The Certainty of Violet & Luke (The Coincidence, #5)(62)

I start to choke up and the letters on the headstone become blurry, beginning to melt away. ‘But I’m getting better. I can’t take all the credit, though. I’ve got some great friends and a boyfriend who help me every single day. I’m even going to a therapist. It’s crazy, but for once things actually feel okay.’ I raise my wrist and pull back my sleeve, showing that I have the bracelet with Sempre on it. ‘I’ve been doing a little research and found out that you guys went to Italy for your honeymoon because dad has a little bit of Italian in him. I’m not sure how mom got the bracelet exactly, but I’d like to think that you gave it to her while you were there. It seems like such a nice story.’ I lower my hand to my lap and let the tears pour out, knowing that my story will always be just a story, that I’ll never know for sure, but that there’s nothing I can do about that but accept it and hold onto what I do have – my life.

With tears still flowing from my eyes, I lean forward and press my hand to my mother’s headstone. ‘I do miss you … God, I miss you …’ The tears flood my eyes, overpowering me. My initial reaction is to force them back, stop them, but it’s why I’m here. Live and learn. I move my hand to my father’s next and start to sob. ‘I wish you could be here to meet everyone … I wish a lot of things … but I guess that’s another thing that I’ve learned. Wishes are just wishes. Destiny is just destiny. And neither really has control over your life. Shit happens, shapes our lives, but it doesn’t have to shape who we are. And I’m trying now, to be a daughter you can both be proud of.’ I suck in another breath and say the last thing I need to say. ‘I love you both. I’ll love you forever.’

I let myself cry until my tears become frozen to my eyes, until the sadness in my heart shifts to contentment, then I get up and make my way back to the truck, wiping the tears from my eyes.

‘Are you okay?’ Luke asks as I hop in and shut the door.

I give one last look at the cemetery and then turn to him. ‘You know what, I really, really I am.’ I can’t help myself. I lean over and kiss him because in the end, it’s all I need. Just Luke and I, and the certainty of our future.





Epilogue


Two years and one month later…





Luke


‘This scarf smells like cheese,’ I say, biting back a laugh. Please, let me take it off before the smell gets stuck in my nostrils.’

‘Still not taking it off,’ he says, clearing amused with himself.

I’ve been cracking jokes left and right for the last hour to entertain myself, since Luke won’t tell me where we’re driving to. It’s driving me crazy; Christmas day, a spontaneous trip for which I have to be blindfolded the entire time. What the hell? Yeah, that was pretty much my response when I opened my present and there was the little piece of paper which he’d put in the box with the scarf. It wasn’t a good a present as last year, but I’m assuming it’s because our whole ‘seize the holiday’ motto is starting to die down.

‘Pretty please.’ I clasp my hands together and give him my best begging look.

He chuckles. ‘No way.’

Dammit. It’s the eyes that always win him over. That’s why this isn’t working – because he can’t see my eyes.

Sighing, I give up and sit back in the seat, enduring the last half an hour in eager anticipation, listening to a tape that I know is labeled with my name.

Finally the truck stops and I hear him put it in park. I wait for him to tell me to take off the blindfold, but instead all I hear is him switching tapes, then he gets out of the truck.

What the hell?

I reach to take my blindfold off as ‘The River’ by Manchester Orchestra starts playing through the stereo, really, really loud. A memory tickles at my mind and I throw off the blindfold. ‘Oh my God.’ My jaw instantly drops at the sight of the snowy mountains and trees before me, highlighted by the headlights of his truck.

Luke is waiting for me at the front of the truck, kicking the tips of his boots against the snow with his hands in the pockets of his coat. It takes me a moment or two to get the courage to do so, knowing that once I step foot out the door everything is about to change. I have to really think about it. Do I want that change?

Yes, I do. God, do I want the change.

With a trembling heart and fingers, I push open the door and step outside, leaving the door open so the music can flow outside. Luke doesn’t look up at me until I’m halfway around the truck, about to step up to him.

His eyes are filled with nerves and he’s shivering either from the cold or from the fact that he’s clearly nervous. ‘Now, if you listen really quietly,’ he says, cupping his ear as he leans toward the trees. ‘You can hear the faintest sound of crazy animals.’

I press my lips together, trying not to smile at the fact that he remembers that almost two years ago I set up this scenario, when a guy proposed to a girl in a restaurant in what I thought was a very cliché way.

I make my way over to him and he reaches into his pocket to take something out. I hold my breath in anticipation but then frown in confusion when he holds out the silver bracelet that belonged to my mother.

‘I thought you should have this on when this happened, so that your parents could be with you in a way.’ I try not to cry as he puts the bracelet on my wrist, but a tear or two slips from my eyes. Then he steps back and pats his pockets before letting out a breath. ‘Now, I know getting down on one knee is a little cliché.’ His smile is all nerves but it’s ridiculously adorable. ‘But I’m going to do it anyway.’