Destiny (35 page)

That
wasn’t the end of our time together. We had so many dates and vacations that
were absolutely perfect in their own way. Eric believed that even if we were
married, we should still date like we weren’t and make love every day like we
were teenagers. All that lovemaking led to two more children, a boy and a girl
named Jason and Sophia. Our three children became our hearts. We watched them
grow up and leave the nest. Just like Eric had said when he described how our
lives would be, it broke our hearts when they left, and we didn’t know what to
do with ourselves for a while. All through that time, he was my rock, though.
Eric was still the man I loved and my best friend. That much never changed. We
learned that it never would when it was just
us
again.

Through
the years, we made the best decisions we could and found happiness in the
simple company of each other. I never became the doctor I dreamt of being, and
after Marcus retired, Eric never made the big bucks again. We didn’t need all
that, though. All of my real dreams revolved around the man who went to bed
with me every night.

Heartbreak
would find us, though. The truth about a little boy brought us back together. If
it wasn’t for Phillip, I don’t know if I would have found my way back to Eric,
and I’m sure there would have been no true happiness. We found out that Phillip
had cancer last year. He fought it, and his wife and children stood by him
every step of the way, but we lost him. No parent should ever have to bury
their
child. On most days, I find myself out at the same
spot I used to talk to my dad at after he passed away. Now I talk to my little
boy. I tell him I’ll see him again some day. The life we had that was happy for
so long seems to have vanished. Some days I don’t remember much anymore. The
story of my life comes in fragments. I wonder if I’ve made up parts of it to
fill in the holes. I don’t
ever
forget the love I have for my first-born son or the man who gave him to me,
though. I remember all the important things when I’m here, and just in case I
forget, Eric’s always there to remind me. Speaking of him, here he comes now.
We meet here every week just to talk about old times and remember those who have
gone on. Today things seem a little different, though. Eric said he had
something important to talk to me about and asked me to come out here. It’s
finally time to find out what it is. This is the last chapter of my story. At
sixty-six years old, I can only hope that it holds half of the love, heartache,
and humor that all the other ones had. With Eric, I’ve lived. Every joy and
every pain has been experienced with my best friend. Whatever the rest of the
story is, I think I’ll be all right as long as he’s by my side.

Epilogue

“I’ve
been freezing waiting on you. Where have you been?” Olivia asked.

“I
had to do something. I’ve been thinking, and I love this spot. I love our place
and this town, but I’m not willing to let us go out of the world this way,”
Eric said.

“What
are you talking about? I love our life. I couldn’t be happier with how things
have ended.”

“That’s
just the thing. You said the word ended. Our lives aren’t over. When my uncle
died, I took over paying for his season tickets, and I’ve been to every game in
his place. I felt like I had to keep the tradition of going to the games for
him. A small part of my life revolved around him at that point and always has
ever since. When we lost our
parents, that
changed us,
too. Then there’s Phillip. He gave us so much. I love our son more than I can
ever describe. He’s the glue that put our family together, but the memories of
what once was have taken over all that we are. We come out to this place and
talk to the people we love who have passed on. We do that almost every week,
and all we’re left with are memories of the people we used to be. It’s almost
like we’re living solely for the past, and a lot of it is painful now that
we’re losing people.”

“I
understand that, but this is our home. If the last decade we have left is
painful and full of grief, then I can’t think of anyone I would rather
experience that chapter of my life with.”

“I
can’t either, but our last chapter isn’t going to be painful. We need to leave
for at least a while. I once knew a girl who said she wanted to get out of this
town. Her back up plan was to have a big house on the lake here. That turned
out to be the better plan, but these days, it seems like all there’s left for
us here is pain. I don’t want to live for pain or memories of what once was. I
want to live for you and all the adventures we still have left together. I want
you to be the girl who got the big house and had the family life she wanted, as
well as the one who saw what was outside of this town.”

“Do
you really think we can just leave? What would we do?”

“Travel
the world, or at least as much of it as we want to. We invested well with the
money I got from being an agent, and we can pretty much go anywhere we want.
Now is the time to live more than ever. I want to experience everything there
is to do with you, and I want to take you on dates in the most romantic places
in the world.”

“I
want that, too. Can we really just pick up and leave, though? Won’t it surprise
a lot of people? We’ve
always
been
here.”

“I’m
not concerned with other people. I learned a long time ago that your happiness
is mine. It’s been my purpose in life to show you how much I love you since I
was fourteen. That’s not stopping now just because we’ve aged a little. Instead
of staying here and dying in this town, how about we go out there and live
again? I think that’s what Phillip would want.”

“I’m
in. I’ve got to admit something. I never thought all those years ago that the
boy who got hit by two cars just trying to come see me would be everything I
needed as a friend and husband. It must have been destiny.”

“That’s
what I thought for a while, but I don’t think so anymore. No one chose this
life for us. We made it together. I knew you were the only woman I wanted from
the first time I saw you, and thankfully, with a lot of luck, you saw something
in me. I love you.”

“I
love you, too,” Olivia said, and Eric grabbed her hand to walk away.

“Wait
a minute. Let me say goodbye to this place,” Olivia said.

“I’ll
stay with you.”

The
two of them said goodbye to their favorite spot and to the heartache and joy
that had come there. The curtain was falling on their final act, but it wasn’t
going to fall without all the love, laughter, and passion that had found them
in the first place. Eric and Olivia traveled the world together, and when they
were too tired to go on, they went home to the same white house that had been
in Olivia’s dreams so long ago.

They
say that you’re supposed to be satisfied with the same friends, boring jobs,
and romances that fizzle out with time. They say you can’t have your cake and
eat it, too . . . that life isn’t fair. That’s what people say who think you’re
meant for nothing important. Then there are those who say it’s all up to fate.
We’re just some small cogs in a bigger machine, and we really have no choice
other than to play our designed role. I don’t think either is true. Life is
built one brick at a time. Work harder, expect more, and love like there won’t
be a tomorrow. Most importantly, hold onto the one who takes your breath away.
Never let go of them. I didn’t, and against all odds, I found the perfect woman
for me. She’s my best friend.

This has been Eric and Olivia Wilson. Our
story isn’t perfect, and it’s certainly not without complications, but in the middle
of it all is a love that drives us through everything. That wasn’t chosen for
us or settled for. It was the result of never giving up on what we knew was
right in our hearts. Even when it seems impossible, happiness can be just
around the corner. For me, it will always be in the form of a blue-eyed girl I
found just in time to save my life.

Destiny
Notes

I’ve
just finished editing Destiny for the last time, and before I exhale, I want to
share a few things with you about this book and my personal journey through the
writing process. So here I go.

When
I first started Destiny, I was burned out, and what I was doing obviously
wasn’t working. Some people thought it was. They saw me writing as my dreams
being fulfilled, but my plans were so much bigger than what I had done. I
wanted to write something epic and altogether different than I had done before.
While many love action and mystery, my focus had always been on character’s relationships.
I wanted to write a book that everyone could relate to. I don’t know if I’ve
done that with Destiny, but I do know this: I’m very proud of this book. I
didn’t know what to expect when I started Destiny. I had never written a
romantic novel, and I thought my lack of experience in writing romance would
hinder me, but I found something I never expected. It was natural, and this
wasn’t a standard romance book. In many books, and with a lot of real life
couples, we find that romance is only
skin
deep. It’s
about sex or status. Eric and Olivia’s connection became about so much more
than that, and as the reader, I hope you were pulled into a journey that was
about so much more than what we think of as love. It was imperfect, and at many
times, Eric and Olivia became the villains in their own story, just as we do in
real life, but it all came from a very real place. I tried to put little parts
of myself and real life experiences into this to make it feel authentic, but
admittedly, this novel is in a lot of ways purely fiction.

When
I first started writing Destiny, I was love starved.
No, it
wasn’t that I couldn’t find a date or that I was just lonely.
It was so
much more than that. I realized that I had never found a person who truly loved
me for who I am. Sure, some women I had met acted like they cared about me, but
that love always came with condition. I had to have a certain amount of money,
dress a certain way, and get along with certain people. In all honesty, I had
conditions for my love, as well. I don’t believe real love has conditions, so I
wrote a fictional story about the type of love I needed. It was without
condition, and it wasn’t always easy, but Eric and Olivia found their way back
to each other every time. It’s the imperfect perfection I crave so much in my
life that I wanted to convey in these pages.

Finally,
I want to tell you one very important thing about this story. As I wrote and
edited it, this book took shape into something that even surprised me. It’s not
perfect, and I’m sure there are better stories out there, but it’s everything I
hoped it would be. I’m proud of this, and I can say without a shadow of a doubt
that a story can change your life because this one changed mine. It let me know
what kind of love I should be shooting for and reminded me of why I love
writing. For that, I’ll always be grateful for Destiny. I hope you enjoyed it
as much as I loved writing it. More than that, I hope you never settle for less
than the one who takes your breath away. It’s been a pleasure. I can’t wait to
share more stories in the future.