I turn with a laugh caught in my throat.
“Daddy!” I close the distance between us and wrap my arms around him with a powerful embrace. He feels solid in every way, and I swear on all that is holy I can smell his familiar cologne. Tears pump from me as I pour out all of my emotions.
“Whoa, hold it there, princess.” He pulls back and wipes my tears away with his hand, his blue eyes glowing with tears of their own. He looks so very dapper in his celestial-issued suit. “You’ve got a wedding to get to. And rumor has it, you’re the bride.”
A dull laugh wobbles through me. “Well, I almost wasn’t.”
He gives a sure nod while frowning at the thought. “Trust me, kid. I know all about it.”
I take him in, with his dark suit and his tie that gleams like a spirit sword.
“I’ve missed you so much.” I hiccup my way through the words.
“Lucky for you, I’ve decided to stick around for a bit tonight. I call dibs on the father-daughter dance.”
“Does that mean people can see you?”
He winces. “Only the dearly departed. Sector Marshall has agreed to stand in as the body.” He gives a little wink, and a laugh bubbles from me.
The sound of music comes from a distance and my mouth rounds out.
“It’s time.”
He gives a slight nod. “I’d say this was long overdue.”
We head on out, and Marshall threads his arm through my own on one side and my father does so on the other. Ezrina hands me a pom of hot pink roses, and then together, my father, Marshall, and I crest the threshold of Whitehorse and make our way down to Silent Cove where Cooper Flanders belts out a moody tune that sounds like heaven.
A throng of bodies turns to look my way. The white ladder-back chairs are festooned with hot pink balls of flowers, and a large floral arch sits just before a gazebo where my handsome groom awaits. Logan turns to look at me, our eyes meet, and it feels electric, like lightning, magnetic, necessary as air and water.
Mom quickly ushers Nathan, Barron, Misty, and Ember down the aisle in their dark suits and pink frilly dresses as they pepper the pale runner with rose petals, and the air is suddenly perfumed with their scents.
“Skyla,” I hear the whisper of my mother, the one I’ve been searching for, begging to speak with for weeks. She passes before me, chanting something that sounds like a song as she makes her way to where my true mother stands, but I don’t pay her any mind. All thoughts are on the here and now—on the man waiting for me at the end of this petal-strewn aisle.
Logan Oliver.
He’s so very arrestingly handsome in his dark gray suit with a simple white rose sitting on his lapel.
I see him there. His eyes flooded with tears, his lips quivering as he commands himself to hold it together, but that is one war he is not winning.
I take a step forward and the fog begins to lift, another step and the sun pierces through, the clouds roll back like a scroll, blue skies stretch out overhead, and a thrill rides through the crowd as the day brightens around us. The fog flees the scene as the warmth of the sun wraps its arms around us and it feels holy and right.
“Logan,” I whisper as I make my way down the aisle. My feet begin to quicken, and I break free from my father, from Marshall, and bolt straight for the man I love.
With a leap I wrap myself around his entire body and he spins me as we laugh, tears streaming down our faces like rain.
“Skyla?” He pulls back to get a better look at me. “Is it really you?”
I give a frenetic nod before our mouths crash over one another, hungry for kisses we could never get enough of. We’re all tongues and teeth, panting with ecstasy, our victory applauded by those around us.
“Dearly beloved”—Marshall’s voice booms over the crowd—“perhaps we should all go home?”
The crowd roars with laughter, as do Logan and I.
Logan helps me to my feet, wipes the tears from my eyes, and leans in.
“Welcome home, Skyla. We have gone around the mountain too many times, but today we reach our final destination—you in my arms for good.”
I give a solemn nod. “I don’t care about until death do us part. I declare forever with you.”
