Chapter 14: A New Beginning
Six months after the wedding, Adrian and I got married again.
This time, it was small. Just us, Margaret, David Lang, and a few close friends at a private estate by the lake. There were no chandeliers, no expensive flowers, and no guests who needed to be impressed.
I wore a simple white dress. Adrian stood beside me in a dark suit, no wheelchair in sight.
When the officiant asked if I took Adrian as my husband, I answered without hesitation.
“I do.”
After the ceremony, we stood by the water as the sun began to set.
Adrian wrapped his arms around me from behind and rested his chin on my shoulder.
“How do you feel?” he asked quietly.
I thought about it.
“Free,” I said. “For the first time in my life, I feel like I can actually breathe.”
He kissed the side of my head.
“You are free, Claire. And you’re going to stay that way.”
I turned in his arms and looked up at him.
“I love you,” I said. “Not because you saved me. But because you saw me when no one else did.”
Adrian smiled.
“I love you too,” he replied. “And I’m going to spend the rest of my life making sure you never have to disappear again.”
We stood there together as the sky turned orange and pink, holding each other in comfortable silence.
May you like
For the first time, the future didn’t feel like something I had to survive.
It felt like something I could build.
