Page 106 of Then Came You

My mind blanks. She said yes. She said yes, right?

“Yes?” I confirm, scanning her face for any kind of joke. I rake the hair out of her eyes with my fingers, wiping the stray tears falling down her cheeks.

“Yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.” Her voice doesn’t waver or stumble. “Of course, I’ll marry you,” she laughs, bouncing on top of me. I groan at her slick pussy still milking my cock. I want to fuck her again, but this moment is too big to ruin.

Instead, I crash my mouth against hers, smiling at what my future holds with Row as my wife.

Epilogue

Row

"What are you looking at?” Haven pops up behind me, making me almost fall off the bed. I scoop her into my lap, pressing her close to my chest. I love this little girl with my whole heart.

Today’s my wedding day.

The past year and a half has flown by in a blur.

It is as if my entire life went through a re-genesis.

There was nothing left of my old life apart from the memories of Tori that I held onto. She’s been gone for nearly two years now, and while the grief will never truly end, it has become softer over time. Some days are gentle, while others are sharp. I’ve come to realise that my grief will last forever because my love for Tori is infinite. There will always be a deep longing to see her again, but I’ve found life after death.

The abuse at the hands of my mother is all but a distant shadow. I haven’t seen her since the day she went away. There were a few pathetic attempts to contact me, but I was firm that our relationship was irrevocably damaged to the point of no return. The last thing tying me to my childhood was the structure I called home, which was accidentally burned down six months ago by a group of delinquent teenagers.

Since the day Blade proposed, we had made a life plan for ourselves, one filled with thrills, adventures, and goals. Goals as a couple, and goals we wanted to achieve individually.

The Monday after Blade proposed, we chased Bad Omens around the world for a month. I somehow managed to pull off getting a fast-tracked passport, and before I knew it, I was on a plane to Vegas.

We did the whole cliche get-married-in-Vegas thing, where we committed ourselves to each other mind, body, and soul. We had vomit-inducing matching black leather jackets which had the words "husband" and "wife" on the back of them in gold stitching, and our rings were cheap ones we bought off the strip.

It wasn’t legal or anything, but after the ceremony, we had half a day to spare before we saw the band. We fucked for a few hours and then parked ourselves at a tattoo parlour.

It was there that we went wild with ink. I ended up with ‘property of Blade’ on my ass in Blade’s handwriting - real classy - as well as an equally trashy tat that spelled ‘daddy’s baby girl’ beneath my bikini line. I ended up with a Tinker Bell tat on my wrist, and a delicate vertical cherry blossom cluster tattoo that went from the top of my spine to the base.

When I saw it, I knew I needed it permanently on my skin. It was a metaphor for the ephemerality of life. In a sense, the blossom symbolises the fragile, tender, fleeting quality of our existence, reminding us that although life can be short, it is enough to live to realise its beauty. Part of the stem design was changed, so it wrote out Tori’s name. At the time, the petals matched my pink hair, with different hues painted on my back.

Since there was no space left on Blade’s body beside his back to ink up, he spent most of the time on his stomach. He ended up with a matching Tinker Bell tattoo, my lips, and a sexy angel that looked like me, complete with fiery pink hair. There was still 75 percent of his back that was a blank canvas, but he said he had the rest of his life to put more of me on him, and our kids.

Our favourite tattoos of the day were our matching wedding bands, which were a constellation of mini stars and a moon in an infinity symbol.

I was awe-struck, as anticipated, when Bad Omens performed, with Blade having to basically wipe the drool off my chin. It wasn’t exactly his type of music, but he seemed to enjoy himself anyway - especially when he secretly fingered me in the mosh pit.

The entire week away was wildly perfect. It was a wonderful way to mark our new beginning, as well as honour Tori’s final wish for me, which was to live and love.

Thank fuck, there were no country clubs, media scandals, or even bitch ex-wives to contend with. Avalon and I are never going to be best friends, but she has mellowed out. A year ago, she surprised me by showing up at the salon where I still work part-time and asked for my help in organising Haven’s beauty party. Since then, we’ve been cordial, dare I say, even on the verge of being friendly.

Xan and I are back to normal, and I now have a new set of girlfriends I found through work and uni.

I’m proud to say I’m now a full-time student, studying a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Advanced Studies in Medical Science. My mission in life is to contribute to cancer research, with the hope one day that no one else will have to lose a sister, like I did.

As for Cindy, I did relapse and give her another chance not long after Tori died, but it just didn’t feel natural or real, and in the end, I chose to distance myself for good when I found out she was the one trying to leak stories to the media about me.

Life has been busy, which is why it’s only now Blade and I are legally getting married. In our hearts, we already are, but this is a big deal to my soon-to-be stepdaughter.

Since Haven missed out on our fake wedding, she had bawled her eyes out when we told her what we did. It was only when we promised she could plan the whole thing with me that she stopped breaking my heart with her tears.

I’m pregnant. Twelve weeks. Not a soul knows.

Last year I thought I was, but it ended up being a chemical pregnancy, which devastated me. That's why this time I've kept it quiet for so long.

---