Page 70 of Ever's Last

“You’re both old, you probably remember it wrong,” Champ tells us. We all laugh. He’s a cute kid.

“Ariel is my favorite princess,” Lark tells Ariel.

“Mine too,” she says, pointing at her red hair. She tells them how her mom was obsessed with Disney and at first her name was Cinderella. It’s even on her birth certificate. But then her mom started calling her Ariel. I can’t believe her hair is still bright red after all these years, no ounce of gray.

“Girls are stupid,” Champ huffs. He’s seven.

“One day, little boy, you will find a girl that will sweep you off your feet,” Hawk says.

“No, I won’t,” he says, pouting, causing us all to laugh.

“I thought that at a time.” Brick blushes, grabbing Ariel’s hand.

“And what happened?” River asks.

“You heard the story. Or did he leave me out of it?”

Lake laughs. “No, we heard. You were always mean to grandpa.”

“That’s how he remembers it. I kept him in line. But me and Ari met because your grandpa blew her off.”

“Hey!”

“It is true, though.” Ariel pats my shoulder.

“But you two found each other because of me,” I proudly say as I yawn.

“Time to get Grandpa home,” Lark says, rounding everyone up.

We wave to Brick and Ariel and head home.

It’s been a long day of family time. I head up to bed as soon as we get home, reflecting on my life and how I would never change anything. Except when Ever left me.

Sometime after her hospital stay, we found out she had a clot in her brain. That’s one of the reasons she passed out when I proposed.

We had to watch her stress during her pregnancies because she could easily have an aneurysm.

The day Hawk graduated high school, the dam burst. She said she had a headache and went to lie down and never woke back up. Hawk blamed himself since it was a celebration. She worked her ass off to give him a great party for him and his friends. I never blamed him.

I did sometimes blame myself, wondering what I could have done differently. Were there signs I missed?

I was devastated. Broken. She was my world and I was hers. She wasn’t that old and still had a long life to live. It wasn’t fair. Shane was the one to knock some sense back into me. I had to go on, to be there for my children, even though I felt robbed of life.

I found purpose through Wren’s husband, helping out at the gym when I can, coaching when asked. Wren and I put together charity fights to raise money for various organizations.

When Shane passed away, I buried him next to Ever by her pond. I spend an hour each day talking to both of them. I always tell people to find people that believe in you for you, not the money you make or the job you have. Shane would tell me how it was, even if I didn’t want to hear it. But I loved him as a father. And Ever loved me for my flaws. She never wanted my money, just me. And my mother, she passed shortly after Shane. My mom loved me no matter what. She was my shoulder to cry on when I needed her.

And now that they’re gone, I feel like I’m missing something.

I have a hole in my heart that can never be filled, not until I’m at the Pearly Gates crossing over. I miss Ever every damn day. She’s the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I think about at night.

Ever was a special woman. Everyone who met her fell in love with her. You couldn’t help it. No matter what life threw at her, she cared more about others than herself. Every night we told each other our version of our story. She always said that in the end, her life was a fairy tale and I was her prince.

Ever is and will always be my favorite part of our story. She was my everything as I was hers. I was her first, her only.

And until I die, I will always be Ever’s last.