Page 54 of Summer’s Echo
Two Days After the Proposal
“I can’t believe this baby has grown another two ounces since last week,” Summer mused from the passenger seat, scrolling through the ultrasound images on her phone. They had just left the doctor’ s office, and she was stillreeling from the magic of hearing their baby’s heartbeat.
“I think I’m going to start calling them Watermelon instead of Blueberry.” She rested her hand over her belly.
Echo smiled, but his usual easy banter was missing.His grip on the steering wheel tightened, his focus locked on the road ahead. Summer noticed immediately.
“E?” She turned to look at him glancing out the window as the streets blurred past. They weren ’t headed toward her favorite burger spot like they usually did after appointments. Instead, they were going in the opposite direction.
“Where are we going?” she asked, curiosity creeping into her voice.
“I just need to make a stop,” Echo said, his tone unreadable.
Summer furrowed her brows. “Me and your baby are way too hungry for stops, Daddy,” she teased, rubbing her belly for emphasis.
“Keep calling me Daddy if you want to,” he said, throwing her a wink that sent a shiver down her spine.
Shaking her head , her curiosity deepened as they drove another five minutes in silence, then Echo pulled up in front ofthe Los Angeles Courthouse.
Summer’s breath caught, her eyes darting from him to the building. “Echo?” she said. “What’s going on?”
He shifted in his seat, turning toward her fully . His hands found hers,his touch easy and assured.
“I realized something,” he started, his voice deep,laced with conviction .
“Tradition isn’t just about rules and protocols—it’s about building something real, something lasting.
I may not be traditional like my father in most ways, but when it comes to us?
” His thumb traced gentle circles over her palm.
“The one thing I am traditional about ismaking sure our foundation is solid before our baby ever takes their first breath.”
Summer’s lips parted, her pulsethudding like a drum against her ribs.The baby must have felt it, too, becausea flurry of tiny kicks fluttered against her belly, as if expressing happiness for their parents .
Echo held her gaze,his own glistening with surety.“I want to bring Baby Abara into this world as Mr . and Mrs. Abara.”
And just like that, the dam shattered . Tears streaked down her face before his words were even fully spoken . Her breathing turned uneven, chest rising in deep, trembling waves. One hand clutched his, the other pressed instinctively to her belly—cradling the life growing inside her.
“Summer,” Echo said,his voice rough and raw with love .“Will you marry me—right here, right now, today?”
A watery laugh bubbled from her puffy lips as shegripped his face between her hands, memorizing the moment. “Yes,” she said. “Yes, Echo Abara. I will marry you anytime, anywhere , anyplace.”
The tension drained from his body as he melted into her, his broad frame extended over the car’s console, pressing against hers.
Echo’s fingers tangled in her hair, his other hand cradling the gentle curve of her belly.
He pressed soft, lingering kisses across her face, as if marking her with his love, with his promise.
Somehow , without him even realizing it, their future had already begun .
As the sun dipped low in the sky, casting agolden hazeover Camp Quest, Summer and Echo stood together,hands clasped, hearts open,in the place where their story first began.
This was their sacred sanctuary.The place that had held their secrets, where their love had been whispered into the wind,where they had lost and found each other all over again.
Now, it would bear witness to their forever.
Summer’s eyes misted as she looked up at Echo—the boy who had beenher best friend, her first love;the man who had becomeher home.
“This place has always been ours,” she said.“Where we met, where I broke, and where we found our way back to each other. It’s only right that we promise forever here.”
Echo sighed, his griptightening around hers.His thumb traced slow, deliberate circles over her skin, a silent reminder thathe was here, and he wasn’t going anywhere.
“I prayed we’d find our way back to each other,” he admitted.“For a minute, I thought I’d lost you, but God had a different plan.” He curled his lips into a small, knowing smile.“I will always find you, Sunshine, and I’ll spend the rest of my life fighting for us.”
Just like their love, their vows were fast and furious—no grand speeches, no rehearsed words, justreal and unfiltered.Echo lifted her hand to his lips,kissing her palm, while his head rested against hers.When they were teenagers, it was a promise. Today, it was a vow.
“Come here, Sun,” he whispered,pulling her into him, pressing his lips to hers in a kiss that held everything—the past, the present, and every moment yet to come.
The intimate crowd offamily and friends erupted in cheers and happy tears,knowing they were witnessinga love reborn, a second chance written in the stars.
As the guests transitioned to the reception space, the newly minted Abara family stayed behind, sharing a quiet moment beneath the vast evening sky.
They sat one ofthe old wooden swings facing the lake,watching asthe first stars peeked through the dusky haze.
The same stars that hadwitnessed their first love.
Quest slept soundly againsther daddy’s chest, his rhythmic heartbeat lulling her into peaceful dreams.Summer sighed, burrowing deeper into his side,her head tucked against his shoulder, wrapped in him .
Echopressed a kiss to their daughter’s tiny forehead, then let his lips linger against Summer’s temple.
His smile curved against her skin,memories flickering behind his eyes—splashing in the lake, sneaking snacks under the old oak tree, wordless dreams whispered beneath the stars.
She sighed softly, andhe knew she was remembering, too.
“You good, Sunshine?” Echo asked.
She tilted her chin,meeting his gaze, her eyes filled with something adoring, something unbreakable, something that would last forever.
“Mm-hmm.” She nestled even closer.“I’m happy to be home.”
THE END