The Price of Forgetting

Epilogue

"Alright, close your eyes."

"What?" Puzzled, I looked up at Matthew. In response, he raised an eyebrow, knowing I hadn't misheard him.

"Why?"

"Because I agreed to show you the house on my terms," he said. "And that's one of them."

"I thought you meant the time and day we would come here." I'd been pestering him for the longest time, but today he decided we could make the trek out to the place that would be our home in a few weeks. As I'd guessed, it wasn't very far from his parents' home. We were maybe a mile away.

"Well now you know there's more to it."

For a minute, I watched him incredulously. He only stared back at me, amused. With a sigh and eye roll, I complied and closed my eyes. I could just peek anyway.

"This is ridiculous," I said. "How am I even supposed to walk the rest of the way?"

"Ridiculous or not, it's my condition. I want you to see it right the first time. But you won't be walking."

"Matthew!" I gasped, my eyes flying open as I was knocked off my feet and into his arms.

He chuckled as I flailed for a moment and then cringed when my nails involuntarily dug into him. "Easy there." He sounded pained.

With a smirk, I allowed my grip to relax. "Well, you should have warned me."

"I probably should have, but I couldn't resist." He grinned. "Eyes closed."

I gave him a flat look before complying a second time. Once I was blind, he started moving.

"And no peeking."

"Who me? I wouldn't dare."

"Yeah, right. I'll know if you do. Don't ruin it."

I pursed my lips, not thrilled that he'd anticipated my plan. Apparently taking that as an invitation, his lips briefly met mine and I couldn't help smiling. Ridiculous as this was, it was also sweet. He'd spent so much time planning for our future and making our home, he wanted the big reveal to be right. And I guess after all that time and effort, he deserved that. No matter how impatient I felt. So I rested my head on his shoulder as he walked, and planned to be good.

"Now?" I asked when he stopped walking a few minutes later.

"Mmmmm..." He pretended to deliberate and I smacked his arm. With a laugh, he set me on my feet again. "Alright."

"Oh Matthew," I breathed as I got my first glimpse of our future home. The cottage was painted white with a big stone chimney and a welcoming front porch. There were rose bushes lining the sides and forget-me-nots in the window boxes. It was small, but not too small. Like Matthew said before, it looked just right for the two of us. "It's beautiful. Absolutely perfect."

"You haven't seen the inside yet." Looking pleased, he took my hand and led me through the door.

The tour didn't take very long. The rooms inside probably looked similar to a million other homes, but this was our home - Matthew's and mine - so it felt very different. And while it didn't come close to rivaling the opulence of many homes I'd seen in the kingdom, it was so much more beautiful to me than any of those had been.

"What's this room for?" We stood in the doorway of a small room with a big window. It could have been a bedroom, but Matthew had already shown me the one that would be ours as well as two others that could be guest rooms for now. There wasn't much furniture in this particular room yet to give me an idea of what Matthew had in mind. There was just a small table and chair near the window.