When the Heart Falls

I don't get it, but it's not important. Cade is back. My Cade. Le sigh.


Then I remember why he had went away in the first place. “Stevie?”

Cade’s smile falters, and I hate that something I said caused that. “He died.”

I wrap my arms around his waist, still looking up at him. “Oh, Cade.” I don’t say I’m sorry, because those are such weak words, so instead I send him all the love I have in me and hope he feels it.

“I’m actually doing better than I thought. He passed peacefully, and I finally learned something important about my family, and about love.”

“What’s that?”

“That love is letting go.”

My heart skips a beat in fear. Is he breaking up with me? Did he come all the way back to Paris to break my heart?

He must see the panic in my eyes, because he brings his finger up to stroke my cheek. “Don’t worry, Winter. I’m not letting go of you, not in the way you think. I just mean that love is about letting go of the expectations we have of other people to make us happy. We have to find that in ourselves. No one else can give it to us. If we don’t, we’ll crush those we love with expectations they can never meet.”

Understanding dawns on me. “You forgave your dad.”

He nods. “I did, and I owe that to you. You helped me see the truth of my family. I lost Pete because my parents couldn’t stand that he was gay. He killed himself. At least that’s why I thought he killed himself, and I blamed my dad and I blamed myself, but in the end, it’s no one’s fault. It happened, and now we have to move forward and build something new. And I’m ready to do that, Winter, with you. You’re my support beam.”

I smile at the reference to our first conversation about Notre Dame architecture. Sparks ignite between us. He leans down, and I reach up to him and our lips meet in a tender kiss filled with love and hope and a future I can’t wait to live. I never want to let go of him, never want to stop holding him. I belong with this man, I know that now. Whatever we have to do, we will be together.

“Did your dad realize all of this too?”

Cade shakes his head.

"So, if he never speaks with you again, it's my fault, isn't it?"

"No.” Cade kisses my forehead. "He is what he is, and I'm okay with that.” He kisses me once more and then pulls me toward the stairs. “Now, I have a surprise for you."





WINTER DEVEAUX

CHAPTER 36





HAND IN HAND we walk through the streets of Paris, and I have to keep looking up at him to make sure he’s real, that he’s really here and not just a figment of my imagination. Our separation wasn’t that long in the grand scheme of things, but the threat of permanence made it infinite. To have him back is like a miracle, and I don’t want to ever lose him again. I don’t bring up the end of summer, but I know things are changing for both of us. I’m just not sure how yet, but ideas are forming. If I’m brave enough.

For now, I focus on the present, and like a child at Christmas, I plague him with questions trying to guess the surprise, but he just kisses me and smiles his secret smile. Infuriating. Le sigh.

Gradually, the landmarks begin to look familiar. “Are we going to the Eiffel Tower?” The spot of our first kiss. Romantic.

Cade shakes his head, still smiling his secret smile.

And then we arrive at Lover’s Bridge and Cade pulls out a key and a heart-shaped lock.

I squeal and reach for it, running my finger over the CS + WD carved into it. Our initials.

He tilts my head up, his lips closing in on mine. “Winter, I love you, and I would like to become part of this tradition with you.”

“Oh my God, yes! This is the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for me.”

He pops open the lock, and we find a space on the fence. "You sure?" he asks. "This means we'll be stuck together forever."

"I'm sure." Forever. The word is a promise of more than I can imagine right now, but it fills my heart with so much joy I can hardly contain it.

Cade holds one side of the lock and I hold the other. Together we snap it shut. He hands me the key. “For you.”

I toss it into the water, watching it sink to the bottom to join hundreds, maybe thousands of other keys, promises lining the bottom of the Seine for eternity.

The necklace Daring gave me before I left is hanging around my neck, and I fidget with the empty space for a key.

Cade grins and pulls another key from his jean pockets. “I thought you might like one to keep for your necklace, so I had an extra made.”

My eyes fill with tears, and I throw myself into his arms. “You know me so well. I love you.”

Cade pulls back. "Shit.”

"Shit? That’s not the response I was hoping for."

"I dropped the key."

"Where? Not in the—"

"In the water."

"Please tell me you made another one?"

With a grin on his face he holds up his hand, displaying the key.