Page 105 of Until the Stars Fall

“I know. She texted me yesterday asking if I thought you’d be okay with it.” Theo smiles. “I told her you’d probably cry happy tears for an hour straight.”

“I hate that you know me so well.” I roll my eyes.

“Ilovethat I know you so well.” He leans down and kisses me again, slower this time, his hand sliding up to cup my face while his other palm rests warm and protective on my belly. The promise of everything we’re building together, everything we already have. I melt into him the way I always do, the way I always will.

When we break apart, I grin up at him.

“So I’ve been doing some thinking,” I say. “Chloe needs a dog.”

“Chloe needs a dog?” he asks. “Oryouneed a dog?”

“Both. We both need a dog. A big one. With floppy ears.”

Theo throws his head back and laughs, a warm rich sound. “You know what? What the hell. Chloe will be thrilled, and I’ve always wanted one. That sounds pretty great to me.”

He pulls me close, tucking me against his chest where I fit perfectly, where I’ve always fit perfectly even before I knew this was where I belonged. I breathe him in, cedar and coffee and home, and let the happiness wash over me like warm water.

A year ago I was alone in Seattle, stuck in a life that felt like it belonged to someone else. Going through the motions at a company I’d lost faith in, watching my sisters drift further apart, convincing myself that small and safe was enough.

Now I have Theo, this man who loves me so completely I still have to remind myself it’s real. Chloe, who just asked to call me Emmy-Mama and made my whole heart crack open with joy. A baby girl arriving in three months who’s going to turnour world upside down. Sisters I actually talk to, a family business I’m proud of again. Work that matters, kids who light up when they see me, a classroom full of little humans I get to help shape. A town that feels like home in a way Seattle never did. And apparently, soon, a very large dog with floppy ears.

Life is strange. You can be so lost, so certain you’re on the wrong path, and then suddenly, without even realizing it’s happening, you find yourself exactly where you’re meant to be.

I found it. All of it. Right here in Dark River, in the arms of a man I met at a post office, in the chaos and beauty of this unexpected life.

And I wouldn’t change a single thing.

—The End?—