Always There

NINE:

Five years later:

I don't know how, but somehow we were better than before. It's like we built a new trust in each other and alongside it, a new love for each other.

And when Ezra propositioned for us to go back to the lake for a weekend, I couldn't decline. So I was here, in my Mini Cooper and Ezra was driving to the place we once confessed our love for each other.

Me and Ezra grew closer, and I found myself falling deeper and deeper in love each day. Five great years went by and never once did we falter in each other or doubt our love.

After Bethany kissed Ezra, we had a lot of issues to sort out. Bethany, being rejected, found herself looking harder for the revenge she so eagerly craved.

She pulled at my strings the rest of the year and more than once me and Ezra had to tell her to back off, and once I even swung a punch in her direction.

Now see, I'm not the violent type, but things went too far and I was getting sick of it. She didn't stop, even after she found someone else.

She married straight out of high school and she has two babies birthed with two different guys. She initially cheated on her husband, and he divorced her and took her for all she had.

They now have joint custody over the one baby that's actually his. The other child lives with her, although his living circumstances could be better. Especially since Bethany didn't even go to college and finding a job without a degree isn't as great as it sounds.

Me and Ezra on the other hand, both went to respectable Universities where he got a degree in Psychiatry while I managed to make my dream of becoming a travel agent a reality.

And now we were here.

The only thing that bothered me was the fact that Ezra hasn't been himself the whole ride and I was getting scared. He had sweat running down his forehead and he was constantly fiddling with something on the steering wheel or tapping his fingers on it rhythmically.

A half hour into the ride I decided to confront him.

"Ezzie, what's going on with you? You've been acting strange all day." I asked him, sighing when I was done.

"Nothing sweetie. Don't worry. Everything is fine." He said and turned his attention back on the road.

The fact that he said it like has going to puke any moment now, didn't make me feel much better. I was starting to wonder if he was developing a heart attack and was too proud to tell me about it.

I was about to tell him to pull over and talk to me when he pulled into a gas station and ran out of the car straight into the bathrooms they provided.

When he came back, I almost shot a cat. He looked sicker than he did before and I thought he was going to die then and there.

So I put him in the passenger seat and I drove the rest of the way until we reached a hospital nearby.

Halfway into the parking lot, Ezra shouted at me to stop.

"Anna! I'm fine. You don't need to take me here. Just...let's just go to the lake okay? Please? That's all I want right now."

I gave him one look and seeing that he was serious I reversed out and I headed to the lake.

"So where are we even staying?" I questioned him.

"Actually...I was going to keep this a surprise, but since you insist on driving..." He started and looked in my direction with a smile. "It's the cabin you rented that weekend."

"What? That's amazing Ezra! How did you find it?" I freaked out.

"The same way I found you back then. Travel agencies. I searched every single one in town till I found it. It was hard as can come, but it was worth it." He said and smiled again.

***

Reaching the lake house, we quickly packed up and immediately after that we went for a swim. It was nice to unwind alongside him, in the place we initially became an us.

I couldn't help but remember how I felt in that time. I was so broken by the pain my feelings for him caused and now it was so much better.

Being with him after all that time changed everything. I was never happier to wake up next to someone I love as much as him.

And every day was like a fairytale written in Heaven. I had no other need to be with someone else. And somehow I knew, neither did he.

***

Coming back from the swim, I went to shower and when I came out twenty minutes later, I saw Ezra standing next to the coffee table, looking sick as hell again.

He was sweating again and I could practically see him hyperventilating all the way in Australia.

"Babe? Are you okay? You look like you're going to burst." I asked him, just about ready to check his fever.

But when I came close he quickly got on one knee. He put his hand in his jacket pocket and quickly pulled out a little ring box.

"Anna Montgomery, I have loved you fifteen years, and I will continue to do so until the day I die. So here I am, and I am desperate to make you my wife once and for all. Annie, I don't want to spend a day without you by my side. So please? Will you do me the complete honor of marrying me?"

For a moment I stood stock still. I wasn't expecting this at all. But I knew what I wanted. I knew what I wanted more than anything.

"Yes." I whispered and he perked up.

"What?"

"Yes you idiot! I will!" I shouted excitedly.

Next thing I knew I was, blissfully, in his arms.

 

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A/N:

Hey my beautiful, amazing readers!

So, I managed to (finally) sort out the problem. So stupid!

I will update TEN as well today!

And then were done!

i will also post another Author's Note and the Tracklist for the readers who wanted it or missed a song they liked.

The song for this chapter is The Civil Wars' Eavesdrop!

Sincerely,

JanaJoubert<3