Catching my hot as hell wife around her waist, I pull her straight to my lips—into our first kiss as husband and wife, our first in an endless train of kisses bound to last a lifetime.
She clings to me like she needs me to live, and God knows I need her.
She’s everything, the taste of her so perfect.
I don’t even register the people shouting and applauding around us, crying, cheering, their joy a shallow echo of my own.
When I break the vow our lips make, I have to swallow and breathe rapidly to stop my throat from closing as I look down at her with a smile fit to turn me into dust.
“Here’s to the rest of our lives,” I breathe out the words—just between us, over the clatter of the crowd and their frenzied cheers.
She laces her fingers with mine. “Here’s to us, Paxton. Forever.”
Then we belong to our hearts and the town, wading through countless hugs and well-wishes.
We’ll have to go through the reception, the opening of gifts, but for now it’s just boisterous goodwill everywhere.
We’re like leaves caught on a human current, swirled between different groups who just want to wish us well.
Until suddenly we’re front and center with my parents. My father a stern, upright, quiet man, and my mother, elegant in her old-world way.
They stare at us with a certain reservation that makes me pray Ma won’t start this first day of our lives off by making Felicity feel rejected.
Come on, dammit. Don’t do this.
Fliss looks at my mother shyly, then offers a small, tentative smile. “It’s good to finally see you in person, Mrs. Charter.”
My mother’s quiet for a moment.
I’ve loved her and hated her throughout this life. She’s set in her ways, and still judges me for the young, dumb mistakes I made with Katelyn.
But maybe she’s ready to let go.
Maybe she, too, could let me start again.
Because after that brutal silence, she smiles, warm and sweet.
My father echoes it in his own way, giving a brisk nod.
“I believe that name belongs to both of us now, dear. We’ll have to get used to sharing,” my mother says, holding her arms out for Felicity. “Welcome to the family.”
Fliss walks into her arms with a soft, joyous cry, the two of them hugging as if they’ve known each other forever. My father claps my shoulder with another wordless nod of approval, and the nervous fear inside me unravels.
“You did good, son,” he whispers. “I like her already.”
For a second, I’m fucking speechless, wondering if I’ve patched some black hole in the universe to make a miracle happen.
I’m not expecting the small hand on my arm, either.
I look down into Harper Randall’s eyes, twin to her daughter’s, soft blue-violet and warm as she watches Fliss hug her new mother-in-law.
“I’m so glad,” she whispers, tears in her voice. “I’m so, so glad to see both of you moving on together.”
Yeah.
So am I.
I smile and hug my mother-in-law, grateful that she’ll be moving past her old tragedies right along with us.
The rest of the day’s long.
I finally get to dance with my wife as the wedding spills into festivities after dinner.
There’s cake. The tossing of the bouquet, which lands smack in the throng of the vultures and turns into a minor catfight.
Enough gifts to let us completely replace all the old, worn-out things in the house. And then something I hadn’t expected, hadn’t planned.
A carriage rolls through the dirt-packed lanes of the little restored ghost town, pulled by two stunning white horses and decked out in flowers and banners proclaiming Just Married!!!
Fliss and I both stop and stare.
“Alaska?” she whispers.
“Wasn’t me,” I answer, a little lost.
“Surprise!” Holt says, coming up behind us and draping his arms over both our shoulders. “That was my idea. And my wife’s. And her horses. You’re welcome.” He grins widely. “The two of you got a plane to catch for your honeymoon. Might as well get you out of here in style.”
For a moment I close my eyes, overwhelmed.
I didn’t just find love in Heart’s Edge.
I found friends. I found a new brother. I found family.
I found my place.
With a barking laugh, I catch Felicity’s hand.
The two of us sprint to the carriage, and I hoist her up inside before following, dropping down into the plush seats. Holt slams the door on us with another devil’s grin and a wink, and then we’re off, rolling through the streets.
Dozens of guests trail in our wake, calling out to us with all their hearts, almost demanding that we be happy.
I watch them till I can’t see them anymore, never letting go of my wife’s hand, throbbing from head to toe with want.
I’m gonna need that honeymoon damned soon.
“That was some send-off,” I growl, and she laughs, tucking her head against my shoulder.
“Sure was,” she murmurs. “I think this is the first time in my life I believe they’ll welcome us back just as happily.”
“They will. Places like this are rare, and I’m glad as hell we call it home.”
Belize by night, viewed from a plane window, has to be one of the prettiest sights I’ve ever seen—and I’ve been all over the world.
There’s something mystical about the sight of Ambergris Caye.
The water shimmers dark blue with night, dotted with the soft golden lights of secluded vacation spots. Just makes it all the more gorgeous with my woman at my side, dozing in her seat and tucked against my arm.
If anybody asked, I couldn’t say why I chose Ambergris Caye for our honeymoon. It’s one more place on my bucket list, and the instant I described it to Fliss, she was in.
Now, picturing what the brilliant blue-green waters look like by day, lapping and jeweled against stunning white sand beaches, I’ve got a pretty good idea why I picked this place.
I’m hit with Glass Lake memories.
Of the moment when I witnessed Felicity as this mermaid made for sin, waiting to slip away from me and into those translucent waters forever.
I’d thought then how easy it was to lose her.
I hadn’t realized at the time just how easy it would be to love her.
Now, she’s here.
She’s mine.
And no glassy waters can rob her away from me. They can’t draw her off into that shadowy remote place she used to retreat to whenever she tried to isolate herself with her woes.
I feel the shift around me when we descend, the plane vibrating and the engine whine changing to a shrill grumble.
“Fliss, wake up. We’re here.” I gently shake her arm.
Her eyes flutter open slowly. She sleeps like a cat, and it warms me to see her so relaxed, so trusting, when it used to be the only time she got deep sleep was when she collapsed from sheer exhaustion.
She yawns herself to life, looking at me with a groggy “Nnh?”
Only for her eyes to light up, widening as she leans past me, looking out the oval window with a gasp.
“Oh my God,” she whispers. “Paxton...it’s like the sky fell into the ocean, and the stars are still burning.”
“Yep. Hell of a way to describe it,” I say, my heart throbbing as I take in her face. “It’s just like that.”