The fact that Brandy had placed his address on the hospital discharge paperwork told me everything I needed to know about my birth mom. It had been a parting gift. Directing me towards a man she knew would love me and though at the time when I’d found my birth records in the attic of my parent’s home in Lonestar Junction, I hadn’t realized that she'd been pointing me towards my chosen family all along.
“Will you tell me more about her?” I say, smiling for the first time since entering Catherine's home and feeling peace regarding the future.
Catherine nods, “I’d love that.”
Chapter 33 – Paloma
I’d always known that Dallas would hold a key place in my life.
Even when I considered whether he was a real person or just someone who pitied me and decided to entertain my angsty, teenager letters.
For years, my life had been earmarked by BD,before Dallasand AD,after Dallas.
But living with his mom and dad the past month, learning about the people who raised the generous, patient, kind, confident man that I’d fallen in love with and quite literally, watched grow up, deepened that care into a burning and steady love. One that I knew would last beyond anything life through our way.
I understood better now why Dallas had chosen to enlist and distance himself from everything and everyone he’d once known, including me, his mildly annoying, quirky pen pal. His life in Los Angeles had been too comfortable, handed to him with little effort required, even for the app he’d painstakingly and independently built and sold.
I’d always sensed that a part of him, despite his attempts to conceal it, would wonder if his success in finding a buyer and making such a lucrative sale was somehow intertwined with his last name and his parents' reputation within the wealthy Hollywood community. Perhaps it was. But that didn’t matter to me because I understood now just how hard-working he really was.
The Dallas I’d fallen for was still inside of him, but he had been rebuilt and refined into a new, much more mature thirty-one-year-old man.
He no longer felt the need to chase endless hobbies and career paths in search of external validation and satisfaction. Internally, he was finally at peace with himself. And coming off of my month-long extended stay in Los Angeles, getting to know more about Brandy and Jackson, I was too.
“I love you, my Paloma, my Dove,” Dallas whispers as he kisses my lips gently and strokes my cheek in the way that only he can make me feel so entirely seen and known while holding me tightly. “I’m so grateful that fate brought us together.
I kiss him back, our naked bodies entwined in the large bed of his home on Golden farm.
"When do you head back to Los Angeles?"
"Not until December."
He pulls me closer, holding me tightly against his chest before murmuring gently in my ear. "Give me forever? Marry me?"
I gently move backward to look into his eyes. His hand wraps around my waist where the small, velvet box we'd picked out months ago when we'd gone ring shopping together is placed in the center.
"I vow to never let our marriage stand in the way of your dreams or attempt to alter who you are. I promise to support and uplift you in everything you pursue. To always be faithful, and to keep the friendship we've built at the center of our love. With thatsteady friendship, there’s nothing that can tear us apart."
I nod my head,yes, as tears fill my eyes. I’d known this day was coming but nothing could have prepared me for how special it actually was that Dallas waited until a quiet moment of simplicity spent together to propose. It was just us against the world, the way it’d always been. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Dallas slips the stunning rose gold and black diamond ring from its box and gently slides it onto my ring finger, ensuring it fits snugly.
"It's even more beautiful than I remember."
"It's every bit as unique as you are."
"But where will we live? I’ll still be touring for at least a few more years hopefully."
He shrugs, "We'll keep a home in Los Angeles and Lonestar Junction. I think it's only fitting we split our time between the two places we met, became friends, and fell in love. I love you, Paloma Hart. A house doesn't make a home for me. Wherever our hearts are together, then we'll be home."
I kiss him again, “I love you, Dallas. I can’t wait to spend forever with you.”
Chapter 34 – Dallas – Epilogue
One year later...
“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Georgia, happy birthday to you!”
Our chosen family, the Camerons, Paloma's siblings, and a few of our other friends from around town sing loudly to the adorable, strawberry blonde daughter of Wylie and Stevie as we celebrate her first birthday at Cameron ranch.
