Page 286 of Falling for the Wife

It was a frightening process to put your faith and trust into one person, risking everything in them. It was a sacrifice that everyone needed to make before achieving the all-consuming dream that was worth more than life itself.

I was a lucky man indeed to have such a woman who had never given up on believing in me.

A week after that horrendous nightmare, Ava and I left to visit my parents. The culprit who stole millions just happened to be the CFO of the company, a man who I met during studying economics in my university days. He was a man I trusted but his profound greed made him betray one of the people who had helped him achieve the wealth he had acquired…but with his arrest and the courts on his bloody traitorous arse hounding every account they could trace, he was done for. I was negotiating so the company could take back all the money that was lost, or what was left of it, without him going to prison for a decade. I believed a year or two would suffice. He used to be a good man at one point. Maybe spending time behind bars would enlighten him a little. With all this chaos involving work, I took a short hiatus right after, needing to cater to my wife and simply enjoy her company since I still owed her a honeymoon. Much more so, a real wedding, consisting of our closest friends and family. I wanted an intimate ceremony, a different kind than the one she’d had with Ashton.

Therefore, on the third day of our trip, I took her somewhere special. We drove for about forty minutes before parking the car underneath a tree. We got out of and I blindfolded her. Then, we strolled for another ten minutes or so before reaching the intended destination where I took the cover from her eyes.

“Oh, my God, Reiss!” she shrieked as her eyes grew huge, delighted by my surprise. “I haven’t been back here since you left. Though I thought about this place quite often, I never did have the courage to return.”

The lake—ourlake—where everything had begun between us. Where I had first set my eyes upon her and it had changed my life forever.

The place was surrounded by torches, aglow with fire, while rose-scented floating candles lit the lake that was trimmed with blue LED strip lighting.

This wouldn’t have been possible had Charlotte not offered to help me. She had since mellowed down, and was trying to make amends by building a relationship with me. It wouldn’t have been possible unless both parties were willing to move forward and, fortunately, such was the case.

Basking in Ava’s glowing happiness, I knew there wasn’t anywhere else on earth I’d rather be than right here, content as I watched her take in everything with her eyes.

Clearing my throat, my thumb caressed her hand before I got on one knee and gazed at my soul reflecting back at me in her eyes, showing me what the future held.

“Ava Watson Chambers, you and I had a very passionate start. Short as it may have been, it ended on a tragic note that painted our lives differently. After years of separation, you and I found each other once more, and I can’t apologize enough for my horrific treatment of you in the beginning, but I will make up for it by making a solid foundation for our marriage, compromising when need be, and continuing to love you even if you’re being a lovely pain in my arse. Lovely perhaps, though a pain, all the same.” I beamed as she grinned, blushing profusely. “Marry me again, with our family and friends to witness our undying love and devotion, and I swear to you, on my honor, our honeymoon will be better than our living room floor.”

“But I love that living room floor, and I wouldn’t dare change a thing about it. But with that aside, I am privileged to marry you again. As long as I’m with you, the rest is simply non-essential.”

She looked into my eyes as I slipped the ring atop the other one I had given her. It was the same setting, yet a different stone. A diamond. Charlotte had given me the advice that diamonds were essential to a woman’s wardrobe. Therefore, with the expertise of a jeweler, I had found the perfect one for Ava.

Grinning from ear to ear, I sealed our bond with a kiss, believing everything she had just said. As long as we were together, the rest was non-essential.

Second chance at love. Second chance at marriage. Life certainly came with surprises.

- The End -