Page 104 of Back to You
“I know what it’s like to wake up every day with an emptiness that nothing could fill. To carry your name in my chest like a prayer I wasn’t sure would ever be answered.” His fingers tighten around the box, knuckles paling as he swallows hard. “And now that I have you, now that I have this second chance, I’m never making that mistake again. Never.”
His voice dips lower, raw, trembling with the depth of what he feels. “I don’t ever want to live in a world where you’re not by my side. Not for a second, not for a day, not for a lifetime.”
He shifts, steadying himself on one knee, his free hand reaching for mine, his touch warm, solid, grounding me when I feel like I might float away under the weight of this moment. “You are my heart, mi vida—my home, my safest place. You are the love I have never, not for one second, stopped believing in, and I want forever with you. If you let me, I will spend the rest of my life proving to you that love like ours doesn’t fade, doesn’t break, doesn’t end.” His thumb strokes over my fingers, his grip unwavering.
“So what do you say, princesa?” His voice is barely more than a whisper now, but it holds everything. Every promise, every memory, every piece of him that has ever belonged to me. “Marry me?”
It’s not just a question. It’s a promise. A forever. A love story written between every glance, every touch, every moment that led us to this.
My heart slams against my ribs, my entire body trembling from the weight of this moment, from the sheer force of him. The way he’s looking at me, like I’m it for him, like I have been since the very beginning nearly brings me to my knees.
For a moment, I am still, frozen between the past and the future, between the love we lost and the love we found again. This is everything.
The boy who once held my heart. The man who never let it go. The one who fought for me, even when I couldn’t fight for myself. My best friend. My home. And the ring—Mami’s ring. She knew. She always knew.
A shaky laugh tumbles out, tangled with my tears. I don’t think, I just move, dropping to my knees in front of him, my hands find his face, cupping it, grounding myself in the warmth of him, the realness of him—of this, of us.
“Yes,” I whisper, my voice breaking. “Yes, yes, yes!”
Sebastian lets out a breath of relief, something like a choked laugh, something full of so much love I feel it in my bones.
He slides the ring onto my finger, his hands shaking as much as mine, and the second it’s in place, I launch myself into his arms, knocking him back into the sand as our friends erupt into cheers around us.
His mouth finds mine, a kiss full of promise, of forever, of every moment we’ve ever lost and every moment we’ll have ahead.
And in the middle of it all, Maya squeals, clapping her hands. “BEST. ADVENTURE. EVER!”
Epilogue
MARIANA - 2 YEARS LATER
The world is quiet. Finally, blessedly quiet. For the first time in what feels like a lifetime, everything slows—no noise, no rush, no chaos. Just the steady beep of the monitor, the rhythmic rise and fall of my breath, and the overwhelming, all-consuming weight of love pressing down on my chest.
It’s everywhere, filling the spaces between my ribs, curling into the deepest parts of me. I feel like I’ve run a marathon and somehow floated into a dream all at once.
My body is wrung out, aching in ways I never knew it could, my limbs too heavy to move. But my heart—my heart is light, full, more than it has ever been. It swells in my chest, stretching wide, big enough to hold this moment, big enough to hold them.
Sebastian is beside me, his grip firm but careful, holding my hand like it’s the only thing tethering him to this moment. His thumb moves in slow, soothing circles over my skin, grounding me, steadying me, as if he’s afraid that without the constant touch, this might all slip away.
When I turn to look at him, my breath catches. He looks wrecked, in the most beautiful way. His curls are damp, clingingto his forehead, his jaw clenched like he’s fighting to keep himself together.
But his eyes are what break me; they are shining, red-rimmed, utterly, completely undone. Every barrier he’s ever had is gone, stripped away by the weight of this moment.
He blinks, his chest rising in a shuddered breath, and I watch him lose the fight to keep his composure as a single tear slips free.
Because she’s here. Our daughter.
A sob wells up in my throat as I look down at the impossibly small baby curled against my chest. She’s warm, soft, the tiniest thing I have ever held, and yet, she is the biggest thing I have ever known.
Her little mouth puckers in her sleep, her delicate fingers curled into a fist against my skin. A white cap covers the dark curls already peeking through, and I know, I just know, when I take it off, she’ll have his hair. She is the most perfect thing I have ever seen.
Sebastian shifts closer, his hand moving to her back, his fingers barely brushing over the fabric of her blanket, like he’s afraid she might disappear if he touches her too quickly.
His breath is shaky when he finally exhales. “You did it,” he whispers, his voice hoarse, reverent.
A wet, breathy laugh escapes me. “We did it.”
His lips press to my temple, lingering there like he’s trying to hold this moment in place, like he needs to memorize it before time moves again. When he pulls back, his jaw is tight, his throat bobbing.
