“Come on,” I say as I roll closer to her and prop myself on my elbow. “Let’s go somewhere new. Let’s go see the koalas. I’ll wait for you to pet them all fucking day, if you want.” She laughs, although the terrified look in her eyes doesn’t disappear. “Let’s jump in the ocean and swim with sharks and make love all over the place. Let’s make memories, no matter how long they’ll last.” Her throat bobs, telling me I’ve hit just the spot. “Let’s live, cariño.”

I never thought about all of those things, but now that they’re out of my mouth, I see they’re exactly what I want. She’s spent all her life making it as beige as possible.

I want her to experience the world’s entire palette, always.

She watches me for a long moment. So long, in fact, that I start thinking this might’ve scared her. Too much, too soon.

Until, with a small voice, she interrupts the silence with, “Okay.”

“Okay?” I say, incredulous. This is a lot to take in for her all at once.

“Yes, okay.” Her lips quirking up, she puts a soft hand on my cheek. “You got me with the koalas.”

Letting out a roar of laughter, I roll on top of her and kiss her, my tongue pressing against hers as the sounds of our happiness mingle around us.

This is actually happening. The true beginning of our lives.

We have no idea what the future holds. Maybe we have months or years or decades. It might be filled with all sorts of things, and no one knows what’s ahead.

But what I do know is the present is really, really beautiful.

Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Wren

18 months later

“Dios mio, look at you!” Martina calls from where she’s standing in my hotel suite.

I grin as I look down at my white, floor-length dress, willing my hands to stop shaking. When Aqidah recommended I try it on, I wasn’t sure about it, with its silky material and tight corset, but she was right. It looked perfect on me.

And now that I’m here, in the Dominican Republic, I’m even more thankful I didn’t pick a dress made of a heavier material.

“Thank you,” I answer, wiping my clammy hands down my dress. “And thank you for being here with me.”

Our wedding was never supposed to be something big. When Aaron proposed eight months ago by kneeling in the middle of the Christmas tree farm where I got to know the love of my life, our fur babies by our side, I said yes in a heartbeat.

The next thing I said was that I wanted something small.