A Forever Kind of Love

Prologue

The road to happily ever after is paved with struggles, heartache, and hard choices…but, if we take the lessons from our journey and learn from them—our happily ever after will be so worth it.

-Jax Porter

I met my soul mate when I was born—well, shortly thereafter anyway. Our mothers were best friends, and that meant Lily and I, being only a month apart, were put together from the very start. I do not have a memory in my life that doesn’t have her in at least the backdrop. Most of my memories, especially the great ones, feature her front and center. 

Lily is perfect. 

I know people say that about the ones they love, but in this case, it is true. Of course she has some imperfections—she is human—but to me, even those are perfect. It’s hard to explain my feelings toward Lily because the word love doesn’t adequately describe them, not in the least. It is so much more than that. 

She is everything. 

She is the sun that rises in the morning, bringing with her a new day, shining her ray of light down on me. Her warmth engulfs me with a sense of love and peace that only she can give. She is the moon that graces the night sky, glowing bright, emitting a sea of tranquility to my soul. 

She is every moment in between, every breath, and every heartbeat. 

Every-fucking-thing.

She is all that I’ve ever known, yet therein lies the problem. 

I didn’t just start loving Lily one day. I think I’ve always loved her in some way or another. Sometimes, when something has always been there, it is hard to recognize it for what it is. It is easy to take it for granted. I didn’t realize how deeply Lily had been ingrained in every fabric of my soul because I never had to feel her absence. And like any self-centered dipshit who hadn’t realized what he had, I fucked up. 

It’s all so obvious now, but at the time, it was not. Isn’t it ironic that hindsight is always so crystal clear? I want to scream at my younger self, or more truthfully, I want to pummel his pretty-boy face for not seeing life—more specifically, my life with Lily—as what it was. I had everything I would ever need, and I was lucky enough to have it. It would have been helpful at the time to have a conscience, a smart one that could have guided me in the right direction. 

But no, I had to figure it out on my own in my own uniquely idiotic way.

I wish I had realized what was truly important in life. None of my priorities actually mattered, and the choices I’d made to succeed turned out to be detrimental to my future happiness.

The thing is, once choices are made and paths are altered, it is so hard to go back. Sometimes, it’s impossible. 

I know this because I’m standing here with a two-carat engagement ring in my hand, waiting to ask someone to marry me, to be my wife. I’m ready to love and cherish her till death do us part. 

But there is just one problem. 

She isn’t Lily.