I stop by the hospital. Whether my parents want to throw me out or not, I need to see my mother.

"Sweetheart, I'll be out in a few days. They're just keeping an eye on me. I'll be fine."

I wanted to cry but the doctors- not van Hale because he seemed to be avoiding me- assured me she would be fine if she continued with the medication. They just wanted to keep her for observation and more tests.

"I know, Mom. I didn't say anything." She started reassuring me the moment I walked through the door. "I just wanted to see you."

She looks sceptical and I feel horrible. Dad sits down next to us and smiles at me.

"Look, I know I've been caught up in my own stuff for the past few months," I start. "But I have been thinking about how much I've turned my back on you both over the past year and I'm sorry. I'd never forgive myself if..."

"Oh, honey." Mom tries to hug me but she's unable to sit up. She pats my cheeks. "I'm to blame too. I've been keeping this from you for so long. Your father wanted me to tell you but I didn't want you to fuss. Lord knows he's been doing it enough."

Dad shrugs. "Sorry, my love. But I'm not sorry."

I smile. "Is there anything else I should know about? Or was this what you've been hiding and arguing about for so long?"

"No more secrets here, baby girl," Dad says.

I pull both of them in for a hug. I don't tell them about the van Hales. Mom is really close with them and I don't want her walking out of the hospital because she is upset with them. No. That I'd keep from them until she got better.

I leave the hospital and went back home.

To Marcel.

When I get there he isn't home. So I sit on the couch and I wait. It's dark outside now. His meetings were supposed to be long over.

Where are you, Marcel?

I'm​ at the park. The one Lee's father used to take me to when I was younger. I sit in front of the small pond and stare at nothing.

It's​ dark so I can't see anything but even if I could, staring into nothingness seems like a better alternative. I don't want to think. Not about my parents. Not about her. Nothing.

But life doesn't seem to ever give me what I want.

I sigh as my best friend sits down next to me. He doesn't speak but there's so much weight in the silence that he might as well have been yelling. "What do you want, Lee?" He doesn't answer for a while and I look at him. He seems so deep in thought I don't think he heard me.

"You remember that time when I came over to your house for Thanksgiving and your Mom threw me in the kitchen? You know she's the one who taught me how to cook?" He smiles, sadly. "And your dad always said I'd need it later in life because women love men who know their way around the kitchen. He really understood how women think."

"Only man in history," I add.

He chuckles. "He was right, you know?"

"That food is the way to a woman's heart?"

"That too. But no." I look at him. "On your tenth birthday. He told you that you'd become a man he'd be proud of someday. That no matter what life threw your way you'd be able to overcome it. Granted you were ten and could care less about that inspirational crap but it stuck with me. Maybe because I knew that I'd need to remind you later."

I bite back a tear at the memory. I hadn't remembered anything about that night. It was so long ago. I look away, focusing on the slight rippling on the top of the pond.

"You can finally get on with your life, Cel. You know who took them from you. Do what you have to do but don't let it ruin you. They're both already proud of you. So am I, especially after those deals you closed today. You're going to become one of the richest men around with the biggest construction business in the entire area. Dwell on that. On building your future. Not reminiscing about the past."

I look up at the sky. The stars my mother was so intrigued with when she was still here. And I find my resolve. I look back to my best friend and hug him.

I could face whatever life throws​ at me. I'm strong enough.

We talk a little more. About my parents, his parents, he and Vanessa, work and random things. He decides it's time for him to get home to Vanessa. I decide to call it a night too.

I listen to some music on the way home, bracing myself for the cold and empty house. I didn't have it in me to fight with her this morning.

She's in love with another man. I hate it but I want her to be happy. If her happiness is with him then I'm willing to let it all go and let her go.

I open the door to my house and switch the lights on. I look around and find just what I expected.

An empty house.

I drop my bag and remove my coat. I head to the kitchen and grab a mug from the cupboard. Coffee. I need coffee before I break down. I said I'd let her go but I never said my heart would listen. It's ready to mourn the loss.

I pause.

Something smelled suspiciously delicious. I haven't realised I haven't eaten since breakfast and just how hungry I am until this moment.

I walk slowly into the dining room and while my heart was preparing to mourn, it does the opposite. Instead of mourning it jumps for joy. I almost think I'm having a heart attack.

There's dinner on the table. The room is dimly lit by candlelights.

And she's here.

Her eyes are closed​ as she sleeps on her folded arms which were rested on the edge of the table.

"Evelyn?" I have to call her name out loud because I don't trust that this is real.

She stirs and still not moving from where I'm​ standing, I call her name louder. Her beautiful blue-grey eyes open. She looks otherworldly in the dim glow of the candlelights.

I say nothing as she stands and comes over to me. My heart, however, is screaming, "She's here! She's here!"

"I'm about to pour my heart out and I need you to shut up and let me do it," she says, coming to a stop just inches from me.

I nod since I don't know what to say anyway.

"I love you. I've loved you since you began stalking me on campus in college with the excuse that you were just seeing how I was doing because your roommate was an idiot who took advantage of my first heartbreak. But that heartbreak was like a paper cut compared to the knife in my chest when I thought you cheated on me and the extra kick in my stomach when I thought you were fathering someone else's child.

I ran. I thought it was the right thing to do. The easiest way out. I met someone who I thought was a friend. I thought he could help me get over you but I was so mistaken. There's no getting over you, Marcel Jamieson. I've been an idiot. We both have. We messed up. We've made mistakes. And even though I've learned to live without you, I don't want to. We can fix this. I'm here. For good. I'll move back in if you still want me to. I'll stay as long as you want me to. I'm here."

I don't need words. I pull her to me and kiss her like I haven't kissed her before. Her lips are heavenly. Her body warm and soft to the touch.

I have no idea how we make it upstairs but we do. She takes what is left of my heart and holds it in the palm of her hand with just her words and a kiss. She removes my shirt and I return the favour.

We barely make it to the bed before we're completely bare. I run my lips along her jaw. Down her neck. She nips my lips and I kiss her reverently, savouring the feel of her lips and the rapid beating of her heart.

She pulls away and looks me in the eyes. "So? Do you believe there's any saving us?"

I shake my head and laugh. "We're Evelyn and Marcel. We're in so deep with each other there's no saving us."

She laughs and rolls over so she's on top.

"But just so you know, you saved me the minute you walked into my life."

"And you saved me from a life without my one true love," she says.

"Yea, I know. What would you do without me?" I joke.

"Shut up and make love to me, you idiot."

I roll her back over and show her just how much I miss her, how much I need her.

And I thank God for saving us.

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