Page 81 of Chase

Epilogue

Izzy

It’s been a month since all the revelations and I’m pleased to say, my gorgeous fur baby is back on her feet. Wobbly but on her feet, nonetheless. We’ve just met with the estate agent who will be handling the sale of Nonna’s house. We debated the decision, but in the end, I want to leave all of this behind me. I have her ring and that is my special memory of her. I don’t need bricks and mortar to remind me of her beautiful face, her kind heart, or her comforting embrace, and I know I never want to return to this place again. Besides, it’s the perfect house for a family to start afresh, and seeing as we’re returning to California next week, that family is not going to be ours.

Will is going to be managing my share of the family business much to my father’s disgust. However, he has very little choice in the matter. Tilly has reached out to me a few times, but I’m not ready for that just yet. She’s told me she’s done a lot of soul searching with Gary and is beginning to make changes to her life, such as shedding off some of her ‘friends’, including Will’s sister.

They’re still building a case against Ethan, but it would seem he kept video evidence of that evening when he let his friends attack me. I guess he thought it would come in handy one day, something to use against both them and me. They’re beginning to go after some of the men who raped me, so the case is much bigger than I originally thought it would be. Suffice to say, he’s unlikely to be getting out for a very long time. I’m more than happy to help in any way I can but otherwise, I’m also finally ready to let it all go, to move on, and not think about that part of my life ever again.

After the estate agent shakes hands with us both, he nips into his BMW and drives at speed through the village, leaving us both to take in our last sight of this place. With Stella sitting in the front garden, Theo smiles at me, then holds out his hand for mine. I don’t even question it, just trust him as I slide my hand inside of his.

We head over to the bridge where we had talked for the first time, where I had so often played Pooh sticks, and where I had always gone to escape my family. It’s been refurbished, courtesy of Nonna, or so says the plaque we had placed on the fence post. It looks all shiny and new, ready for other kids to come and play Pooh sticks. Stella, however, is the first ‘child’ to Christen it by diving into the water running underneath to pick up random stones from the bottom of the stream. Theo cages me in from behind, nuzzling his lips into my neck and making me giggle, all the while I watch my puppy take joy in something so simple.

“Do you remember asking me how I would propose for real?” he whispers. I gasp before biting on my lower lip in excitement. “I always knew I’d ask you here, where we first spoke to one another, where we used to meet up, and where you gave me a hard time for pashing with Madison.”

I giggle as I nudge him playfully with my elbow, to which he laughs with me.

“You deserved it, and you know it,” I tease.

“I did,” he admits, “but now, lift your hand out for me, Izzy.”

Of course, I hold up my right hand just to play with him, so he bites my earlobe. I yelp and then fall into giggles before lifting my left hand out in front of us. Without words, he carefully pulls out a simple platinum band with a solitaire diamond sparkling right in the middle of it. We both stare at it for a moment, marveling in its beautiful simplicity, much like us.

“Marry me, Izzy,” he whispers.

“Yes,” I reply instantly, and without the giggles, “always!”

And then…then he slides it on, making us whole, forever, and unbreakable.