Page 79 of Tides of Change
I swallowed hard. “I don’t know. I just… I keep wondering if you only see me as someone who needs saving.”
Garrett’s jaw tightened, and he let out a slow breath. He tenderly cradled my cheek, his fingers rasping against my stubble.
“Ethan, I wanted you before any of this. Before I knew about Finch. Maybe from that first awful sip of your pumpkin spice latte. I wanted you when you gave Noah your undivided attention and made him laugh. I wanted you when we were just figuring this out, when I didn’t know there was a darn thing to protect you from. And I want you now. Not because I saved you. Because you’reyou. I know it’s fast, and maybe too soon for me to say this. But you’re…the man I love.”
My breath caught. Warmth spread through my chest and mitigated the steady ache in my head. My fingers curled into the fabric of Garrett’s T-shirt, as if holding on to something tangible would make this moment more real. “I love you too,” I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper. “And I think I have for some time. I just hadn’t admitted it to you—or even myself.”
The words tumbled free, and with them, so did the weight of hesitation I hadn’t realized I’d been carrying. This was home. Sanctuary. Not just the town. Not just the safety of Garrett’s arms.Us.
I took a steadying breath and forced my tired limbs to shift just enough so I could see his face. “I want to stay in Seacliff Cove. With you.”
Garrett froze, and his grip on me tightened.
Had I misread the situation? “If…if you want me to.”
His throat bobbed as he swallowed, his expression unreadable for a long beat. “But what about your family? Your niece?”
I shook my head, wincing as pain pulsed behind my temple. “That’s what airplanes are for—I can see my family wheneverI want to. And it’s time my parents stepped up for my niece. I’ve been putting everyone else first. Don’t I deserve a little happiness, too?”
He searched my face, and his eyes flickered with vulnerability. “You’d really do that? You’d stay?”
My lips curved into a slow smile. “I think I was always meant to end up here.”
Garrett exhaled, the breath shaky, his relief palpable. Then, without hesitation, he kissed me.
It wasn’t desperate. It wasn’t urgent. It was steady, deep, grounding—a promise, a beginning, a homecoming all at once.
When we finally pulled apart, his forehead rested against mine. “Then stay,” he murmured. “Stay with me.”
I nodded and my heart hammered, no doubt in my mind. “I’m staying.”
Outside, the waves gently washed to shore in the distance, no longer violent, no longer a threat—just a part of the town I now knew I would never leave. The storm had passed, the tide had settled, and with Garrett’s arms around me, I knew I’d found something unshakable.
The final chapter of my old life had ended, and in its place, a new story had begun—with Garrett as my favorite plot twist.
EPILOGUE
Ethan
I stood at the end of the beach path, the scent of salt and sun-warmed sand filling my lungs. This place had once been tainted by fear, by memories that still gripped me in the dead of night. But today, it was something new. Today, I was taking it back.
I patted the folded papers in my vest pocket, reassuring myself that they were still there. My fingers trembled slightly—not with nerves, but with the weight of how much this moment meant.
Barefoot, I stepped forward. Into our future.
Two rows of white chairs came into view, set on either side of an aisle lined with driftwood lanterns and soft ivory flowers. Beyond them, nestled beneath a tule-draped cabana, stood Garrett—with eight-year-old Noah at his side.
My breath hitched.
The sun hung low on the horizon and cast a golden light over the waves. A soft breeze ruffled the hem of my linen pants and carried with it the sound of waves kissing the shore. It was a perfect June evening for a beach wedding, as if the universe had conspired to give us this moment of peace, of love, of reclaiming something once lost.
I’d never been happier.
It hadn’t been an easy two and a half years since my kidnapping. Healing had been a journey, one that didn’t end just because Finch was in prison serving a life sentence. There had been therapy, restless nights, shadows that lingered even in the brightest moments. But Garrett had been my harbor. He was always there, holding me close, whispering me back to safety whenever my nightmares tried to pull me under.
Just like he had that day.
I never lived in my rental house again. The thought of returning had been too much, and even though it had been early in our relationship, moving in with Garrett and Noah had been the easiest decision I’d ever made. Over the past two years, we had poured ourselves into renovating Garrett’s house together, and we had transformed it into something that was ours.
