Gwen draws back, her brows snapping down. "What? She is the girl you had tattooed on your back?" She keeps frowning, pausing for several seconds. "I just always assumed that girl was dead."
I shake my head. "No, not dead. Very much alive. And very much loved. And I pray to God, very much mine. Have a nice life, Gwen." And I turn and walk away.
I return to my building fifteen minutes later, caffeinated and feeling more alive. I wonder if Evie has read my letter yet. I wonder what she’s thinking for the hundredth time since she ran out of my condo. I wonder if she’ll respond to me, and if so, when. Fight for her. Oh, I intend to.
You’re worth fighting for.
Maybe I’m getting there. Maybe I’m not the bad bet that I believed myself to be for so, so long.
I step on to the elevator and wait as the small group of people step on with me. As I’m waiting for the doors to close, a man next to me taps me on the shoulder, and when I look over at him, he points at the glass behind me. I turn around and there she is. My lion tamer, my Evie, my love. For a second, I don’t understand. She’s smiling up at me and she mouths, "I choose you." Time seems to slow and the background noise fades out around me. I suck in a huge breath, the sudden lump in my throat threatening to choke me.
You’re worth fighting for.
I yell out, "Stop the elevator!" and push through the people in front of me, the door opening at the next floor so I can step off.
I run toward the escalator to the left of me, and even though it’s going in the wrong direction, it’s a way down to Evie and so take it, jumping three and four stairs at a time, ignoring the people swearing at me and giving me dirty looks as I push past them.
You’re worth fighting for.
She’s the only thing I see, the only thing in focus as I leap over the railing once I’m close enough to the bottom.
We run to each other and I pick her up, spinning her around, pressing my face into her hair, trying desperately to stay in control of the emotions that are steamrolling over me – joy, thankfulness, hope, love. She continues to chant, "I choose you. I choose you, Leo. Always."
You’re worth fighting for.
The sounds of people clapping and whistling breaks through the haze of joy around me, and I look around to see people staring at us. I laugh, an unbelieving laugh, and look back at Evie who is grinning, too, her face full of love.
"I love you, Evie," I say, my voice deep with emotion, even to my own ears.
"I love you, Leo, my loyal lion."
"You still believe that, after everything?" I look deeply into her eyes and see that she does.
You’re worth fighting for.
She nods. "Even more. You found the courage to jump through fire for me. You found yourself on the other side, didn't you?"
I look at her, thinking that yes, I think she’s right. I think that the fire turned out to be my own fear, my own sense of worthlessness. "I guess I did. But you were the one holding the ring." You were the one who always believed in me. You were the one who always thought I was enough.
"That's the easy part, my beautiful boy. Believing in you is effortless. It always was."
God, I love this beautiful, beautiful girl. I grin. "I'm going to take you back to my den and maul you now."
She grins right back. "Yes, please."
I take her hand in mine, our future stretched out in front of us, the promise to give her a beautiful life is a vow etched on my heart.
EPILOGUE
Two months later
Leo grabs my hand between our seats, bringing it to his lips and kissing it. He smiles over at me, and I lean my head back on the headrest and give him a smile too. As he turns back to the road, I drink in the beauty of his profile.
It's been two months since that day in his office building lobby, the most beautiful two months of my life. We've spent it reminiscing about both good and bad times, falling more deeply in love, just being us together, no secrets between us, no fear, no guilt or shame. I tease him that Jake is my lion, and Leo is my boy. I love both, I need both – just one or the other doesn't add up to the complete person that he's become. My fierce, loyal man and my sweet, tender, protective boy. Both scarred, but both finally able to find the strength to accept that even life's worst experiences can be valuable gifts.
Oh and also, both of them like to maul me, frequently, and that's a good thing. A very, very good thing. I grin over at him.
"What?" he asks.
"I was just thinking about this morning," I say, grinning more.
He chuckles back. "Yeah. We really missed out on the showering together in the beginning, didn't we? I'm glad we're making up for lost time." He winks and grins back.
I laugh. "Definitely. So where are you taking me?" I tilt my head and look at him suspiciously. When we had gotten in the car, he had said he wanted to show me something, but wouldn't tell me what.
"You'll see in a minute."
We both look ahead as he makes a turn and that's when I realize that we're on the street where I used to live, the street of my old foster home. I frown slightly. What are we doing here?
As he pulls up in front of the house, I look over at Leo, and he has a nervous expression on his face as he studies me. "Trust me?" he asks.
I don't even take a second to think about it before whispering, "Yes. Completely."
He smiles as he shuts off the engine and leans over and kisses me softly. "Come on, then."