Forty- One: Epilogue

A year had passed since the two had kissed on that skating rink.

They both realized - but precisely she - that they wouldn't be able to live away from each other and that Marina wasn't going to move to Nova Friburgo either, because the thought of being away from her brothers gave her the creeps. So the two decided it was time to make a more serious commitment: an engagement.

It was very simple and only the closest people were invited. The ceremony was perfect and they couldn't wait to get married and be very happy.

Lucas immediately agreed to live in Sete Lagoas, as he loved the place as soon as he met it and also because there was nothing else holding him back in the other city. What mattered most to him at the moment was being with his beloved and if that made him feel good, then he would do it.

The wedding will take place in a few minutes and she is very anxious, walking around in her wedding dress, but not letting the fabric hit the floor so that it doesn't get dirty. Her friend tries in vain to calm her down, while Marina takes deep breaths, trying to think of good things.

She took a few deep breaths until she felt herself being transported to a place quite different from what she had imagined, but which she soon recognized: it was her old home.

There she saw her biological parents alive and her mother looking much younger, wearing a dress similar to her daughter's wedding dress. It was hand-embroidered fabric, with a beautiful bouquet in one hand. She also saw her grandmother telling her mother:

"My dear, there's no reason to be so nervous. This is your moment. Enjoy it, because love like this is hard to find, but very easy to lose."

She hadn't quite understood the meaning of what she had seen, but soon everything was back to normal, because they were calling her, saying that her moment to enter the church had arrived. She smiled broadly and entered the church, but she sensed that something very bad was about to happen, but she just couldn't imagine that it would ruin her life as a newlywed once and for all.

The ceremony went well. There was beautiful music, the traditional wedding song, bridesmaids and maids of honor and a beautiful yes from the couple. But why did she feel that her life was about to fall apart?

When the vows were made, they kissed passionately and when Lucas was about to take his beloved's hand and walk out of the church together, he felt a strong pain in his chest and fell to the ground unconscious.

Everyone in the place couldn't understand what was happening and Marina threw herself on the floor on top of her husband, looking for a sign that he was just passed out, but his heart was beating very slowly and an ambulance was called.

Everything happened very quickly. One moment they were so happy that they were married and the next, Lucas was lying in a hospital bed, full of wires in his body and the doctor telling Marina that the chances of him waking up one day were as slim as possible, as he had had a stroke and was in a coma.

She'd had happiness in the palm of her hands, but now she'd seen her sense of living replaced by a machine, which at some point would have to be turned off, taking the man she'd had the chance to love away from her life.

She realized too late that she had to fight for that love, that she could have put her pride aside to be happy with Lucas, but she had thought that everything would be different, that she would be happy with him. But she was happy. For the year that they dated and got engaged, they were both very happy and she unknowingly carried the fruit of that love in her womb.

She still remembered every word he said, their first kiss and the moment she tried on her wedding dress for the first time.

She might no longer have her husband with her, but she has a little piece of him with her, to always remember that one day she loved him until the last breath of his life and had no doubt that one day she would stop loving him forever.

Thank you to everyone who made it this far and read this beautiful story full of drama and some romance. But life doesn't always leave us with a super happy ending, but sometimes it tries to make us understand how to value what we have with us.

THE END!

Thank you to everyone who read this far. There will be a continuation soon.