The fire.
My throat tightens as Hallie and her father walk closer. That day I found her unresponsive on my desk I thought… I thought it was over. That this day would never come.
I thought I’d lost her.
Hallie’s eyes hold mine. She looks like an angel.
“I’m so damn blessed,” I murmur, causing Sullivan to clap me gently between my shoulder blades.
“We want you to be happy, Dad.”
“I know, and I love you even more for it, Son.”
My family mean everything to me. And that means Hallie too. I can’t ever risk losing any of them.
Lavinia is still overseas working on her missions. And Rory was handed a five-year sentence after being convicted of third-degree arson. It could have been longer if he’d known Hallie was inside. As much as I despise him and wish he’d be locked away forever, I believe he was telling the truth when he broke down in court and said he’d never meant any harm to come to her.
It doesn’t change the fact that he’s been mentally and emotionally hurting her for years, though.
I push the memories away before they can spark into life and singe the edges of our perfect day. But even if I were to let them linger, nothing can ruin this for us. Because where I carry the scars of my pain on my body, visible to those I let see, Hallie doesn’t. She conveys the same loving, trusting soul that shone from her in her photograph with Jenny.
The photograph that’s sitting on the small table to my left, waiting for us to sign our marriage certificate on.
She breaks my gaze momentarily to watch Molly walk up the aisle ahead of her, scattering petals from a small basket with a tiny, purple-stained hand as Sophie walks with her.
“She found the candy before I stopped her,” Sinclair whispers, sliding into the row of seats behind us and standing beside Mal and Trudy.
My chest vibrates with a small chuckle as Molly flings the petals up in the air above her head in delight, nailing her role. She stops momentarily beside Sophie’s husband, Drew, who is balancing a baby in each arm, and presents the basket to him. Both babies put their chubby hands in and grab a fistful of petals. There’s a collective murmur of awws and laughs as the babies immediately try to eat them and my friend, Lawson, steps forward to help Drew extract them from their mouths.
Sophie smiles at me as her and Molly reach the top of the aisle. Molly walks straight to Sullivan, holding her arms up in the air. “Daddy.”
“Good job,” he whispers, scooping her up and holding her into his side.
Everyone’s eyes return to Hallie and Garth moving up the aisle.
Her eyes are glittering, and she keeps breaking into a wide smile and then pulling it back in to bite her lip and take a breath before it explodes back across her face again.
“So damn perfect,”I whisper when she reaches me.
“Sterling,” she breathes back, her eyes locked on mine.
For a moment no one else exists except us as we gaze at one another. We’ve told each other a billion times how we feel about one another. So for this moment, no words are needed.
I see everything I need to in her eyes.
I shake her father’s hand before she kisses him on the cheek. Then I hold out both of my hands and she slides hers into them.
“When you’re in love, you see the world in her eyes,” she whispers.
“And you see her eyes everywhere in the world,” I finish, giving her a questioning look as she recites the poetry I read to her so many nights ago now. The night she showed me that I’m not broken. I was just waiting for the right person to ignite me.
Her.
“You’re not the only one who remembers things.” She bites her lower lip with a cute smile as her eyes dart to one side, landing on Molly in Sullivan’s arms, her purple palm resting over his shirt.
“You weren’t meant to see those until after the ceremony.”
“I’m glad I did, though, they’re perfect. Thank you.” Her lips part with a quick intake of breath when she notices the table behind me.“Sterling.”
