On The Run: Part Two

Chapter Thirty-Two - " . . . And The Other"

Jake

My heart stopped.

It stopped racing, it stopped beating, it just stopped. And froze. As did I.

“What?” I breathed. “Did you just . . . what . . . Sarah?”

She continued to stare up at me, her eyes shining brightly.

“Marry me,” she repeated.

I opened my mouth, but the words wouldn’t come.

“Jake, I’ve had my ups and downs. I’ve lost my mom, I’ve been attacked, I was pregnant, I gave up my child, I lost my friends, I was estranged from the only family I had left, and then . . . when I’d stopped wanting or dreaming or hoping, you came along. Unexpected, unbelievable, and completely out-of-my-league. Then, nothing else mattered. You were my friend, and you took bullets for me, and you came over when I needed you, even when I didn’t ask; you were the first thing in a long time that gave me any semblance of hope.

I don’t know when or how, but one minute you weren’t there, and the next, I couldn’t remember a time when you weren’t. I don’t know when I fell in love with you, and I don’t care, cause I did. I fell so hard, and I was so scared, and I just . . . you scared me, because I knew that if there came a day when I didn’t have you, I wouldn’t be able to live through it.”

She was crying, and all I could do was stand and stare. I was in shock.

“And I can’t. I am physically incapable of living without you. I hurt everywhere and I don’t want you to go to D.C. I know it’s selfish and unfair, and I probably don’t deserve it, I just . . . I’m lost without you, Jake. I’m not Sarah Parks without you.”

“Sarah,” I breathed, but she went on.

“I’ve screwed up. A lot. And I want to spend every single day of the rest of my life making it up to you, because I’m so in love with you Jake, forever doesn’t even seem like enough time. I don’t want to go back to being just friends; we’ve done that, we’ve lived together, we’ve lost each other; we’ve been doing this dance for the last five years, and now, I want the whole nine yards; I want kids, and I want a house, and I want a dog and I want to be a cliché, and I want it all with you. Without you, none of it makes sense. I want to marry you; I just . . . I want forever.”

I let out a breath, as I felt my eyes smart.

She was staring desperately at me, as tears ran down her face. The complete shock of her words was even exacerbated by the fact that she was crying – it surprised me every time.

“You want to marry me,” I managed to croak.

She nodded vigorously, as she wiped her eyes. I stepped closer, and wiped the remnants of tears beneath her eyes with my thumbs. She continued to stare expectantly at me.

I was in such a state of disbelief, all I could say was, “Sarah?”

“Yeah?” she breathed.

I sighed. “You know what I love?”

She shook her head and shrugged, her stare now shifting to worry.

I said slowly, “I love that even when we don’t know it, we could be thinking the exact same thing.”

I eased my hand into my pocket and pulled out the red velvet box that had sat there for weeks. It fit perfectly in my palm, and as I opened up my hand, she stepped back in shock. I eased it open and held it out.

He mouth was hanging open, and her brows went way up.

I shrugged, “Nana gave it to me when I went home for my dad’s funeral – it used to be hers, and she said, when you meet the right person to give this to, you’ll know. But this time, be sure. Then, you went and said that, and suddenly, everything was clear.”

She stepped closer, and slowly, I went down on one knee.

Her face contorted.

“You’re not going to cry again, are you?” I joked.

She laughed through the tears that had indeed started to fall.

“So, Sarah Amelia Barron-Parks, will you do me . . . the outstanding honor of becoming . . . my wife?”

She held her hand over her eyes, and stood there wordlessly.

“Okay, I’m getting worried here. You kind of have to say something.”

She dropped her hand and nodded vigorously, “Yes,” she spluttered, “Yes, I’ll marry you.”

Then, she was grinning, and my world was whole again.

She fell to her knees in front of me, and repeated, “Yes.”

I grinned, “Yes?”

“Yes!” she replied, pulling me to her, as she wrapped an arm around my neck and I leaned in, pressing my lips to hers.

The last few months were gone. Every part of me was reacting to the start that that kiss gave me – my racing heart, my blank mind, my everywhere. This was Sarah, and this was forever.

I could have cried. But Sarah had done enough of that for the both of us.

It would have been a strange sight to anyone passing by. Hell, it was surreal to me. I slipped the ring out of the box, and breaking off, I eased it slowly onto her finger.

She looked down at it and gasped, and then, staring into my eyes, she smiled. I tucked her bangs away and as we stared at each other, I asked the question that had made its way to my mind, and hers – probably:

“What now?”