I close my book and sigh. That is not the ending I imagined. Usually, the main characters get the happy ending. This time, they didn't.

She deserved better.

Walking down the hall and towards the stairs, I tug on my robe and hold it closer to my body. Once downstairs, I see my fiancé sitting at the kitchen table drinking his coffee and reading today's newspaper.

I plant a soft kiss on his cheek and pour myself my own cup of coffee. I glance over at my wonderful man. We have been through a lot to get to this point in our lives.

We met four years ago and look at us now. We have been in a steady, healthy relationship for three years, have been living together for almost a year, and have been engaged for seven months exactly. I am proud of us.

Now that I am twenty-five, I feel like my life is finally together. Everything is falling perfectly into place. I am finally as happy as I think I will ever get. I don't think I could possibly get more happy.

After the death of my mom, I didn't think like would ever feel this way for me. I never imagined myself having this life after her. Not even close. I felt like the whole world was falling apart around me after I lost her. My whole world was falling apart. It seemed like everyone I knew was against me. I pushed everyone away in fear of being hurt more than I already was. My mom meant everything to me.

Her untimely death shook my entire family to its very core. She was only fifty years old. It took my family a long time to recover from our loss. She was really the glue that held us all together.

After we lost her, the whole family splintered like wood. We were just pieces of something that was once whole.

Now, four years later, I feel the exact opposite of how I did when my mom died. Her death was actually the force that caused me to meet my fiancé.

We met at grief counseling. I went to try to figure out how to fix my family after we all fell apart. He was there too. That is where I found out he lost his mother the same year I did. We really bonded over our losses. And the rest of our romantic love story is history. We only grew closer from that point on.

We are soul mates for sure. I love him with every fiber of my being. He is the man I want to spend the rest of my life with.

We have everything we could have ever wanted in life. We have a beautiful house, wonderful partners, and most importantly of all, we have a happy life together.

I grab my freshly poured cup of coffee and join Darren at the table. I sit across from him and loop my hands around the warm cup. "I finished my book." I inform him.

"Oh yeah? How was it?" Darren asks while continuing to read the newspaper in front of him.

"It was great until the ending. The author killed the main girl off on the last page." I recount the horrors I had to read just minutes ago. "Literally on the last page. Everything was fine then bam! Truck!"

Darren sets the newspaper down in shock. "What an asshole!" He exclaims. "He didn't even give you any pages to grieve her death?" He asks, slightly angry that an author would do that to his readers.

"I know. He killed her off and then I had like, three sentences to recover." I explain, trying to remember just how many words I had to read before ending the book. "It was tragic really. I don't know how I will go on."

Darren laughs as he stands to give me a kiss. "I have to go to work. I'm sure you will find a way to move on by the time I get home?" He asks while moving towards the door.

I shrug. "It's possible. You never know." We share a laugh.

"I'll see you later babe." He chuckles as he walks out the door. "I love you."

"I love you too." I smile as the door slams shut. I stand and grab his cup of coffee to bring it to the sink. I pour the remaining liquid out and rinse the cup before throwing it in the dishwasher. I am way too lazy to wash it right now.

The phone rings as I walk towards my cup of coffee. I stare at the answering machine and process who is calling when I see the name pop up on the caller ID.

"Hey Dad!" I exclaim after accepting the call.

"Ciara! I need you to get to the office now. It's important. It's an emergency!" He speaks fast and loud. I nod and grab my keys. "Hurry!"

AN: first chapter... what did you think?