“It was all worth it though.”

Ashley nods her head and plants a kiss on my lips.

********** Ashley’s POV

I nod my head and plants a kiss on her lips. It’s brief and innocent. When we pull away I can’t help but get lost in her eyes.

"I love you so much."

She gives me her famous head tilt along with a bright white smile. "You are not about to get all sappy on me Davies." She pulls away from me and walks towards the oversized van containing all of our belongings.

"You know it’s true." She glances at me over her shoulder. "I know." After a wink her attention is turned back to the van. I continue to watch her as she pulls a box from the van and carries it towards the house. Our house.

She continues to take boxes from the van as I think about everything. Things hadn’t been easy for us. After she told her father things slowly, but surely went down hill. I think back to that week. She told her father on April 15th, a week later he was found in his cell dead. A suicide, with no note.

Of course every member of the Carlin family couldn’t figure out why he had done it. Maybe he hadn’t wanted to live out his live in prison. That was the popular belief, but Spencer couldn’t let them continue to think that when she knew the truth.

So she told them, only days after his death she came clean. Glen had been furious, along with Clay, but their was still steady communication between them. That was what kept her going, the fact that they didn’t hate her.

But just days after his will was read she was shunned. Maybe it was the fact that he had left two thirds of his money and assets to her, or maybe they just couldn’t deal anymore. The reason doesn’t matter, only the outcome does.

After the realization that she would never have her family she broke. For months it was a constant battle. Nothing but tears and arguments, but I stuck around during those months. I stayed by her side.

We fought everyday during those months. She said horrible things to me, but that was okay. I knew she didn’t mean it, she just didn’t know how else to make the pain go away. How had we gotten through that time?

After one of our bitter arguments I told her that no matter what she said or what she did to push me away I was going to be there for her. That I loved her with everything I had, and I wasn’t going to let my soul mate get away from me again.

That was it. Those words are what brought her back to me. It had taken time, thousands of tears were shed, but eventually the storm subsided. Eventually we reached new heights. Heights I never thought possible. We constructed a connection neither one of us had ever experienced. Built a life for ourselves.