Ever knelt and kissed Cadence’s cheek. “He’s happy, baby.” She whispered in her ear, a loud stage-whisper. “But I bet if you gave him a hug, it would make him even happier.”
Cadence trotted over to me, jumped at me with the kind of complete abandon only a child is capable of. I lifted her, clutched her to me. Her little arms went around my neck. A sloppy kiss made my cheek wet, and my eyes wetter. I choked back the emotion as I held my little girl. My wife stood in front of me. She held a piece of paper, and she read from it.
“Cade. My Cade. I think I loved you from the first time I saw you standing there at Interlochen. You were so tall, and so handsome, and I wanted you to like me. But life brought us other people, and other places, and I learned then how much I would love you, when you finally found me. I remember our first kiss like it was yesterday. I was painting.”
Cadence wiggled, and I let her down. She scampered off, getting her toes wet and the hem of her dress. I watched her, and I listened to Ever.
“You knocked on my door, and you kissed me. Lady Antebellum was playing. You kissed me, and I knew then that I’d never love anyone more. I never could, and I never will.” She stopped, breathed. “Cade, baby. My love. My one true love. You and I have been through so much together. We faced death together, and we came through it. We both learned to walk and use our hands all over again. We even had to learn to love each other, and forgive each other, and to forgive ourselves. We’ve learned how to be parents, and how to be lovers while being parents. And that’s quite a trick, let me tell you. And through it all, you’ve been so devoted to me, and to Cadence. You’ve spent every moment trying to prove yourself.” She paused, took my hand, and recited the rest from memory. “And now, Caden, you have to listen to me. You have to know. I don’t doubt you. I’ve never, ever, doubted you. Not for a moment. You don’t have anything to prove. You’re mine, and I’m yours, and that’s all there is.”
I took her hands as she folded the letter and handed it off. “I love you, Ever. You and only you. Forever.”
She leaned in, kissed me, and backed away. “I love you, Cade. Forever, and after forever.”
There weren’t many people on the beach with us. Eden and Carter. Ever’s and my business partners in the art gallery in Birmingham, Lance and Irena. Carter’s brothers and parents. They all clapped as Ever and I kissed again. It was a kind of vow renewal, a second wedding. The first had been so small, with just Eden there. Now we had so people in our lives--—friends, family. Loved ones. A life. And we wanted to make public our commitment to each other. Also, it was a good excuse to go to the Caribbean on the honeymoon we’d never had.
I noticed Eden watching Cadence as the ceremony ended and the party began. Eden had cut her hair to chin length, and let it go back to black. It made her look totally different, in a good way. She was happy, I knew. That was all that mattered. Carter’s family vineyard was quickly becoming one of the most successful wineries on the Michigan peninsula, and was gaining recognition on a national level. Eden had finished her degree and taught private lessons while she finished her master’s in education. Her plan was to teach at Interlochen. She’d also recorded her solo suite and was selling it independently on iTunes and other avenues, including a music video she’d made and put up on YouTube.
She seemed happy but more than that, at peace. As I was. Ever and I had made friends with another artist couple, and together we’d opened a gallery, displaying our own artwork and that of other local talents, scouted by all four of us. It gave us all an outlet for our art, and a chance to interact with artists, as well as providing a surprising amount of income.
None of us had forgotten what had happened. It was a couple of months before Ever and I saw Eden again, but with time we all grew close once more. There was always awkwardness between Eden and me, but it was bearable. The important thing, really, was that Ever and Eden were close. They talked on the phone all the time, and Skyped every once in a while. And of course, Ever, Cadence, and I spent a week or two during the summer up in Traverse City.
It took time for Ever to totally trust me, and for me to accept that it was okay to move on, to be happy. And I knew Carter and Eden had had their own difficulties. The decision to have children or not, mainly. They’d gotten married a year ago, in a quiet ceremony on the beach where they’d met.
My presence at that wedding had been odd, and slightly tense, but we’d gotten through it. We’d all faced the discomfort, pushed through it.
That was really the lesson in it all, though, wasn’t it? Sometimes, all you can do is push through. Make mistakes and accept them. You can’t always make the right decision. Sometimes there isn’t one. Sometimes there’s just everything getting all fucked up, and the only thing you can do is go through it and pick up the pieces on the other side.
Forgiveness is a choice, and so is love.
Learning all this, learning to choose and to live and to love, messing up and being forgiven and trying again, it’s a rhythm. Getting up and living your life, despite hurting and despite mistakes, it’s a pattern. It’s the cadence of life.
Cadence. God, what a handful. She’s every bit of both her mothers, her biological mother, and her mommy. To Cadence they are Mommy and Aunt Edie. She’s wild and funny and spirited, showing a talent for art, if her finger painting is any indication. And her musical ear, the way she sings her favorite TV show songs, shows musical talent. But I might be prejudiced.
She’s me, too. Her eyes, the way she sees things. She looks at you, and you know she’s seeing you. That’s a uniquely Cadence thing, that perceptiveness. She looks into you. She climbs up on your lap and she listens, and you know she’s not just hearing, but really listening. And then she’ll hop down and run off and try to feed her blocks to our very long-suffering Yorkie.
I never thought I’d be a parent. And I never thought I’d enjoy it. Having kids had never crossed my mind,. It was a “maybe someday” idea. But now, I’m all in. Totally sold out to that little girl.
And, of course, to her mommy.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
All the Traverse City descriptions are accurate. If something is labeled by name, it’s real. The only liberty I took was the island. Carter’s mysterious island home is a fiction, sadly. I might move there myself, if it was real.
PLAYLIST
“Run For Your Life” by The Fray
“What Was I Thinkin’” by Dierks Bentley
“Misery Loves Company” by Three Days Grace
“One Day You Will” by Lady Antebellum
“Cripple Me” by Elenowen
“Save Me” by Elenowen
Jasinda Wilder
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Saving Forever (The Ever Trilogy: Book 3) Page 34