Yours Truly (Part of Your World, #2)(110)

“How is Benny?” I asked.

“The surgery went well. No complications. His new kidney’s already producing urine.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Really? So fast?”

She shrugged. “It’s a perfect match.”

“Someone told me once that even a perfect match isn’t perfect.”

She held my eyes. “This one is.”

We gazed at each other for a long moment. Then she got up and put her forehead to mine and closed her eyes. I closed mine too. I was still a little loopy and the darkness behind my lids made everything feel like a dream.

“Did you read it?” I whispered.

She nodded. “Yes. I did.”

“I like Ava for a girl,” I said, opening my eyes to look at her.

“Ava Xfinity?”

“Ava Xfinity Ortiz.”

She laughed, then sat back down. I raised my hand to touch her face. She turned in to it and kissed my palm, and I knew my nightmare was over. She’d returned to me.

“I’m so sorry, Jacob,” she whispered. “I was really scared.”

“I know.” I rubbed a thumb on her cheek. “I know you were. But you know how social situations are hard for me? And you help me with that?” I said softly.

She sniffed and nodded.

“I know trust is hard for you. So that’s what I’m going to help you with.”

Then I just lay there, looking at her. Feeling the peace and calm that I only felt alone—with her.

“What?” she asked.

“I’m afraid I’m just drugged and none of this is really happening.”

“It’s really happening, Jacob.”

I closed my eyes. “How do I know?”

“Because love shows up. And here I am.”





Epilogue

Jacob

Two Years Later



Your catchphrase of the day is ‘Slow and steady wins the race.’”

I smiled at Briana. “Really? You think I’m going to need one? Today?”

I had Ava on my hip. She was in a little yellow tulle dress with a matching yellow bow around her head. She was trying to put my boutonniere in her mouth, so I switched sides.

Briana gave me a look. “I think you especially need one today. There are like twenty people out there.” She nodded to the backyard.

“My immediate family, your immediate family. Jessica, Gibson, Zander and his husband, Alexis and Daniel. I think I can handle that.”

She shrugged. “If you say so. But feel free to use it if you need to.” She reached back behind her wedding dress and fanned the train.

The wedding was up at our cabin. We’d finished the remodel last year and decided to do the ceremony and reception in the yard in front of the lake. We hired a wedding planner, and there was an elegant tent set up for the reception. Besides that, not much about this wedding was traditional.

We were standing inside by the back door while everyone finished taking their seats outside, because I was walking Briana down the aisle myself. She didn’t like the idea of someone bringing her to me like she was “property changing hands”—her exact words. She wanted us to walk as equals. And it was less anxiety for me than standing there in front of everyone waiting for her to come to me.

There wouldn’t be a sweetheart or head table for everyone to stare at all night. We’d be sitting with our best friends and their spouses at a table mixed in with everybody else. No first dance—we’d dance when everyone else did. Nothing that put too much focus directly on us—me—other than the ceremony itself. We just wanted to celebrate with our friends and family, and Briana knew what I needed to be comfortable—which is why I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to need her get-out-of-jail-free phrase. It was also one of the many reasons I loved her so much.

I smiled at her, standing there in her white dress, holding her flowers. “Are you sure you want to marry me?” I asked. “I don’t have any organs left to donate.”

“I thought about that and I almost bailed. But then you went and changed your last name to Ortiz and made it weird. It’d be kind of a dick move if I didn’t marry you now.” She twisted her lips.

I laughed. I’d done a lot of things over the last two years to make sure she knew this relationship was nothing like her last one.

I still had the same PIN on my phone—hers. And we went to couple’s counseling once a month, just to make sure we maintained our communication skills, and I never lost sight of what she needed in this relationship to feel safe. She’d gone to counseling without me too, to work through some of the lingering feelings about her last marriage and her childhood.

It was good that we had that foundation, because she’d had a short bout of postpartum depression after Ava was born. We got her through it. Then I started having panic attacks at work when Briana’s maternity leave was up and Rosa had to go back to Arizona to be with her husband. Leaving Ava with a stranger when she was still so small made me feel anxious.

Briana liked going to work and didn’t want to give up the security of having a salary. So we talked it over and decided I would quit my job at Royaume to stay home with Ava until she started school. So I was a stay-at-home dad. I loved it. My mental health had never been better.

They started playing the wedding song we wanted to walk down the aisle to. “Falling Up” by Will Heggadon. It was time to go.