Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 70174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70174 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
I nodded. “Yes, love.”
She hesitated. “Because of Uncle Wade?”
A sharp pang of grief flickers through me, but it’s softer now. More of an ache than a wound. Tommy’s hand goes to the back of my neck, warm and secure. That steady presence that was always there to remind me of all I still had.
My eyes meet his across Sylvie’s bent head and we exchange a smile. “I suppose I just needed to take a trip down memory lane.” I exhale, letting my shoulders relax. “And, strange as it sounds… I think it helped.”
Tommy squeezes my neck, his voice full of warmth. “Then I’d say that calls for a celebration.”
Sylvie perks up. “Oh? What kind?”
Tommy grins. “Ice cream, of course.”
Sylvie closes the photo album and hops up from the couch. “I knew you were going to say that.”
Tommy winks at me, then rises to take Sylvie’s hand. “A man has his priorities.”
He turns, offers me his other hand and I let him pull me up. His mouth is there to meet mine in a soft kiss and I feel something shift inside me.
Not grief. Not loss.
Just peace.
We have suffered. We have lost. But we’ve built something too. Something strong. Something that, despite distance and time, has endured.
I stare at the man who once crossed an ocean for me, who still loved me with the same fierceness he did all those years ago, and I know I can be nothing but grateful for every minute of my life since we met.
“Come on, you two. I want chocolate.”
Tommy chuckles, slipping his arm around my waist. “Chocolate it is, then.”
And as we step out into the warm evening air, I know with absolute certainty… I wouldn’t change a single thing.