What We Hold On To (The Always Series Book 4)

Every Ending Is the First Page of Something New

Brielle Johnson is no stranger to reinvention. A devoted mother of four and owner of a thriving boutique in Midtown Atlanta, she’s built a life rooted in resilience and quiet strength. Fresh off a difficult divorce, she’s finally found her rhythm—until a message from her college love, DeShawn, invites her to step into the unknown.

What begins with a single text—“Pack a bag. Trust me.”—unfolds into a journey of rediscovery on a barrier island bathed in sunrise. As old wounds soften and new possibilities emerge, Brielle is faced with a choice: cling to the life she’s worked so hard to steady, or open her heart to a love that’s waited patiently in the background.

What We Hold On To is a moving conclusion to Shania Elliott’s Always Series—a story of second chances, quiet courage, and the kind of love that asks not to be rescued, but chosen.

Finish the journey.

Read What We Hold On To today.

Excerpt from the book

The air was thick with salt, jasmine, and the kind of quiet that only came when the world knew something sacred was happening.

Brielle stood frozen in the doorway, feet bare on cool tile, heart pounding so loud she couldn’t hear the waves anymore.

DeShawn looked at her like it was both the question and the answer.

He held the velvet box in his hand like it weighed more than gold, and in a way, it did. It held years, regret, and hope. A love that never stopped breathing, even when it was buried.

“I bought this for you our senior year,” he said, voice low. “The night you told me about your dream life. A little house, four kids, your own business, and someone who chose you without question.”

Tears stung the back of her eyes.

“I almost gave it to you then,” he continued, “but something told me the timing wasn’t right. Life pulled us apart, but I kept it. Every move I made, every city I lived in… this box came with me.”

He stepped forward slowly.

“When I saw you again, in that coffee shop… I knew.”

Her chest rose with a shaky breath. “Knew what?”

“That I didn’t want to live the rest of my life wondering what we could’ve been.”

He opened the box.

A silver band, simple, beautiful, familiar.

“I don’t want to rush you. This isn’t a proposal. Not yet. It’s a promise. If you want me… really want me… I’m here.”

She looked down at the ring, then back at the man who had loved her in whispers, in silence, in stolen time, and now in light, and just as she opened her mouth to speak, her phone rang. She glanced down. It was Marcus. She closed her eyes.

The phone kept ringing, but Brielle didn’t move. She stared at the screen, Marcus’s name glowing like a test she’d already passed. Then she hit decline, softly, deliberately. At this moment, it wasn’t about him. Not anymore.

She looked back at DeShawn, still standing, still waiting, still holding something that felt like peace in a world that had only ever asked her to be strong. She stepped forward, barefoot and sure, until there was no space left between them.

Her fingers touched the box first, then the hand holding it, then the man.

“I’ve been silent for a long time,” she said, voice thick. “I’ve been making decisions based on duty, based on guilt, based on what everyone needed from me.”

He didn’t speak, just listened to her. She exhaled.

“But today, I’m choosing me. I’m choosing what makes me feel seen. What makes me feel safe?

What makes me feel like I’m not just alive but awake.”

She took the ring gently, turned it over in her palm like it held her future, and then she looked him in the eye.

“I want you, DeShawn. Not because I’m lonely. Not because I’m running. But because with you, I’m home, even when life is messy and complicated and nothing like the fairy tale I used to chase.”