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Max waited for me to continue. He tried to grab for my arm to pull me closer to him, but I only took a step back. I neededspace.

“I had no idea what you would have thought of me.” I silenced him with a hand as he tried to answer my statement. It wasn’t a question. I needed to get this all out now or I had no idea if I ever would. “I was scared, so I ran to the one place where I knew I would be accepted. I’ve run here a lot over the years, and when I did, never once did Adamfollow.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, because I was about to make a promise not just to me, but to Max aswell.

“Oh, how wrong I have been about you, Max.” I wiped away a stray tear. “You came. You’re here right now, and I never thought you would be. I never thought a day would come that you would meet my father, but you did today, and I couldn’t be happier. You are in no way like Adam, and I promise to never compare the two of youagain.”

I let him take a step towards me, diminishing the empty space betweenus.

“I promise to take you as you are, but only if you can take me as I am.” I put both of my hands on his chest, not to push him away, but to pull him closer. “I may not be able to have children, but I do want to have a family together, Max. I want to spend forever withyou.”

I waited for him to say something as he searched myeyes.

“Forever and always.” His words rang in my ears, and I jumped into his arms, wrapping mine around his neck. My lips crashed to his in an answer of love. This man was someone I had never thought would come into my life, and if you had asked me when I moved to Georgia if I had been in love, I probably would have said yes, but now? Now I knew what true love was, because this feeling in my heart, in my soul, that I had for Max was one that I knew would last alifetime.

“You’re coming with me.” I grinned, not at his words but at the fact that he always loved getting the lastword.