He pauses for a moment, and he looks down at his son. He lays his heavy hand on Henry’s shoulder.

“Thank you, Simone, for coming back to me. Thank you for bringing our son. Thank you for raising him. Henry, you’re a good man already. I’m so proud of you.”

I’ve never heard Dante talk like this, with raw openness and honesty. He always keeps his feelings stuffed down tight. Or at least, he did before Simone came back into his life.

It’s having an effect on me I never would have expected.

I’m starting to feel emotional.

I have never cried in public, not once in my life. I certainly haven’t cried at a wedding. But all of a sudden my eyes feel hot and my face is stiff.

“I will love you every moment of my life,” Dante says. “I will cherish and protect you. Anything you want, I’ll get it for you. I’ll be your best friend and your ally. I’ll make your life better, always, and never worse.”

Simone is freely crying, her tears silver on her flushed cheeks. She is so beautiful that it’s hard to even look at her. She’s glowing with happiness, illuminated by it.

“Dante, you are everything to me,” she says. “My heart and my soul. My happiness and my safe haven. Life without you was lonely and bitter. The only thing that brought me joy was Henry, our son. He’s a piece of you and me, the best thing we ever did. I love him for himself, and I love him for how he reminds me of you.

“I promise to choose you for the rest of our lives. To choose you over fear or selfishness. Over ambition or other cares. I promise to never let you down again. To always be there for you. I promise to give you every bit of joy this life has to offer. You are the most incredible man I’ve ever known, and I promise to be the wife you deserve.

“I’m so lucky today. I’m the luckiest person in the world.”

She, too, puts her hand on Henry’s shoulder, still looking up into Dante’s face.

I want to look at Raylan, but I can’t. I know I’m about to cry and I don’t want him to see it.

The tears are partly for Dante and Simone—I’m so, so happy for them.

But they’re also tears of anguish, because I’m realizing that I love Raylan. I truly, truly love him. And that terrifies me.

Simone’s words are like an arrow in my heart.

I promise to choose you over fear or selfishness. Over ambition and other cares.

Is that what love is? Is it putting the other person above your own fears and desires?

I thought that might be the case. And that’s why I thought I’d never fall in love.

But now I have, by accident.

And I want that love. I want Raylan.

I think I might want him more than all the things I wanted before. More than my fears, and yes, even more than my ambitions.