Forging Splendor

by S R Nulton

  I was nearly sobbing by that point, but I managed to nod yes before throwing myself in his arms.

  “I love you!” I whispered as I held him close

  “I love you too,” he whispered back.

  And then we kissed. And the rest of the world waited while we found out what we’d been missing out on.

  He was finally mine. And I was his.

  EPILOGUE

  ETHAN AND AGGY were out on the pier, dancing again. It was strange, Ethan hadn’t really danced much before meeting his wife, nor had he when she first burst into his life, but on the day that they got engaged it became something that they did all the time. Something he couldn’t get enough of.

  He’d never had the best voice, but he loved to hum to her as they danced. Sometimes he would hum Christmas songs, reminding her of their first kiss. Other times it was lullabies, like when she was pregnant with each of their four girls and couldn’t get to sleep. Right then it was his favorite song, one that seemed to define their relationship.

  “…Gibraltar may tumble, They’re only made of clay...” he crooned to her.

  He’d always loved the song ‘Love is Here to Stay,’ but for many years he couldn’t see how it applied to his life. Because it didn’t, not then anyway.

  Marrying JJ was an accident, one that he never fully understood, though he did know that his father had a hand in it. He still couldn’t remember that night, and he didn’t drink generally, so alcohol wasn’t to blame. But it didn’t matter. Not anymore. Neil was gone. JJ was gone. Neither would bother him again.

  Ethan had found a love that would stay. One that pushed him when he wanted to give up and that made him fight when he would rather wallow in despair. She never treated him like he was expendable and she never left, even when he was awful to her. She was there to stay, so how could he be any less loyal to her.

  She sighed and looked up at him.

  “We better get back to the house. No telling what the girls have done to your poor brother. I still don’t understand how Geo can be such a marshmallow when it comes to his nieces,” Aggy told him with a shake of her head.

  He just laughed and followed her back up. There was plenty of time to dance later. It was time to get back to being parents. He couldn’t wait.

  The End

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  AFTERWORD

  THANK YOU FOR reading Forging Splendor! I hope you enjoyed my take on one of the lesser known relationships in the Greek pantheon. It was a lot of fun exploring Ethan and Aggy, particularly as this was written for National Novel Writing Month. If you want to read more of my work, sign up for my newsletter! It is released every month and includes information about new book releases, free short stories, and anything else I think you might want to know about.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  S.R. Nulton, also known as Sarah Rose, is a true California native. She was born in southern California, raised in northern California, and went to college on the central coast. She has written off and on since junior high, but truly got into it again when she was working at school over summer in college. She was too broke to buy a new story to read so she started writing her own to stay entertained. The rest is history. Or it will be in about two decades.