."
Eva's silent for a moment, breaking eye contact with me so she can move her head a few centimeters closer to mine. She always has to get as close to me as physically possible. Not that I mind. We've always gravitated to each other like magnets.
"Do ever think about what could've happened if we had done things differently?" She asks softly, our faces now inches apart.
"Not really," I reply, making the corners of her mouth turn up. "I try not to think about it because I feel thankful for everything that happened to us. The good and the bad."
"Me too," she whispers, her eyes still holding the same sparkling light from when we first met.
Eva hasn't changed much in the past 10 years. She still has that innocent doe-eyed look that always makes me melt and give in to whatever she wants. She's still the same kind-hearted, strong woman I fell in love with. She carries herself with such ease and confidence in whatever she does. She radiates positive energy and she's always smiling or laughing. She can still be stubborn and strong-willed, but she's passionate and driven about what she cares about.
Her hair got thicker and the freckles on her body became more prominent throughout the years. Her body showed more curves and her thighs had stretch marks, but she looks as beautiful as the day I first saw her. If anything, she's more beautiful now that I have gotten to experience being by her side as her husband and life partner. She always continues to amaze me.
She's the best wife and mother to our children, I couldn't ask for anything better. This is our life and I wouldn't change it for the world.
"I'm forever thankful for being paired up with your stubborn ass for our class project," she says and we both laugh softly so we don't wake the kids.
When we look back on the memories of our first meetings, we can't help but laugh. It's funny that she first thought I was an asshole and now here we are a decade later married with children.
"I thank God every day for meeting you," I tell her, brushing a stray hair away from her face. "I would be lost with you and the kids. You'll never truly know just how much I love you."
"I can take a guess," she smiles and kisses the pads of my fingertips that still lingered on her cheek.
I return my hand to her waist and run my thumb over the skin of her stomach. I stare into her eyes and even in the dim room lighting, she still looks glowing. "I love you, angel. Forever and always-"
"To the moon and all of the stars," she finishes our phrase that we always say every day.
Forever and always is for her and I. To the moon and all of the stars is for our children. We tell them every single night when we put them to bed. It's our family mantra.
Sometimes they'll ask how much we love them. We'll tell them that if they ever want to know, then look up at the stars and try to count how many are in the sky. There's like a million of them. They'd say. Remember that we love you even more than that. We'd tell them.
Eva and I wanted to be the parents that we never got. Ones that were kind and caring, being supportive and proud of their children. Protecting them and keeping them safe from harm. Allowing them to think freely, but raising them to treat everyone with love and kindness. We never want our kids to grow up the way that we did. We wanted to break the toxic cycle, so we did and never looked back.
I couldn't be more happy with the life we built together. It hasn't been an easy journey. But after all of the pain that was suffered, getting to lay here next to my wife in our house where our children sleep soundly it feels like heaven.
I turn the bedside lamp off once Eva's eyes close from exhaustion. I look over her soft features and then lean forward, pressing my lips against her forehead and sending a quick prayer to the sky to say thank you for allowing me to experience heaven with my angel.
-Eva-
Sometimes it doesn't feel real, like our life is a surreal dream. I wake up every morning feeling the joy in my chest as I look over at my husband sleeping. It still amazes me just how life unfolds.
Tre and I got married three years after we moved to New York City. We knew that we wanted to get married, but we didn't have many discussions on when we would make it official. Because of the business of finishing my last year of medical school, Tre's proposal was completely unexpected, but so meaningful.
A couple of days after we had settled in New York, Tre and I had our first date in our new home city. After a nice Italian dinner, we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We walked hand in hand through the galleries, talking about the art pieces and our newfound love for the Big Apple. The city was incredible and we felt so excited to be able to start our lives there together. We found out the museum had one of my favorite art pieces on dispaly. Monet's Water Lilies. I was so excited when we came across it in one of the galleries. I rambled to Tre about the history of the beautiful 100-year-old paintings and he watched me as I geeked out about why I love Monet's series. Once I got done rambling, Tre brought his hands up to my face and kissed me in the middle of the quiet gallery.
That night was special for us. It was our favorite date we had ever been on.
As his proposal, Tre recreated that date, down to the same exact meal we ate at the Italian restaurant. He first raised some suspicion when he asked me to bring Romeo and Juliet with us. Then I noticed we were doing a date we had already done before. Throughout our dinner, I kept asking why he was recreating our first date in the city but he wouldn't tell me. In his usual vague Tre words, he said he just wanted to relive a good moment. I knew he wouldn't tell me his real reason, so I just went along with his sweet plans. When we got to the art museum, we went the same route we had gone before and we ended in the gallery with the Water Lilies. As we looked at the painting, he asked me to read a few passages of Act 2 Scene 2 from Romeo and Juliet.
O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art
As glorious to this night, being o'er my head,
As is a wingèd messenger of heaven
Unto the white, upturnèd, wondering eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy-puffing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air.
I didn't know how much he wanted me to read, so once I finished Romeo's passage, I looked up and I froze in place. The sight of Tre on one knee was enough to almost bring myself down to my knees. I brought my hands up to cover my gaping mouth and I felt tears prick my eyes as he grabbed a small box out of his jacket pocket out and revealed an oval cut diamond ring. So many emotions were running through me, the entire night felt like a blur. My answer was simple.
Yes.
When we got back home later that evening, we were in a bliss. I couldn't stop looking at the ring on my finger and at the man who put it there.
I had grown up thinking I'd have a bigger sized wedding in a church, but once Tre and I were engaged, I realized that I never wanted a big wedding ceremony. It didn't matter where we were getting married, I just wanted to be surrounded by the people who mattered to us. So we decided to have a small wedding with only our close friends attending. We didn't want to to have a long drawn out engagement, three months were enough for us to plan everything.
We had our ceremony at the New York Public Library, where we had spent many evenings together searching for new books to read and discuss. Throughout the years of our relationship, we spent so much time in libraries. It was the only place that we wanted to get married in. The library was where our story truly first started.
Sam was my maid of honor and Reina was my bridesmaid. They both wore a knee length desert rose colored dress and held a bouquet of white roses.
I wore an a line white gown that was sleeveless and had the perfect combination of tulle and lace on the bust and skirt. I had my hair in a half up half down braid with 4 red roses stuck into the back and my makeup was simple, but elegant. My lace veil flowed to right below my hips and I carried white and red roses as my bouquet.
I didn't hesitate when I asked Cooper to walk me down the aisle. I trusted him and he was the closest person I had that I considered like a brother. When I asked him to give me away to Tre, his eyes got watery and after choking up for a second, he said he'd be honored to walk me down the aisle.
Tre had one groomsman. There was only one man who Tre would ever want by his side at his wedding. As Tre stood at the alter, the place beside him was empty, except for a single chair that held a lit white candle.
And while we couldn't see him, we knew that he was there. We could feel Trell there, smiling and laughing along with everyone as Tre and I said our vows to each other.
I cried as I said my vows to Tre and his eyes got misty as he read his vows to me. Our vows were intertwined in a poetic connection as our books joined together, becoming one solid and heavy book that had more pages to be written.
Kissing Tre after we were pronounced husband and wife felt explosive, but comforting. It almost felt like a sigh of relief that we were finally at this chapter of our lives. We had loved each other for so long, we were ecstatic to merge our hearts together on this day.
August 19, 2023 - Seven years since we first laid eyes on each other at that college party.
A couple of months after we got married, we went on our honeymoon to Rio De Janeiro. I had two weeks off of school for winter break, so we planned our vacation during that time. We chose Rio because we both had never been to South America before and for years we had been wanting to visit Rio. We spent most of the two weeks laying on the beaches, hiking trails, seeing waterfalls, and taking tons of pictures. A few days before we left, we came across a tattoo parlor and I suggested we get a tattoo to celebrate our marriage. We decided to get our favorite phrase to each other tattooed.
Forever and always
VIII.XIX.MMXXIII
We both got it tattooed on our chests, right over where our heart is. I got the words in Tre's handwriting and he got them in my handwriting. After we had gotten them done, I jokingly told Tre that my next tattoo would be his name. He smirked and said I shouldn't give him any ideas to get my name permanently on his skin.
But he eventually did. On our one year wedding anniversary, he got my name tattooed on his bicep. Evangeline was written in cursive and intertwined with red roses. As he was getting it done, I told him that he was really stuck with me forever now that my name was permanently inked into his skin.
"Forever and always baby," he said to me with a smile and wink.
Forever and always indeed.
The sun is starting to set behind the horizon, casting an orange glow over the moving water. The mild sea air blows through my hair and I tighten my cardigan closer to me. The laughter of children echo through the sounds of waves hitting the shore and I look out to the beach, smiling as I see little legs wading in the water.
Tre is standing on the shore with his jeans rolled up to his calves and he's holding our daughter's hand as she wobbles on the sand. He guides her a few steps closer to the water and she squeals once the water touches her bare feet.
"Daddy, look!" Naomi yells from a few feet away, running to him while clutching a large seashell in her hand.
At almost five years old, Naomi has become a force to be reckoned with. She has her father's resilience and her mother's passion. I found out I was pregnant with her during my first year of residency.
After I graduated from Columbia University in 2024, I accepted a three year pediatric residency at Evelina London Children's Hospital. While I was still in medical school, I found out that pediatrics was where my heart lied. I wanted to work with children and provide them the help they needed.
I had gotten residency offers from a lot of hospitals around the US, but once I flew to London to see the children's hospital, it felt like the right place for me to be. So Tre and I packed up our New York City life and moved to London. Tre loved London after visiting so many times for work, so he was more than happy to be moving there. He ended up securing a new job with another company as a civil engineer project manager, which still allowed him to travel, just not as frequent as before.
We moved into a 2 bedroom flat so we could first get settled and adjusted into life in London. 5 months into my residency, I found out I was pregnant. It was a shock seeing the two lines on the pregnancy test, but Tre and I were completely over the moon about the news.
My pregnancy wasn't too stressful. I had the typical morning sickness for the first trimester, but it was otherwise smooth sailing. I still worked my residency up until two days before my due date. I gave birth naturally and I've never felt worse pain in my life. Labor was long and I was exhausted. Tre was beside me, holding my hand tightly and softly saying motivating words to me as I pushed our daughter out into the world.
Naomi Rose was born on August 4th, 2025. Three days after her father's birthday. When she came out and was placed on my chest, Tre and I immediately fell in love with her. It was surreal getting to hold the tiny human that we created. As the three of us cried, it felt like our little world was full.
Being first time parents was nerve wracking. Tre and I both wanted children, but we had no idea how to be parents. We knew how to be bad parents because that's what we grew up knowing, so subconsciously we already knew how to be good parents. We never wanted our children to have to experience the things that we did.
Right when we saw Naomi for the first time, Tre and I both knew that we would do anything to protect her and make sure she knows she's loved. We made a silent promise to always support her dreams and love her unconditionally.
We had named her Naomi in honor of Tre's mother, whose middle name was Naomi.
She was our only child for two years as I finished up my residency. As I wear nearing the end of my residency, I applied to work with Doctors Without Borders. I had discussed it for days with Tre because I was hesitant to apply due to his job and Naomi. But Tre encouraged me to apply.
"This has always been your dream, angel," he told me.
"But I have you and Naomi now," I reminded him. "We can't just pack up our lives and move to another country again."
"Why not?"
"Tre," I sighed and he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer to him.
"Evangeline, working with them has been your dream ever since you were little. This is what you've worked so hard for. You can't let this opportunity slip away. You've always been there to support me and my work. Now it's time for me and Naomi to follow and support you wherever you want to go."
I stared at my husband with so much adoration and admiration.
"Okay," I gave in. "I'll get my laptop and finish the application."
Tre ran his finger over my cheek before kissing me. "We have to try getting close to the stars in order to reach our dreams."
That night I submitted my application and heard back from them a week later, accepting my application and offering me a position to work as a doctor in their South Africa branch.
Once my residency was over, I did get a job offer at the hospital to be a pediatric emergency physician. But after speaking to them about my Doctors Without Boarders acceptance, they told me that if they had an opening, they would love to have me work for them once I finished in South Africa.
As we finalized our next steps to move, Tre's employer presented him with a huge opportunity of working on a two year-long project that was beginning in Gaborone, Botswana. It was an exciting but stressful time moving to another new country with a nearly two year old baby, but we managed to make it work out.
For the third time, Tre and I packed up our life and moved to Botswana in June 2027. We decided to live in Gaborone because it was a much safer place than South Africa. Since we had Naomi, she was our main priority so we needed an environment that was going to be a safe place for her to grow up in. Botswana became our new home and I was the one doing the traveling to smaller villages around Johannesburg delivering medicines and giving treatments to the locals.
Being apart of Doctor's Without Borders was a dream come true. I went to work every day feeling like I needed to pinch myself because I was finally living what I had my heart set on for so long.
When Tre or I had a day off, we'd spend the day with Naomi and when we both had to work, she was with our amazing day nanny that we had been recommended from one of Tre's collegues. Tre and I made sure that we were always both home in the evenings so we could have dinner together and spend time as a family. We were present parents, we didn't want to miss any moments with our daughter that was growing fast in front of our eyes.
We really loved living in Botswana. It was a growing, safe place for our family to flourish more. Our second daughter, Iris Harper, was born on September 6th, 2028.
Iris was a planned pregnancy. Tre and I had many talks before about how many children we wanted to have and we decided we wanted 3 or 4 kids.
"Do you still want a big family?" I asked Tre one late evening as we laid in the bathtub together.
We had just moved to Botswana and gotten settled into our new life. We had spent the evening playing with Naomi so she can get her energy out before bedtime. We ran throughout the house chasing her and making her scream with laughter. We also played hide and seek while Tre pretended to be the tickle monster. Naomi definitely kept us on our toes because of how much energy she always seemed to have. Once we finally got her to sleep and the house was quiet, Tre and I took a bubble bath so we could finally unwind from the day.
I was sitting in between his legs, my back pressed against his warm chest and his hands rested on the tops of my thighs.
"I want however many babies you're willing to give birth to," he replied, his lips pressing against my temple. "But yeah, I think I'd like to have a bigger family."
"I always wanted siblings," I mumbled, intertwining my fingers with his. "I don't want our kids to ever feel like they're alone."
"We would never let that happen," Tre stated firmly and I nodded in agreement.
"Hey, I can put a shitload of kids in you right now if that's what you really want," Tre smugly bantered and I laughed loudly, leaning my head back against him. I quickly put my hand over my mouth so I wouldn't wake up Naomi.
Tre's chest shook with quiet laughter and I quickly turned around to face him.
"You want to make another beautiful baby with me?" I whispered, bringing my face closer to his so our lips almost touched.
"Right now?" He smirked, grabbing onto my hips.
I nodded my head and pressed my lips against his, causing the temperature in the room to rise a few degrees.
Iris ended up being a very easy pregnancy and birth. When working, I was really careful with being in certain environments because of the health and safety issues that could occur and as I got further into my pregnancy, I rarely went out into the field.
It was a blessing being able to have our family in Botswana while Tre and I lived achieved more of our goals. We lived in Botswana for two and a half years. Tre finished his role on his field project and I had came to an end with my work with Doctor's Without Borders. While I loved my job, I felt that the fast-pased traveling into safe and unsafe environments was enough for me. I had lived my aspiration and needed to change to a different course. Our daughters were getting older and we wanted to raise them in a more stable environment where we don't have to keep moving.
After making some phone calls, I was able to secure the Pediatric Emergency Physician position from my residency hospital and Tre was welcomed back to his normal job role in the company. We traveled back to London and moved into a quaint two-story house in Hempstead.
We've been living in London again for seven months now and when the weather is nice, we drive to this beach in Sussex. The girls love the beach and getting sand all over their hands and feet. They like making sandcastles and pretending they're mermaids.
"Mommy look at my seashell!" Naomi comes sprinting towards me, smiling big with her dark curls blowing around her face.
"Let me see it!" I say enthusiastically as she stops right in front of where I'm sitting on the sand. "Wow! That's a beautiful seashell, isn't it?"
Naomi loves collecting seashells. Since she could hold them in her little hands, she would never leave the beach without at least one. Now she has a jar in her room that's filled to the brim with all kinds of different colored seashells.
"Can you hear the ocean in it?" She asks with curious eyes, holding the shell up to my face.
I smile at her and take the seashell out of her hand and hold it up to my ear. "I think I can hear the ocean waves."
Her brown eyes light up and she eagerly takes the shell out of my hands and holds it up to her ear. She gasps. "Mommy I can hear the ocean! It's like it's singing."
"That's the waves, baby. Everything in nature has its own unique song."
"I'm going to show Daddy and Iris again," she says and runs back to where they were, unintentionally kicking some sand onto my lap.
I softly laugh at her small form running back to Tre, who's now holding Iris in his arms. Naomi runs around Tre's legs, laughing and yelling excitedly to him about her "seashell song."
As I look at my husband playing with our daughters and making them scream with laughter, a flutter comes to my stomach. I rub my hand over my protruding belly, feeling soft kicks against my hand. I smile down at my nearly seven months baby bump.
"Do you want to play at the beach too, Adam?" I softly say to my son as he kicks me a few more times.
In January, we will have our first son. After having two girls, Tre and I thought this next baby might also be a girl, but we were pleasantly surprised to find out we were having a boy. The same day we found out the sex, we had already decided on his name.
Adam Michael.
It only felt right to name our first baby boy after his uncle that he'll always hear about, but never get to meet.
Trell is still with us in our hearts. Not a day goes by where we don't think about him. He's seen everything we all have accomplished and I know that he's so proud of us and can't wait until we see each other again.
Sam, Reina, Cooper, Tre and I always get together on April 24th and December 15th. Every year we all make sure we're available to see each other. These are the days we spend together celebrating Trell's life. We went back to Detroit a couple times to place flowers on his grave, but since we've had children, we do things a little bit differently. On Trell's birthday, we do a group video chat and each of us lights a white candle. For his death anniversary, Tre and I fly out to NYC with the kids so we can all be together. We always end up staying a week so we can spend the Christmas holiday there.
It hasn't been easy getting to see our friends since our lives are so busy and all over the place, but we're only one flight away from each other.
Our friendship is still as strong as it was back in the college days. I talk to Sam and Reina on the phone at least once a week and we visit each other often on our vacation breaks.
Reina and Cooper had gotten married a year after Tre and I did. They ended up settling down in New York City where they work as nurses in the general hospital. It was shocking when they told us they were moving out of Chicago and to NYC. We thought they would never leave their home city, but they wanted a change of scenery and to be closer to all of us. Four years ago, Reina ended up giving birth to twin boys that had her ginger red hair. They are best friends with Naomi and Iris.
Sam continues to live in New York City too. She loved the big apple so much she never left. She really thrived while working as a studio artist. She got her worked displayed in galleries and even in a few contemporary museums. She became a recognized name in the city art community, so much so that she also sent some art pieces to Los Angeles galleries, which was where she eventually met her husband, Jackson Leon. Now she's pregnant with their first child, a baby girl.
It's been awesome having Sam pregnant at the same time as me. When I told her I was pregnant again, she laughed and shouted excitedly that she was also pregnant. We freaked out and laughed at fact that we are such close friends that we got pregnant around the same time. It was without a question that our babies would be best friends with each other, just like how Reina and my kids are.
They'll all have their own little friend group like we have ours.
"Iris go to Momma," Tre says from a few feet away, gently pushing her to walk towards me.
I open my arms widely and grin at my daughter stumbling over the sand to me. "Come here my sweet girl."
She laughs and smiles, warming my heart. Her little legs move quickly and she stumbles into my arms. I sigh and press multiple kisses to her cheeks, making her squeal and squirm in my hold.
"Did you have fun in the water?" I ask, brushing a few wet curls from her face.
She nods and smiles widely.
"The girls thought it would be fun to get Daddy wet more than themselves," Tre laughs, gesturing to his jeans that are soaked from being splashed.
I chuckle and press another kiss to Iris's cheek. "Good job, baby," I whisper to her and she giggles, sitting down on my lap carefully avoiding my belly.
"Naomi," Tre calls out. "Stop looking for seashells baby, we have enough at home."
Naomi pauses from where she is bent over the sand and pouts. "You can never have too many seashells daddy!"
Tre shakes his head and glances over at me. "She sounds just like you."
I smile proudly. "Well she is my daughter."
"Oh she's just your daughter huh?" He questions, smirking and sitting down next to me and Iris, who's now leaning her head tiredly against my chest.
"I guess she's yours too," I playfully shrug and he smiles, leaning over and kissing me softly.
"Ew! Cooties!" Naomi yells, running into Tre's chest and making him groan at the unexpected intrusion.
"You like kisses though," Tre playfully growls, sitting her on his lap and smothering her with kisses on her cheeks.
She shrieks and squirms away from the tickling kisses. I smile at the sight of of Tre tickling our daughter and I look down at my two other babies. My heart feels so full and complete.
Before, I always thought that my lifelong dream was to be a doctor and travel the world, but in actuality, that wasn't my biggest dream. My dream is right here. With sand in our toes and sounds of waves crashing to shore as we sit together watching the sunset, this is the true dream.
I look over at Tre, who's now cradling Naomi as she rests against chest, and he holds my stare. His eyes soften and he smiles, his eyes looking like ambers against the setting sun.
"I love you," I tell him softly, so to not wake the kids.
"I love you too, my Angel," he replies in the same soft tone, making me smile.
Fourteen years later and Tre still gives me butterflies. Every day I find a new reason to fall deeper in love with this man. Not a lot has changed.
I still go back and re-read Romeo and Juliet, even though I already found the answers that I had been searching for. I thought that there was another way for them both to survive their ending, but I eventually realized that there was no way out for them. Romeo and Juliet were not meant to survive. Their destiny was pre-written, doomed from before their conceptions. Despite alternative theories, there was no logical way for them to be alive together. They couldn't be saved. Their souls were too intertwined to ever let themselves be apart. Their forever was meant to be spent among the stars, where they could be safe and free together.
Tre and I rewrote our own ending. We were never doomed or destined to live a life in pain forever. Our forever was infinity and we were meant to spend it together amongst the golden sun.
Sometimes I think about if I could go back and tell my 18 year old self to not make the mistakes I did then maybe that would have saved some heartbreak. But then I look at my daughters and the life Tre and I created, and I believe that everything turned out how it was meant to be. I wouldn't change anything that happened in my life. All of the pain and mistakes got me to where I am now. Happy.
Tre and I were just two people who had no idea what love meant. We were in pain and afraid to let our hearts fall 10 feet down into the unknown waters we couldn't yet swim in.
Now when we look at our life together, we both understand something that we should have realized a long time ago.
10 feet is not so far after all.
The end.
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Wow I can't believe this book is now over! I'm sad to end this because I've spent the past three years working on this story, but I'm happy to finally give Eva and Tre their happy ending.
A massive thank you to every single one of you who have read, voted, and commented throughout this book. I love you so much and I really appreciate all the love and support you have shown me. You have been so incredibly patient and motivating. This wouldn't have been possible without you all, so thank you a million times for what you've done for me and this book.
I will be posting the Q&A in a few days, so if you have any other questions now that you've read the epilogue, please comment them here!
I will be eventually going back through this book and editing all of the chapters. There are some things I want to add in to make the story flow a little better.
-Bekah