Love’s Suicide(106)
Author: Jennifer Foor

He shrugged and laughed. “Of course.”

I looked around the room and walked up to the pink four-poster canopy bed. “It’s beautiful.”

“This room was all Mom and Dad. They hired someone to come in and make it perfect. Do you think she’ll like it?”

“She won’t want to ever go home.” Then I realized that we now had two houses.”

He saw the realization on my face. “We can talk about it later.”

I shook my head. “No. We’ll sell it. I don’t even care how much I get for it. There’s not another house in the world that could mean what this one does to me. I don’t even know what to say right now.” I walked down the hall and he followed me, stopping when I was in the middle of what used to be my parent’s room. It was so empty, but I could see what everyone else couldn’t. I could see their bed and my mom in her nightgown, with a book in her hand. I could see my dad with the stubble on his face, teasing her until she looked at him. I closed my eyes and pictured a miniature version of myself climbing in between them and feeling like I was in the safest place on earth.

Brooks wrapped his arms around me and tucked his head inside of my neck. “I think they’re happy we’re here, Kat. They’re watching us, you know. I think they always have been.” He spun me around so we were facing each other. “I never told anyone this, but there were so many times that I could have died, that I should have died. I swear someone was keeping me safe while I was out there. Now I know for sure that it was them. I think they brought us back together.”

His words were beautiful and I knew he meant them. I wrapped my arms around him and pressed our lips together. As we pulled away I was smiling and crying all at the same time. “Thank you for waiting your whole life for me.”

He wiped my tears with his thumbs. “Maybe in our next life you won’t make me wait so long,” he teased.

“Let’s enjoy this one first.”

The room filled with people, even a little girl in a wrinkled dress. As I turned to look at them, Brooks dropped down to his knee. “There’s just one more thing, Kat.” He held a velvet box in his hand and opened it.

There it was.

My mother’s engagement ring from my father. I put my hands over my face, unable to respond to everything he was offering me.

“I’d very much like it if you had my name. What do you say, Kat? You think you might want to be my wife?”

I dropped to my knees and let him put the ring on my finger. The perfect fit only reminded me how it was always meant to be mine. I placed small kisses over his face, tasting the tears that were now falling down his cheeks. “Yes,” I whispered. “Of course.”

B came up and wanted to be in on our hug, as well as the rest of the family that stood there silently, waiting for us to have our private moment together. It was so beautiful and Brooks had been right. They’d been with us all along, watching us making mistakes and finally finding our way back into each other’s arms.

Epilogue

February 14th 2014

“Mama, I want to get my dress on now.” B was holding her little white dress about three inches from my face. Since my eyes were still trying to adjust from being woken up, I backed up more on the bed and looked at the clock. When I noticed that it read five, and glanced at the window that proved it was in fact still dark outside, I threw my hands over my face as I spoke.

“B, it’s not time to wake up yet, sweetie. How about you hop in bed with me for a while, at least until the sun comes up?”

When the bed didn’t move I sat up and looked for her. Still standing in the same place, B was steady staring at me.

“What’s wrong?”

“I want Daddy.” She put her hands on her hips, allowing the dress to touch the hardwood floor.

“Honey, Daddy is next door, remember?”

“I want to go there!”

I sat all the way up in bed and looked across the room at my wedding dress that was hanging up. As much as I thought it wasn’t necessary, Brooks was adamant about sticking to traditions. He’s spent the night at his parents with strict orders not to see me until we were standing at the arbor that he and his father built in the back yard.

Since moving back to my childhood house, and selling the one in South Carolina, we’d taken down the small fence that once separated the yards. Brooklyn liked being able to run from our house to her grandmother’s every morning.

“Mama, please. I want my Daddy.”

“B, it’s night time.”

She started crying, whining and flailing her arms around, as if her whole existence depended on seeing her father at that very moment. I rolled my eyes, realizing that she’d probably go back to sleep if she were with him. After grabbing my cell phone off of the bedside table, I dialed his number. He answered on the first ring, sounding extremely alert.

“Hey, babe. Don’t you dare beg me to come over there. You know the rules.”

“I’m calling on behalf of your daughter. She’s up and insisting on being with you.”

“I’m in the kitchen. If you promise to stay in bed, I’ll come get her.”

“I hate that you wake up before the sun rises.”

He laughed on the other end of the phone. I could hear the sound of his parent’s door as it opened and shut. “Do you miss me yet?”

I looked over at B, who was still waiting for a reply as to when she could go be with Brooks. “He’s coming.”

She ran for the door, dragging the dress behind her. I hadn’t noticed it before, but she’d already put on her dress shoes and they loudly clanked against the hard floor as she moved.

“She’s on her way down to you.”

I heard the back door open and close and then heard his voice, both on the phone and muffled from downstairs. “Stay put until you hear me leave.”

“The answer is yes.”

“To which question?”

“Both. I will stay put, but also that I missed you. I hate knowing you’re that close and I can’t see you. How much harm can one kiss do?”

“I don’t want to find out. In a few hours you’ll be my wife, and then you can spend forever kissing me. Just so you know, I’ll expect morning breath kisses, coffee kisses, and every other kind of kiss that you find gross. Now’s the time to back out, Kat. When you say forever today, you better mean it.”

I laughed, knowing he was joking. There was nothing in my life that I’d been more sure of than wanting to be his wife. “I’m ready to take the plunge. How about we just call the official right now, get him over here, and have them marry us so we can go back to bed for the rest of the day?”