Chapter 14 - THE PROPOSAL AT THE PIANO
Ethan proposed on a rainy evening in October.
Lily was six.
She'd been taking piano lessons for a year.
And she had insisted on performing a special song for us.
I sat in the parlor.
Ethan stood beside the piano.
Lily played.
Slowly.
Carefully.
A melody I'd heard years earlier.
The song Ethan played the night he told me he loved me.
When she finished, she turned toward me.
"Mommy?"
I smiled.
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"Daddy has a question."
My heart stopped.
Ethan knelt.
He opened a small velvet box.
Inside was a ring.
Simple.
Beautiful.
He looked at me.
"Rosa Alvarez."
His voice trembled.
"Four years ago, I lost the woman I loved because I couldn't keep the world around me safe."
My eyes filled.
He continued.
"Then she came back into my life carrying the most beautiful gift I've ever received."
He looked at Lily.
She grinned.
He turned back to me.
"I can't change the past."
He swallowed.
"But I can promise to spend every day building a future worthy of you both."
Tears streamed down my face.
"Will you marry me?"
I laughed through tears.
"Yes."
Lily squealed.
"She said yes!"
Ethan stood and kissed me.
May you like
And for the first time, the grand piano wasn't a symbol of humiliation.
It was the place where our family began again.
