Chapter 56: Vee

Do you want to know what happened then?

Yaron kissed me, and we jumped together.

From that moment on, everything changed—and at the same time, nothing did. It felt as natural as it had all those years ago.

The first few months, we rarely left the house. Yaron’s patients loved the new office.

Hannah and I became good friends, and I took over as Yaron’s secretary when she met a man she loved and got married. Yaron walked her down the aisle because her father refused to attend. I was her bridesmaid.

Hannah’s mother stood at the back of the church but never approached her daughter to offer congratulations.

Hannah and Yaron were still trying to mend fences with their family.

But we had never needed much more than each other, so we closed ourselves off from the world, becoming something like two happy hermits.

We did everything together—at least, everything that mattered. We counted stars under a blanket in the backyard every night. We read stories and poems or danced to music in the kitchen. We took long walks in the forest.

I learned to knit: socks, mittens, whatever I could manage. Yaron kept carving wooden figures, which we lined up on the mantelpiece.

We got to know each other all over again.

We fell in love all over again.

We forgave each other. We turned the “us” we had once been into something new—stronger, deeper, more resilient.

We made love on every surface of the house. We kissed every morning when we woke up and every night before we fell asleep—and at every opportunity in between.

There was never anyone else for either of us.

One day, we drove to a jewelry store, bought two simple rings, and slid them onto each other’s fingers.

“Yaron Beilinson,” I said, “I’ve loved you since I was ten. I promise to love you until the day I die—and long after that. I know I’ve made a mess of things in the past, but I swear I’ll make it up to you every day. Would you do me the immense honor of wearing my ring and becoming my partner in life?”

I looked at the man who held all my dreams. I wanted to live in his arms forever. They made me feel safe, loved—whole.

Yaron nodded. “Yes, Vee. Yes, a million times yes.”

He made the same promises to me as he slid the ring onto my finger. And that was all.

Maybe not everyone would understand our love story. It was messy, full of mistakes and wrong turns, a journey paved with pain and healing. Some might say I hurt Yaron more than I helped him. Some might say real love should look different.

Maybe, to some, I didn’t deserve his love.