To the heart

Chapter 20: Peaceful pursuits

Later that night, Lily went to her old home and began moving her belongings out, without even a second thought. She was happy to quit this life, she was happy to start a new one with the love of her life and she was happy that her mother was proud of her. As she brought another package out to the truck she borrowed, she was startled by hands that grabbed her from behind. As soon as the hands grabbed her, they let go and grabbed the box, allowing her to duck out of the way to see her so-called attacker. When she looked up, Jude was standing there, box in hand, smiling.

She frowned at him and said, "don't scare me like that, you almost got hurt...how did you even find me anyway?". He smiled at her and said, "your father called me but I didn't buy it until your Aunt called and told me and I had to come see for myself". Lily frowned and pulled him back inside the house and against a wall. She pulled him into a kiss which he immediately returned. The kiss continued on as she lost track of everything around her and deepened the kiss for a bit before pulling away and saying "sorry, I missed you, it's just things have been weird for us the day after the doctor said I was going to make a full recovery".

Jude looked at her and said "what do you mean?" and she looked down at the floor before saying "You stopped kissing me, gazing into my eyes lovingly and well we just started acting more like friends instead of dating, and that hurt really bad Jude". He sighed and said, "I was angry but I didn't mean to make you feel like that". He cupped her cheek and said "you are very attractive to me but that's not what I love the most, it's your personality; I love how you're tough yet feminine and how you can be so hardheaded when you're mind is set to something.

I also love how you're this strong, beautiful woman but you're also vulnerable and have needs and feelings and I almost love how you're always so handsy". Lily put a hand over his mouth and said "hush!" as she looked away to hide her bright red face. Jude smiled and said "I'm proud of you Lily, so I guess you deserve your reward now". Jude kneeled in front of her, produced a ring box, and said "Lily will you-" and before he could finish his sentence, she tackled him to the floor with kisses and said "of course, I will!". He slid the ring on her finger and said "Today is the best day of my life and she smiled and said, "I couldn't agree more".

One year later:
It had been one week since Lily and Jude had gotten married and it still felt so surreal. They didn't have a big fancy wedding because Lily was still recovering from her PTSD and was paranoid the wedding would turn into a blood fest so they settled upon just getting a license at city hall. Over the past year, things began to look up for Lily, her father went back to being a hitman, the restaurant thrived and her father even did a few hits on his own to remove the restaurant's resistance, unbeknownst to Lily of course. They were soon preparing to open a second location across town since things were so popular and it was very exciting.

She couldn't believe that a botched job would introduce her to the love of her life, bring her family together and help her to where she finally belonged. She became more sociable, made a few friends, met some old classmates, and even won her battle with depression. As the sun rose and began another day, Lily and Jude walked into the restaurant addressed the staff, and got down to business in however, Lily kept gazing up at the rising sun and the few visible stars left. Jude joined her and said, "are you upset we didn't do the honeymoon because we still can".

She pulled him into a kiss and said "no, every day with you is my honeymoon, it still feels like a dream and I never wanna wake up from it". Jude smiled and said "then what is it?" and she giggled and said "I was just wondering what the future will bring for us" and he kissed her and said, "it doesn't matter, cause' come good or bad I'll always be by your side like I said 2 years ago and that promise will follow me until death do us part".

The End ?