Page 36 of Yours, Now and Always
And now I’m standing in front of our daughters, the two souls we’d go to war for, trying to hold it together while Gage kneels down to eye level and shows them what devotion looks like in jewelry form.
My heart forgets how to beat. Because this man doesn’t kneel for anyone. But for our daughters, he’d drop to his knees a thousand times if it meant making them feel safe, seen, and adored. And he does it now without hesitation. Like there’s no world where he’d ever look down at them. Only eye to eye. Always.
Sarah’s engraving says:We’re gaining him. But you’ll always have all of me.
Luna’s says:You’ll never have less of me. Only more love around us now.
I’m not okay.
Nobody is okay.
We are gathered here today to witness the softest emotional destruction ever committed by a man in a fitted button-down.
Luna’s eyes are wide.
Sarah’s are suspicious in the way six-year-olds get when adults start acting weird but won’t say why.
I take a deep breath and kneel beside Gage, reaching into my pocket. “We’ve got something for you both,” I say, trying not to sound like I’m about to sob into the floor.
Gage’s voice is soft. “It’s something we want you both to have, to remind you that even though our family is changing, what we are to each other won’t ever change.”
I hold out the boxes. Sarah lifts the lid on hers first, and her mouth drops open. Luna’s eyes go even wider than they were when she opens hers.
Gage watches them both quietly. Intently. Like the moment matters more than breath and he doesn’t want to miss a single heartbeat of it.
“The heart,” I say, swallowing hard, “is to remind you that no matter what changes in our family, our love never does. Gage and I are getting married, but that doesn’t mean anything is being taken away. You’re not losing anything. You’re just getting extra people to love you.”
“The star,” Gage says, “is because you girls have always been that for us. Always there, like stars are. Always shining. And you always will be.”
Luna makes a choked sound. Sarah just stares.
I rest my hand over Sarah’s, where she’s clutching the necklace like it’s the most important thing she’s ever owned. “You’ll always have all of me, baby,” I whisper. “Nothing about that changes. Not ever.”
Gage brushes Luna’s hair behind her ear, his touch impossibly gentle. “This isn’t about losing anything, sweetheart,” he says. “It’s about gaining more of what matters.”
Luna makes a soft, hiccuppy sound as if she might cry but isn’t sure why, then wraps her arms around him in a fierce little hug, her face buried in his neck.
Sarah doesn’t say anything. She just leans into me, wrapping both arms around me with the silent intensity of a girl who feels everything, even if she doesn’t have the words for it yet.
I hold her tight, glancing at Gage while he holds Luna the same way. Our eyes meet andholy air-whooshing-out-of-me. My husband is emotionally ruined.
Luna pulls back first, and then Sarah lifts her head.
She looks between us, a tiny frown of concentration on her face. “So... we get to wear these now?”
Gage nods. “Now and forever. Unless you’re swimming. Or sword-fighting. Or sleeping in a pillow fort with very questionable engineering.”
Sarah processes this for a beat, clearly taking it all very seriously.
“I do all of those things,” she says solemnly.
“I know,” I whisper, kissing her cheek while also noting the crinkles at my husband’s eyes. “But you can still wear it. Even in pillow forts.”
Luna removes her necklace from the box, her tiny fingers fumbling with the clasp until Gage helps her. She stares down at it like it’s made of actual magic.
Something in my chest shifts as I take it all in. A slow ache that builds with every second.
I’ve kept myself together until now, but the second I reach for Sarah’s necklace and my fingers brush hers, I feel tears coming.
