Page 61 of Once Bitten

It was the dress.

The exact midnight blue silk, sequined bodice dress.

It was more beautiful than I ever remembered.

I’d asked my parents to drop it at Heather’s house after I’d moved to NYC, and somehow, he’d managed to get it, after all this time.

“Can you, can you please help me?”I held out the dress, trembling as the years faded away.

“Yes, of course,” Winnie replied, pulling the dress over my head and zipping up the back, smoothing out the silk skirt over my waist and down my legs.

“You look so beautiful in the dress, Kara.” The other woman came in to see.

“Thank you. Thank you all so much.” I could only hope that I would live up to Finn’s expectations.

Winnie came back with a pair of silver stilettos and slid them on my feet. Perfect fit.

“Kara?” Finn’s voice called out softly from the other room.

“Um, I’ll be right out.” I answered.

The women wished me good luck and left, saying good bye to Finn as they closed the door behind them.

I took a deep breath and followed them out to the living room.

Finn stood there, in the same colored midnight blue that he wore that night, a single rose in his hands.

“Kara. My god, Kara.” He whispered.

I walked to him, my legs wobbling ,from emotion, rather than the shoes this time. He held out the rose to me, his eyes still locked on mine.

“Thank you.” I smiled, as I ran the velvet rose bud over my cheek.

“Do you remember what I said to you that night when we were dancing?”

“You said…that I was the most beautiful thing you’d ever seen.” I would never forget it.

“I meant it, but I didn’t know there’d be a today. You are an angel, Kara. My angel.” He reached for the rose and placed it on the coffee table, pulling me close, his arms slid around my waist, and the other, curled in against our chests, as we swayed gently to the beat of our breaths.

“Remember this?”

“Always.”

He started to sing, “‘And I, want to thank you, for giving me the best day of my life...’”

“You remember that was playing?”

“You didn’t believe me when I told you that this was the most perfect moment...ever?”

I didn’t.

“It was only going to be surpassed by what was going to come after.”

“What was that?”

Finn went silent for a moment, pulling me tighter and humming another line of the song.

“I was going to tell you, that I loved you. But we were interrupted, so I’ll tell you now. I love you.”

I closed my eyes, wanting to imprint myself in time in that exact moment forever.

“Finn.”

“I did then, and I do now. And whatever happens after tomorrow, remember, Kara. I’ve loved you my whole life.”

“I’ve loved you my whole life, Finn and I will for every life to come.”