Page 3 of Beloved Beauty

“It’s ingrained in me to take care of myself. It’s in my bones. I’m going to need time to adjust to the idea that someone else even wants to carry part of the weight. I’m not sure how to not hold it all on my own.”

“I’m gonna show you how. Because you will never carry the weight alone again. Not with me.” He shifts a little closer, forehead brushing mine. “You remember what I told you before—about what marriage means to me?”

I nod. “I remember.”

“That hasn’t changed. I still want a marriage that’s a partnership. Where it’s us—no masks, no pretending. Real. Where we know each other, flaws and all, and still choose each other every damn day.” His voice softens. “You don’t have to be strong all the time. You don’t have to do everything yourself. That’s the whole point of us. You have me now, and we’ll weather it together.”

Tears sting my eyes. But this time, they aren’t heavy. They’re a release. As though the weight I’ve been carrying is already a little lighter.

I nod, more to myself than to him. “This job isn’t something I need to take—but I want to. I have to be able to stand beside you and know I earned my place. Not just as your partner but as someone who brings value. Someone who belongs.”

Pausing, I smile through the ache in my chest.

“I want to be a true Sebring—not only by name but by what I bring into the family. I don’t want to be the girl who stays home while you chase everything you love. My heart wants to chase something, too.”

“Then let’s chase our dreams together.” His smile is pure pride, the sort that settles in my bones and makes me believe I can do anything. “Hopefully gaining you into the family business will soften the blow of telling Tina and Dad that I’m leaving my position and going back to the pitch.”

The idea of him returning to rugby makes my stomach twist. “Your family will understand. They love you and want you to be happy.”

He grins wider, tugging me in until I’m tucked beneath his chin, my leg sliding over his as though it belongs there. Because it does.

This is where I belong.

We lie there in the quiet for a beat, the hum of the world beyond this room fading beneath the thrum of something bigger.

A new beginning.

My eyes drift to the ring again, the weight of it warm against my skin. Not heavy but anchoring. A promise of what’s to come.

This is where our next chapter begins. Not with a wedding dress or a job title or a moving truck. But with this.

With honesty.

With hope.

With two people choosing each other—completely.

“I love you,” I whisper into his chest, the words coming as natural as breathing.

He kisses the top of my head. “It’s you and me forever, favorite.”

And for the first time, I don’t simply hope for it. I know it.

And I’m ready to let it in.

Chapter 2

Magnolia Steel

We flew into the tiny regional airport, the type that has one rental car company with an actual bell on the counter. Now we’re weaving down the familiar two-lane road toward Robin’s house.

Coming back here is equivalent to reopening a scar you’ve convinced yourself was healed. Small towns don’t forget. They pretend to overlook and forgive, smiling while they whisper about you behind church bulletins and gas pump handles.

And this town? It’s always eager to remind me of everything I try to forget. Every humiliation I endured. Every quiet shame I swallowed. Every time someone looked at me as though I was trash.

We pass the rusted water tower. The old dairy bar with the sliding-glass window you walk up to and place your order. Little plastic signs poking out of the ground—JESUS LOVES YOU, HAVE YOU FOUND HIM?, HE’S COMING BACK SOON—like the second coming is being advertised alongside yard sales and lost cats and dogs.

Every landmark is a breadcrumb on the trail back to the version of me I’ve spent years trying to outrun.

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