Oblivion (Completed)

Ryan, cont.

Present Day

There is nothing sexier than a confident woman, and she's got it down. Oh, she's crying alright. But those pretty warm streams running down her cheeks aren't rivers of disappointment; she's literally overjoyed in a way I've never seen, and it's so fucking beautiful I could almost cry with her.

The dreams she gave up on were real all along. And this second chance she got at life gave her more than a husband and shot at a new career It gave her her history. The one she almost didn't get a chance to know.

It's as if somehow she survived that fire just to prove the world wrong. To prove herself wrong...because she's always deserved happiness, even when she thought she was shit out of luck.

As soon as she learned to love herself and love her life, she was granted the one wish she never thought possible. She has family - a kind, warm-hearted mother, who willingly admitted her mistakes and sought out a future with her child. I never knew her father or adoptive mother, but I think it goes without saying that Joey's already a far better person than both Lewis's combined.

I love sharing my mother and siblings with Henley, and making her feel a part of our close little family, but I know it's not the same. I also know she'll continue to love them as if they've always belonged to her, because they always will. Now she's just got a few more people to love her, and there's not a damn thing wrong with that.

I can feel this moment, Henley's happiness, in my heart and in my gut, and when she looks up at me with warm, glassy eyes, I nearly break. I see pieces of her fitting together I never knew existed, excitement and relief washing through her veins, and she wears happiness so beautifully.

She sits beside Joey, flipping through the many pages of an old leather photo album that is no doubt filled with snapshots of a tiny Henley from a much different time. I don't know much about Joey, and being Henley's husband, I'm naturally pissed that Henley was misled her entire life, but I can see Henley's heart is filtering out the bad and only keeping the good right now, and I admire her for it. There's no way in hell I could do the same so easily.

"Oh my God. I remember those shoes. I wanted them so much and they didn't have my size, so we drove across town to the other location so we could pick them up that day," she laughs and I can feel it in my bones in the best way possible. "Wow. I look just like you. How could I have not known?"

And that's just another example of how amazing Henley really is, and that's not my rose-tinted glasses talking, either. To go through the hell she's gone through and come out smiling is an accomplishment in itself, but she's diving headfirst into this new life with her eyes closed and complete trust. And while I'm happy for her, I hope to God this doesn't turn into another disappointment, because for as strong as she is, this would surely destroy her.

If you can't tell, I'm torn.

I want her to be happy. More than anything, I want her to have the happiness she deserves, even if it came later than it should have. She is my dream...my whole damn world. She makes everything better and brighter; she saved me, and I'm do everything I can to make sure I always save her, too. Sorry if it sounds macho, but it's my job to make sure she looks before she leaps.

I did let her know my concerns last night, but her soft, warm lips pressed against mine, muting my words and worries and letting me know she's got it handled. Like I said, it's sexy as hell. She's pretty hot when she's got her mind made up.

"Don't think like that. I'm not," she told me last night after we climbed the stairs and headed to our room to crash for the night. "Just knowing the truth is enough. Everything else is a bonus. Just knowing that amazing connection I felt to Joey as a little girl actually makes sense. All this time, my father said it was attachment problems. But he was afraid," she smiled sadly, knowingly. "And incredibly selfish. And it's not my fault," she said with a yawn as she stepped out of her pants and pulled a clean t-shirt over her head. "And that changes everything."