“At which I was hugely unsuccessful until you came along and made that phone call.”

“Steph… Come on. Why can everyone see this but you? You’re the hero of this story, not me. Not Dan. You. If you hadn’t kept fighting, I would’ve never known about Charlie or his situation. If you hadn’t cared about him more than you cared about yourself, he’d still be sitting in that prison. You need to take most of the credit for freeing him, and you need to free yourself by letting go of the past and embracing the future.”

“I’m trying. You have no idea how hard I’m trying.”

“I know you are. When you and I are together, there’s nothing we can’t handle.”

“I was on my way to believing that when the accident happened, and I had a whole day to contemplate how I’d ever manage to live without you.”

“Ah Christ,” he said with a sigh. “And then I came back a total wreck, and all the focus was on me when you were dying inside. I’m sorry, honey. I should’ve paid more attention to how traumatizing it was for you.”

“It was way worse for you.”

“That’s not necessarily true.” He pulled her in closer to him, his lips pressed to her forehead. “God, I love you so much. I had no idea it was possible to love anyone as much as I love you. And the thought of you worried or afraid for all this time, and me not even knowing it… I feel like a selfish bastard.”

“You’re not. It’s not your fault. I went out of my way to hide my worries from everyone. No one knew until today.”

“Will you promise me you won’t suffer in silence anymore?”

She nodded.

“Say it. I want to hear the words.”

“I promise I won’t suffer in silence anymore.”

“And do you promise to remember every day that I love you more than I love myself and all that matters to me is that you’re safe and happy?”

“If you promise to remember I feel the same exact way about you.”

His smile filled her with giddy joy. It was okay. He knew all her darkest worries and loved her anyway. “Promise.”

“Me, too.” She drew him into a soft, sweet kiss. “Let’s go to bed.”

“Not before we set a wedding date.”

“Oh, I thought you’d forgotten about that,” she said with a coy smile to let him know she was kidding.

“I haven’t forgotten and neither have you.” As he spoke, he pulled her top up and over her head, released her bra and removed it. “What’s it going to be?”

“Whatever you want is fine with me.”

Nuzzling her breasts, he said, “How about next weekend, then?”