Page 145 of Western Waves
“Yes?”
“Marry me again this fall?”
She smiled and lay her head against the pillow as we stared at one another in complete bliss. “Yes.”
Epilogue
Stella
Three Months Later
The ceremony hadmany of the same elements as the last time. Aaliyah and Connor attended again. This time, with Grant, who was getting cuter each day. Maple still officiated the ceremony, and there were still blueberry scones as our something blue.
There were a few different things this go-around, though. Connor volunteered to walk me down the aisle, and when I arrived, Damian was holding our daughter in his arms. My world stood before me, and I stared in complete awe at the two.
“Hi there,” I whispered.
“Hello,” he replied.
My nerves were nonexistent, yet the butterflies remained. I wore a white gown with flowers in my hair, and once I reached the altar, I felt Kevin and Mama’s kisses against my toes as the waves slowly came and went.
At the end of this ceremony, I wore Blackstone at the end of my name and signed paperwork to officially make Sophie his daughter.
By the grace of the ocean, we were a family.
The Blackstones.
The happily ever after to our own unique fairy tale.
Damian
Five Years Later
I didn’t know love was something that kept growing.
Over the past five years, I’d fallen in love with Stella more and more each day. I’d fallen in love with the love of self that she’d deserved. After Sophie was born, Stella made it her mission to truly dive into understanding her emotions. From learning how to sit a while with sadness to understanding how to work her way out of said emotion. She not only wanted to learn and grow for her own betterment, but she wanted to make sure our daughter would also have the tools needed to work through her own feelings.
Whenever Stella and I would get into an argument, and instead of avoiding the conflict, she’d yell at me and get angry, I’d fall a little bit more in love with her. Because she was being her fullest self. She was allowing herself the space to exist at her fullest, even if that meant sometimes anger appeared. She also lived in happiness, too. Real happiness. The kind of happiness that came from the deepest corners of her beautiful soul.
Watching Stella learn to love herself made me fall even more in love with her. There was something so attractive about a woman who knew who she was and didn’t feel as if she’d ever needed to apologize for it.
About a year ago, she and I opened our first gallery shop: Cinderstella & the Beast. We began working together, tying her artwork into my photography, and selling our pieces on the regular. Even though I was still running Roe Real Estate, I’d found time to focus on my photography, too, because I’d learned how important it was to give myself to my craft. Being able to make art with a person I loved was a bonus to it all.
The business was running mostly by Stella, seeing how she finally felt comfortable to leave her position at the massage studio. She taught art classes to kids in the inner city, too, helping them develop their own skills.
After we received the money from Kevin’s will, we didn’t touch it for a long time. We sat down and figured out a way we could give back to the world in a positive way. That meant donating a lot of the money, and our time, to children in need. Both in California and my old stomping grounds of New York. Stella and I had many conversations about our core beliefs and what they encompassed. Luckily, we were on the same page: all we wanted to do was give back to those who weren’t given the same gifts as us.
“Hi there,” Stella said, walking up to me on the sandy beach behind our property.
“Hello.” I smiled, giving her a kiss on the forehead. “You’re tired. You should be resting.”
She shrugged. “The kids requested my attendance for the night swim, and who am I to disappoint them?”
Kids.
Our kids.
The sun was setting overhead as my family splashed through the water. It amazed me how much one’s life could change within the shortest period. It had been five years since Stella and I renewed our vows, and we had done it each autumn ever since. If I learned anything about love, recommitting to it was of the utmost importance.