I loved every single second of today.

And I loved everything about this man standing in front of me.

Smiling, I said, “I love you, too, Griff.”

He took his mother’s necklace and placed it around my neck. It was a beautiful antique gold necklace with a diamond pendant.

My hand moved to hold it in place for a moment as I fought back tears. He would never know just what this gesture meant to me.

Not only did it show me his love, but it was a symbol of family to me.

My first tear fell, and I gave up trying to hold them back. They needed to be shed.

They also symbolised something for me – a new beginning, and a new chance at building a family for myself.

He brushed my tears from my cheek and asked, “Are they good tears or bad tears?”

I smiled up at him through them. “A bit of both, handsome, but mostly, I’m just regrouping.”

Watching his face was like watching a switch being flipped. Something I’d said caused him to switch to bossy Griff. He bent his face to mine, and growled, “You’ve got till Magan goes home to regroup and then I’m going to have you naked and under me for the rest of the night, doing whatever I tell you to do.”

My heart beat faster at the thought of what was to come. “That’s why you love me, isn’t it?” I teased. “Because I let you boss me around.”

He stared at me for a long moment before giving me something I would cherish forever. “I love you for your smart-ass mouth, and your purity, and your kindness, and your rambling, and your love of family, and for the way you care about those you love. But most of all, I love you because you’re you, and you accept me for who I am.”

I would always accept him for who he was, just as he had accepted me.

Griff had shown me that some of the beliefs we have about ourselves are illusive, and that we need to leave the pain and hurt behind, and step into our new skin. The past is part of us, part of our story, but it doesn’t have to be who we are today, and it doesn’t mean our story won’t get better.

Together, Griff and I would write a new story – a better story.

THE END