Two years and eight months had passed since I met Ryan and I felt that I was at a stage in my life where I could look back. I looked back and relished in the happiness I shared with this beautiful man.
I resigned from People Magazine when I decided to stay here in Wilmington.
My story on Sally was published and I got a big send off.
I then joined the North Carolina Times as one of their senior features editors months later on Sally’s recommendation and it felt like that was the moment my career truly took off. It was because I was happy. I was happy in love and I had a family, and friends who loved me. And I loved them back too fiercely.
It was great to see the beauty in all that happened around me.
All that I ever wanted was right here.
My bestfriend lived here.
My mentor lived here.
I had my sweet Aria, this beautiful baby inside me, and the very best husband in the world.
Ryan, my husband. We’d been married now for eighteen months and I was still on cloud nine.
It was amazing to see our life unfold. Our story was still filling out and we had the rest of forever to love each other.
It was a beautiful thought.
We stopped at our favorite spot and he lowered to kiss me.
“I love you Brooke.” He whispered against my lips.
“And I love you Ryan.” Those were words I would never get tired of saying.
* * *
Ryan
* * *
What a great day.
And it was Friday.
I kind of no longer had anything against that day.
I didn’t have time to. I was too busy with life now to give a damn as to what day of the week it was and whether or not the day would be good or not just because it was a Friday.
With Brooke every day of the week was a special day.
The woman had me on my toes, and sometimes to keep up with her I found myself resorting to my notebooks.
We came back from the beach about an hour ago and retreated to the sitting room to relax by the fire place.
It wasn’t cold at all but we liked to have a fire going in the background while we snuggled together in the evenings.
With her ever growing stomach, these days our snugglings saw us at opposite ends of the sofa. She lay on a mountain of cushions with her feet on my lap and we’d talk about any and everything.
Tonight though she fell asleep within five minutes of the fire being lit.
It had been a really long two days for us, but more for her. We left with Aria early yesterday and had to endure that three hour flight on the way back today. Then our walk on the beach.
She had to be tired.
