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He let out a groan when she lowered herself onto him, her mouth not leaving his. He mumbled something, and she pulled back. “What?” she asked.
“I said, all this for tickets to watch some dudes sing?” He grinned, pressing his thumb to her swollen lips. “If this is the reaction I get, then I’ll buy you tickets to anything, everything, anytime you want. It’s yours. Just name it.”
“You. I want you.”
“Already yours,” he whispered, his voice full of promise. “Forever and always.”
“I like the sound of that…” she whispered back.
“Me too, Daisy,” he said, bringing her face back down to his for a kiss. “Me, too.”
Epilogue
They stood outside the gates, hand in hand, staring up at the castle that loomed overhead. People swarmed all around them, screaming at the top of their lungs, and rushed every which way, pushing each other to get there faster. The sun shone through the clouds, illuminating the white and blue castle, making it stand out even more. Ginny tightened her grip on his hand, squealing with excitement and jumping up and down. “It’s here!”
Daisy, his beautiful perfect Daisy, laughed and knelt beside the little girl, resting a hand on her shoulder. “I told you it would be. Isn’t it marvelous?”
“Scary, is more like it,” Mark mumbled under his breath. “I can’t even move without hitting someone. This is worse than Iraq and Afghanistan combined.”
“There, there, Mark.” She stood, smiling and patting his arm. “You’ll be all right. Once you get inside, the magic of Disney takes over, and you won’t even notice the crowds.”
He eyed the overfilled amusement park. “I doubt that.”
“Come on, Daddy!” Ginny called, tugging them both along. “We have to find Elsa!”
Daisy smiled and followed, winking at him over her shoulder. “Yeah, come on, Daddy. We have princesses to find.”
He’d already found his. It had been a year since they first said they loved one another, and it had been a year of firsts, and kisses, and so much happiness it had felt unreal. Like a dream. But he’d never woken up from it, and every morning, there she was, by his side.
She lifted her hand, beckoning him closer, and he followed her, like he always did. Ginny talked on excitedly about finding Elsa, and Jasmine, and Anna, and Ariel, and he smiled as Daisy showed an equal amount of enthusiasm. He couldn’t help but think that wherever she was right now, Tina was smiling. She would have liked Daisy.
There was a new kind of happiness in his daughter’s voice, and in her eyes, and in every move she made. And he felt that, too. The new kind of happiness.
Last week, for Christmas, he’d asked Daisy to marry him. She’d cried, covered her face, and said yes. It had been the best moment in his life, and the most terrifying. And now, here she was, in Disneyland with him and his girl, wearing his ring and making him the luckiest fucking man to ever walk the concrete pathways of this park. He’d somehow managed to find his very own happily ever after, inside a world filled with loss and pain.
He didn’t need magic for that.
He’d just needed Daisy.