Page 69 of Forget Me Not

I’m openly crying now. Tears fall down my cheeks, and I make no effort to wipe them. Everything he’s saying is everything I’ve needed to hear without even knowing it. He doesn’t realize it, but he’s made this day everything he’s saying and more with only his words, with this place, with these flowers, with his presence. He drops down to one knee in front of me, pulling a small black box out of his pocket. I bite my lip to hold back the sob threatening to break free.

“Logan Grace Hart. You are my soul mate, my other half. You make me whole. Forever will never be long enough as long as I’m with you.” He opens the box to reveal the most beautiful ring I’ve ever seen. “I love you more than words could ever describe. Marry me, beautiful girl.”

He doesn’t ask it as a question, and he doesn’t need to. He already knows my answer.

“Yes.” I pull him up to stand. “I love you so much. A million times, yes.” I throw my arms around him, kissing him until I can’t breathe.

He pulls out the ring and slides it onto my finger. It’s a thin gold band with one large oval diamond in the center of it. It’s so simple, yet so perfect.

“It’s perfect.” It fits perfectly onto my finger, and not only because of the measurements. It just feels right. “You’re perfect.”

“No, baby girl. That’s you.” He presses his lips to mine again, and my body melts into him. He pulls away, placing a featherlight kiss on my head.

“Lie with me,” I say. I pull him down to the dirty gazebo floor with me, not caring about the mess it’ll make on our clothes.

We lie there together, our backs against the rough wooden floor, our hands clasped together, and our heads to the sky.

My sister lay in this exact spot. She stared through the cracks in the roof of the gazebo, surrounded by trees. She stared at the sky, searching for a way to claw herself out of the darkness that had captured her.

Now, I lie here. In the place that used to be an escape from sadness and has now turned into a direct pathway to my happiness. I lay my head against Kade’s shoulder as we stare at the sky together. Clear, bright, beautiful. I smile because even though I’ll always be sad, she could never find her way from the darkness. In this moment, with the love of my life that she inadvertently found for me, with my fiancé, all I see is light.

EPILOGUE

Kaden

Three Months Later

“How are you feeling? Are you nervous? I feel nervous.” Asher paces back and forth in front of me, clearly freaking out even though this isn’t even his wedding. It’s mine, and for the first time in my life, I don’t feel nervous at all.

“Nope, I’m good. How are you doing?” I ask him.

“I’m freaking out. You’re getting married. That’s legally binding shit. I know it’s Lo, and you love her. But seriously, how the fuck are you not freaking out?”

“Because it’s right.” I shrug, leaning back against the bar. He looks at me like I’ve grown two heads.

“I need a drink,” he says before walking away while I watch him, amused.

Not long after I proposed, Lo and I started talking about wedding plans. It took us about five minutes to figure out the big wedding and all the intricate details that came with it were not for us. When she suggested we get married at Carl’s, the place we first met, we both knew it was right.

She begged June, who agreed with little argument. Probably because of the amount of money we’re paying her to rent out theplace. We put Demi in charge of the food and cake. Theo cleaned up the bar. Well, he ordered Asher around to clean up the bar, and then he and Gabby decorated it with dozens of different flowers. And King got ordained online to officiate.

There’s a makeshift aisle carved out in petals in the center of the bar. Barstools line the sides for people to sit in, although we kept it small. Lo’s mom, Julia, and her boyfriend, Daniel, King and his girls, Asher, Demi, Gabby, Theo, Darla and her husband, and June, of course.

Julia and Daniel sit on the barstools talking to Darla and her husband. Asher is now drinking what looks like whiskey on the other side of the bar. June sits in the corner behind the bar with an annoyed look that never seems to leave her face, even when she’s happy. Theo and the rest of the girls are in her office getting ready. King’s disappeared somewhere. And I’m just waiting. Waiting to officially marry the love of my life. Waiting to be able to call Logan Hart my wife. Fuck, I can’t wait to do that.

“We’re ready,” Theo shouts as he comes skipping out from the office. King and the rest of the girls follow him out.

Everyone takes their seats while I meet King at the end of the makeshift aisle. Lo decided she didn’t want to do the whole bridesmaids and groomsmen thing. She didn’t even want a flower girl. She said she wanted it to just be us. Her at one end of the aisle, me at the other. Her mom offered to walk her down the aisle, but she said it was something she wanted to do alone simply because she knew she could.

“You ready?” King asks me as I step up beside him. It’s the easiest answer I’ve ever had to give.

“Fuck yes.”

He nods at me, his lips slightly tilting up into a smile.

“I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life.”

“Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Haley Reinhart plays through the bar speakers, and I turn my attention toward the aisle. I hearthe office door open and then she’s there, standing at the end of the aisle across from me, so fucking beautiful.

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