Dreams to vows

Chapter 19: Expanding Horizons

*Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other."* — Walter Elliot

POV: Priscilla

The sunlight streamed into my home office, the quiet hum of the air conditioner the only sound breaking the stillness. I had come to love this room—the calm it brought me, the way I could sit for hours, lost in thought, and the way it made our home feel like a sanctuary. But today, my mind was far from peaceful. It was filled with the buzz of possibility.

Expanding my consulting business internationally wasn’t just a distant dream anymore. It was real—tangible. The successes I’d seen locally had given me the confidence to start thinking bigger. Clients were happy, the referrals were rolling in, and I had reached a point where staying small didn’t make sense anymore. But the idea of taking my business into other countries made my stomach do flips. It wasn’t just about growth—it was about risk. A lot of risk.

I had been researching markets in Europe and West Africa for weeks now, trying to figure out where the best opportunities lay. It wasn’t just about choosing the right location; it was about figuring out how this move would affect everything else—my life with John, our schedules, our plans. I didn’t want to get so lost in building a career that I lost him along the way.

Just as I was about to pick up my phone to call John and talk through my thoughts, I heard the front door open. His footsteps were familiar, comforting.

“Pris?” John’s voice called from the hallway, and I smiled to myself. He always knew when something was on my mind.

“Here,” I called back, watching as he appeared in the doorway, a relaxed smile on his face. His tie was already loosened, the first sign that he had made it through another long day at work. The man I married—a powerhouse in the engineering world—still managed to come home looking like he didn’t have a care in the world.

He crossed the room and kissed my forehead before sinking into the chair across from me. “What’s got you deep in thought?”

I sighed, folding my hands in my lap. “I’ve been thinking about the business.”

John raised an eyebrow. “Oh? What about it?”

I hesitated. “I’ve been considering expanding… internationally.”

For a moment, he didn’t say anything. His eyes searched my face, and I could see the gears turning in his head. John wasn’t one to react impulsively—he always thought things through, measured the pros and cons before saying anything. Finally, he nodded. “That’s big, Pris. But it makes sense. You’ve built something incredible here, and expanding is the next step.”

I bit my lip, feeling the weight of the decision. “It feels like the right move, but… it’s a lot, John. There will be travel, more clients, more projects. And with everything you have going on—"

John stopped me, taking my hand in his. “We’ll figure it out. We’ve always found a way to balance everything. You know I support you no matter what.”

I leaned into his touch, feeling comforted. John always knew how to ease my worries. But there was something else I had been feeling lately—a sense that our lives were on the brink of major changes. Not just for me, but for him, too. I had noticed the long hours, the late nights, the quiet phone calls he took with his father. Something was shifting in his world as well.

I sat up, searching his face. “What about you? I’ve noticed you’ve been busy lately, and I get the feeling something’s going on.”

John leaned back in his chair, a familiar hand running through his hair. It was his tell—something he did when he was about to reveal something big.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you,” he said slowly. “You know how things have been getting more intense at work lately. Well, it’s not just about the company I built. My dad… he’s ready to hand over his company to me.”

My heart skipped a beat. John’s father’s company was a giant in the industry, dealing with major contracts like road construction and estate development. It was a multi-million-dollar empire, and if John took the reins, he would be in charge of two massive operations.

“That’s huge, John. I mean, your company is already doing so well, but now you’d be running two?” I asked, trying to process the implications.

He nodded. “Yeah. It’s a lot. And it would mean even more travel, more late nights, more responsibility. But it’s what I’ve always wanted, Pris. And I know I can handle it. It’s just… with both of us growing in our careers, we’ll need to make sure we don’t lose sight of each other.”

I could hear the concern in his voice, and it echoed my own fears. We had always managed to balance our careers and our personal lives, but this felt different. The stakes were higher now. Expanding internationally and managing two companies were life-changing decisions.

“I’ve been thinking the same thing,” I admitted. “I don’t want us to get so caught up in our own worlds that we forget to nurture what we have. We’ve worked too hard to let that happen.”

John leaned forward, his eyes locking onto mine. “We won’t, Pris. I promise you that. We’ll figure out a way to make this work—both of our dreams, our ambitions, and our relationship.”

I took a deep breath, feeling a sense of clarity start to form. “We’re going to need to be really intentional about it. We’ll have to plan everything—our schedules, our time together, how we’re going to manage all this. But we can do it. I believe we can.”

John smiled, that confident smile that always made me feel like everything would be okay. “That’s what I love about you, Pris. You’re a dreamer, but you’re also practical. We’ll figure it out, one step at a time.”

I smiled back, feeling more sure of myself than I had in days. “I guess we’ll have a lot of conversations over the next few weeks.”

John chuckled. “That we will. But we’ve always been good at talking things through.”

As we sat there, planning out the next phase of our lives, I felt a renewed sense of hope. Yes, there were challenges ahead—big ones—but they weren’t insurmountable. We were both standing at the edge of something incredible, and as long as we faced it together, I knew we could handle it.

Our horizons were expanding, and the journey ahead was uncertain. But with John by my side, I felt ready to take that leap into the unknown.