With Love, Greece.

Epilogue

October

"Ready prinkípissa?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," I smile, hopping from foot to foot, shaking my hands out at my side. I look to my side, where Demetri has been ever since I first laid my eyes on him.

"Good, lets do this."

The horn sounds and everyone starts to move. Today we're running the London Marathon, we've raised over five thousand pounds for Cancer Research so far both in England and back home in Skiathos.

Yep, home. When my visa ran out at the end of summer, I returned to England with Demetri by my side. We were to spend the winter here, in England, where we could prepare everything for my move back to the island in spring.

My parents were concerned, worried, scared, every single synonym of those words all rolled into one. But the most important this is, they love Demetri as much as I do. After mum settled to the idea of me leaving England, starting a new life in Greece, she was just as excited as I was, although I think her excitement came from the idea of 'more reasons to go on holiday' in her words.

I'm ready to start fresh, I'm ready to start making new dreams, all with Demetri by my side.

We lost Sophia two weeks before we were due to return to England. It was a hard, emotional time, but I've never seen such support from each other than I did when I watched the Andreas' band together to mourn.

When Demetri told me he was so happy she got to meet me, I cried in his arms and let him hold me while we watched Mamma Mia for the millionth time.

Fast forward to the present, and we're by each other's side once again. Demetri is a man who knows what he wants, so when he put a ring on my finger in front of my parents with his family on FaceTime, I cried in his arms and said the words that would really set my dreams in stone. Yes.

No one ever questioned our love story. No one needed to, not when they could see the way we complimented each other, the way we loved each other. We've decided to wait to get married, we're going to get me settled on the island and my business of destination weddings in full swing before we throw our own plans into the mix. Family. Children. Dreams.

Demetri didn't bat an eyelid when I suddenly broke down, when I cried about animals or my life being like Mary Fiore's. He didn't faulter when I came crashing into his life, into his world. He didn't question my crazy skincare routine, or my obsession for iced coffee. We fit together like we had been doing it for years on end, and now...we will be by each other's side for as long as our lives allow us.

My chest seizing brings me back down to earth. "Not far now," Demetri speaks, he's out of breath too.

The finish line was in sight. "Nearly there," he smiles in my direction.

"Nearly there," I reply.

As soon as we cross the finish line, I throw myself into Demetris arms. "We did it!"

"We did it, prinkípissa," he laughs. "Your parents should be around here somewhere, they said they'd be at the finish line," Demetri adds.

"Yeah, they said..." I start.

"Lana!" My mother screams with joy. Her and dad are stood behind the rails to our side.

As we get closer, I realise mums crying, "oh for goodness sake mum," I laugh.

She waves a hand in front of her, "oh stop it, I couldn't help but shed a tear."

"A tear?" Dad pipes up, "you've raised ocean levels Linda."

We all laugh, and I let mum pull me into a big hug. "They would both be so proud of you two," she cries.

Dammit, now I'll cry. "I know mum."

"Right, you two go and get sorted, then let's head to dinner, we have a reservation soon," dad speaks, always the voice of reason.

"Come on," Demetri pulls me to him.

I leave mum to her tissue and follow Demetri. "I'm so dead, I can't wait to get to bed tonight." I snuggle into Demetris side.

"Me neither," he replies, giving my hip a squeeze.

"Dinner and then relaxing," I nod.

"Sounds perfect," he smiles.

***

"I'm knackered," I speak, throwing myself down to the bed. We're living in my apartment until we sell it, once we do, we're going to move in with mum and dad until we head to Skiathos. I was so excited to return to my apartment, to see my neighbour and have some home comforts back, but I'm even more excited to start something new in a few months.

"Demetri?" I call from the bed.

"Coming!" he shouts. He's been rummaging around in the bathroom for ages.

"What are you doing? I could really use my human-sized-heated-slash-weighted-blanket right now," I shout.

I hear Demetris laugh and then he appears. He's holding a small gift bag.

I lean up on my elbows. "What's that?" I ask.

"Open it and find out," he smiles, he looks anxious though.

"Demetri?" I ask, I've never seen him nervous, apart from when he got down on one knee and proposed, but apart from that, never an ounce of nerves.

"Just open it," he adds. Okay then.

I push myself up and take the bag from him, he takes a seat next to me. He watches my every move so intently it makes me nervous.

When I get through the layers of tissue paper, there's a small jewellery box sat at the bottom.

I pull it out, "well, it's not a ring, so what is it?" I laugh.

Demetri doesn't say anything, just watches my fingers unclasp the edges of the box. When I get the lid off, I almost drop the whole contents. The breath gets sucked out of me. I feel like I've just ran a marathon all over again.

"Demetri," I whisper.

"I've been waiting for it to come, it's taken forever, it was bespoke, obviously, so it took a little longer," he replies.

I look to his eyes, "It's my necklace," I speak softly.

He nods, "may I?" I nod and let him take the necklace from the box. He holds it between his fingers and turns the pendant over.

"It's a little different, I got the other side engraved as well."

I reach out and take hold of the tiny gold postcard sat at the end of the gold chain. One side says what I've always known it to say, 'love always wins.' But the other side has engraved the words I hear so often, 'don't ever stop dreaming.'

"Oh my god," I croak, the tears in full flow. If mum can raise oceans, I can flood continents with the number of tears I shed. At least they're happy.

"You don't have to wear it; I know it's a lot for you and I don't want to overwhelm you. But I just want you to have something to hold onto, something other than the postcards, something that means something to you, just like it did before," he speaks.

I fist the necklace in my hand and throw my arms around his shoulders, "thank you, you don't know how much this means to me."

"If it's how much you mean to me, Alana, then I do, I really do."

"I love you, Demetri."

"I love you too, Alana."