Epilogue
I woke turned on my side but still laying against Zavier. I felt my notebook in my hand and remembered the picture. I pulled the notebook up only the picture wasn't there. I began looking everywhere for it. The floor was empty. The couch didn't take it. I looked at the guys. Sage was grinning. He motioned with his chin behind me.
I turned to see Zavier leaned back with one hand behind his head and the other looking at the picture.
“You should probably read your note that was left for you.” I tried to peak around the page but he would just move it.
I looked back at the notebook and it registered that there were words on the page that should have been my picture.
I watch as the rose petals fall at your feet
'He loves me, he loves me not' you say
Do not tear apart my rose I say
For its petals do not answer the question you ask
Not like that.
Instead know that every drop of dew that falls from it
Is a tear I cried for your pain
Every leaf that points up to its beauty
Is how high I hold you in my heart
Every thorn that graces its presence is I, my love
There to protect you from those that wish you harm
This is not a new kind of rose that lasts only for a time
Nay, I say, this is centuries old and can last us our lifetime.
So you ask, do I love you?
My answer is this.
I will love you for as long as the rose blooms.
To say I cried would have been putting it mildly. I bawled. I grabbed Zavier and kissed him as passionately as I possibly could. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me closer. I pulled away from the kiss and buried my face in his neck.
I knew the poem was to me. About me. When I was around fourteen that was when Zavier would show me his poems. When it was just us, he referred to me as Rose, his Rose.
“Pollinate me,” I giggled.
He jerked slightly and leaned back to look at me.
“Say when.” He was smiling but I knew he was serious.
My lips parted as I looked into his eyes. He took my breath away. I reached up and moved his hair away from his face. “Now,” I whispered. I was as serious as he was.
He grabbed me, kissed me and began carrying me upstairs. We didn't make it.
“I believe the two of you can get ready without the other.” Dean stood at the top of the stairs looking down at us. I looked back at Zavier and whimpered before giving in.
“I also think the two of you can wait until your married to get ready together.”
I wanted to laugh at how he was wording it but if it made him feel better I was all for it.
“Hmm. Could you marry someone like me?” Zavier asked looking me in the eyes.
I reached up grabbed the sconces hanging on the walls to press him against the wall. I had moved my legs so they were no longer around him. I at least wanted to respect Dean, even if it was my house. “Would you marry someone like me?”
“Yes.” There was no hesitation in his voice. I smiled.
“Sweetheart as much as I love you against me, you’re hurting yourself.” He grabbed me by the waist and lowered me to the step. “Wait here I'll be back.”
I looked up at Dean. I was beginning to think he was like me. He knew when we were doing things we shouldn't. Growing up it was like he had eyes in the back of his head. And on more than one occasion I swear he could read minds.
I watched as a grin started spreading across his face with each of my thoughts. The more I narrowed my eyes and thought I was right, his grin grew. But before I could ask, Zavier was right back and leading me away and back down the stairs.
He laid me across his lap and began massaging my side. He never touched me anywhere he shouldn't but rubbed everywhere else.
“Mmm. That feels so good.”
“Zavier.”
“I swear Dean I'm not doing anything but helping to relax the muscles.”
“Is it wrong that even I don't want him to stop?”
I busted out laughing. “Sage! Oh my Gosh! Don't make me laugh it hurts.” But every time I looked at him I did.
Zavier was rubbing my hand when Shayden said he would help me out. The picture I had drawn of our daughters appeared before me on the table. Zavier helped me up and I walked over to them. I knew they weren't real. But it didn't stop me from wanting to touch their faces.
They both reached out and took my hands. I knew tears were flowing down my face. Suddenly one of them moves her hand from mine and points to something on the floor behind me. I followed her hand and turned slowly.
Zavier was kneeling down on one knee with a small box opened. I don't know when he had bought it but I didn't care.
“Marissa Rose, I have been in love with you since I first laid eyes on you. And I will love you for eternity.” He cleared his throat. “Someone once told me that life was a journey. A road of sorts. There would be times that the road would be rocky and rough but at other times it would be smooth and easy. I don't want to walk through my life alone anymore. So I'm asking you. Will you walk through life with me? If you say yes, then know that the days you feel like you can't walk anymore, I'll carry you.
“Marissa Rose, My Rose, will you be my wife?”
It took me covering my mouth with both hands to shut the sobs up long enough to let him speak. I finally nodded to him and did something I had never done before in my life. I squealed like a girl when he placed the ring on my finger.
I must have slammed into him to kiss him because we were both lying in the floor with tears flowing down our faces. Never again will I think it is a weakness for someone to cry. Those tears he cried meant so much to me. It meant he loved me with all his heart.
I sat up. “Marissa Rose Mathews.”
He shook his head. “I won't have you bearing that name. And neither will our daughters.”
“But.” He put a finger to my lips.
“I had Dean change my name a few weeks ago. You will be Mrs. Zavier Sterling.”
Sterling. I would be a Sterling. That was odd because even when I was little I said I would be one, one day.
“We named the academy” Lorik loved interrupting things like this.
We sit up and he scooted us over to the couch so he could lean against it and hold me.
“Give me a minute.” I wanted to see our girls. I didn't realize how much. I had lost so much in my life that having them made everything worth it.
After a little bit I nodded. The girls slowly faded and in their place was the academy. Zavier and I stood to walk over to it.
“They named it something girly so I hope you're happy with it.” Lorik may have sounded like a smart-alack but I knew he wasn't upset.
“The Rose Academy,” Shayden announced.
“I like it. Since we all have different last names, it’s something we all have in common. But if it makes you feel better Lorik. I know the name of our dorm house.”
He looked at me and waited.
“The House of Thorns.”
###
About the Author
K.L. Hopkins loves talking to anyone and everyone. She lives in Southwest Virginia with her children and four dogs. Reading and writing are her passion. Whether it’s writing her next novel or writing online at her website, or her social sites.
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