“We have to go.” I stand and Emmanuel follows my lead.
Neither of us speaks until we get to the car. “Thank you.” I turn to him. “For lying to her.”
“Your mother needs help, Evie,” he says.
“That’s not my problem. I can’t… It’s not…” I don’t know how to explain it to him.
“I know. It’s okay.” He grabs my hand. “Ready to pick up Rachel and head to Milan?”
“Emmanuel, you just found out I’m the twin sister of your dead girlfriend. You can’t seriously want to marry me still,” I say.
“No, what I found out is that you got stuck being raised by a sick woman. You had a sister who really didn’t fare any better in the parent department. I love you, Evie. I am in love with you. Not Laura. You,” he says. “I love your kindness. I love your loyalty, your strength. I love the way you look at meas if I can solve the world’s problems. I love you. I love the way you love me. I love you.”
“I know,” I say.
“So, Milan?” he asks.
“Let’s do it. Let’s get married.” I smile. I’m actually going to marry this man. I’m going to move on and live my life for the future and leave the past behind me. Those monsters can’t hurt me anymore, and that’s because of Emmanuel. He killed them all. He showed me that I can be loved, even the worst parts of me can be loved.
“You want to talk about it?”
“Not right now. But one day, I’m going to want you to tell me everything you know about my sister,” I say.
“When that day comes, I need you to promise me one thing.”
“What’s that.”
“That you remember that I love you. Don’t forget that, Evie. It’s important to me that you never forget,” he says.
“I won’t forget. How can I when you tell me every other minute? And you show me that you love me all the minutes you aren’t saying it.” I smile. “You know, we can always just go to Vegas and elope. It will be much quicker and cheaper.”
“You are not having a wedding in Vegas. You are having a wedding fit for a queen,” Emmanuel says.
“I think I’m going to like being your wife.”
“Good, because you’re going to be my wife, in this life and the next,” he says. “You are mi alma. I will always find you.”
Epilogue
This is happening. I’m actually marrying her today. When I saw this church on a trip to Italy a few years ago, I thought of her. I pictured her in a white dress walking down this aisle. And now she fucking is.
All those years of collecting photos, of thinking of the life Laura would have had if I hadn’t failed her. Even then, I knew she wasn’t Laura. I knew there was something different aboutthis woman. There was a pull towards her that was never there with Laura.
We still need to have to have a lot of real conversations about what her mother told us. I honestly don’t know how Evie is able to go through with this, how she’s not trying to run from me. When I saw her with the pictures, I thought I’d lost her.
Thankfully, by some grace of God, I get to keep her. Forever. Not that I ever would have let her run far. But the fact she didn’t says a lot more than words ever will. I know she loves me in the same way I love her. It’s not something logic can explain; it’s deeper than anything I’ve ever felt.
“You doing okay?” Louie asks. He’s standing up with me, along with Carlo and Sammie and Paz.
“I’m good. Why the fuck wouldn’t I be?”
“Just checking.” He chuckles.
The doors to the church open and then she appears. Evie. In a long white dress, with a smile that reaches her eyes. And when those eyes connect with mine, that’s where they stay the entire time it takes for her to reach me.
“Hey.” I smile as I take Evie’s hands in mine.
“Hey.”
