Page 80 of Another June with You

Her heart leapt. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m checking in on my investment,” he replied as he glanced around the room.

“Did you get Chase to buy this building?” she asked, having recognized his friend’s last name from the contract.

“We’re partners,” he said with a wink.

“Why? You both live and work in Virginia. Why would you buy a building in Michigan?”

He walked toward her and stopped a couple feet away, raising his arms out to the sides with palms up. “It’s for you.”

Shannon didn’t know what to say.

“But it comes with a package deal. The building … and me.” He lowered his arms and took another step toward her. “I’m moving back.”

She fought back tears at this news.

He tilted his head slightly to the right and his lips curved up. “Maybe we can’t have everything we once dreamed of, but I wanted to give you this one. You needed a win.”

It was no use. The tears were falling now.

Vernon left the space then, giving them some privacy.

“These are happy tears, right?” He took another step toward her.

She nodded and chewed on her bottom lip before launching herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist, and burying her head in his chest. His lips pressed against the top of her head as his hands rubbed up and down over her back, and it was the most comforting thing she had felt in a long time.

“You have to know I would move mountains to make your dreams come true, right?” He spoke into her ear. “If I could somehow fix your body so we could have the children we always wanted, I would do it. I’d do anything for you.”

She hugged him tighter, longing for more words, more of his thoughts.

“It’s not easy, knowing we can never have a child of our own, because I want that more than I can put into words. But I can’t go on with my life knowing that everything I believed all these years was wrong, that you didn’t break up with me because you didn’t love me, you did it because you loved me so much.”

“I did,” she mumbled as she lifted her head to look at him. “I do.”

He rested his forehead against hers. “When I look at you, I see the beautiful, warm, funny, talented, passionate woman I fell in love with. The woman I still love. You may not feel whole right now, but I want you to know that your diagnosis doesn’t make you less of a woman in my eyes. It doesn’t have to define our life. Maybe we’ll never be able to make the big family we dreamed of. Maybe we’ll find another way to have kids. But if not, you’re enough for me.” He lifted his head and gently took her face in his hands. “You’re all I need, Shannon.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “You’ll be my family, and I’ll be yours.”

Tears slid down her cheeks and a smile lit up her face. “That’s all I needed to hear.”

Their lips met then, and if it hadn’t been for Vernon outside wanting to lock up the building, they might have stayed there kissing all day, breathing life and hope into their relationship again, whispering renewed promises. Choosing love. Choosing each other.

Epilogue

December 2012

Do you like it?” Micah whispered in her ear. They looked out at the shining waters of Reeds Lake from the deck of a modest three bedroom home.

“You know I love the lake.” She squeezed his arms tighter against her. “But lake houses aren’t cheap. Can we really afford this?”

“Mhmm.” She felt him nod against her neck.

Shannon grew quiet as she stared out at the ripples the early winter wind was making across the surface.

Micah turned her to face him. “What is it?”

“Sometimes I can’t believe this is happening. That after all our years apart, you weren’t married to someone else. That you forgave me and took me back. I don’t know what I did to deserve it.”

He took her face in his hands. “How many times do I have to tell you, there’s nobody else in this world for me but you.”

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