His Elena.
She stood framed in the doorway, sunlight haloing her dark hair like she was some kind of vision he'd conjured from his deepest dreams. Her wedding dress was simple—elegant ivory silk that skimmed her curves and flowed to the floor—but Reed wouldn't have noticed if she'd been wearing a burlap sack. He couldn't look away from her face.
She was radiant. Glowing. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
And she was walking toward him.
Sabrina walked beside her, Walker's wife, her arm linked through Elena's with the easy grace of a woman who understood exactly what this moment meant. Over the past six weeks, the two women had forged an unexpected bond—late nights talking on the deck while the Star brothers planned and strategized, shared cups of tea while Sabrina's toddler napped, quiet conversations about faith and fear and the complicated business of loving men who ran toward danger instead of away from it.
When Elena had asked her to walk her down the aisle, Sabrina had burst into tears and pulled her into a fierce hug. "You're family now," she'd whispered. "You were family the moment you came back to him."
Now Sabrina walked with quiet confidence, her chin held high, honored to stand in for the parents Elena had lost. In many ways, she had become the sister Elena never had—the first person outside of Reed who had truly seen her, truly known her, and loved her anyway.
Elena's eyes found Reed's and held.
The world fell away. The guests, the music, the chapel itself—all of it faded into meaningless background noise. There was only Elena, moving toward him one slow step at a time, her dark eyes shining with tears that Reed knew mirrored his own.
Five years. Five years of grief and loneliness and believing he would never see her again.
And now she was here. She was real. She was walking down the aisle to become his wife.
"Breathe," Walker murmured beside him, and Reed realized he'd been holding his breath.
He let it out in a shaky exhale, but he didn't look away from Elena. Couldn't look away. She was the sun, and he was caught in her orbit, helpless to resist the pull.
When she finally reached him, Sabrina placed Elena's hand in Reed's with a watery smile. "She's been waiting five years for this," she whispered. "Don't make her wait another second."
"With my life," Reed replied, and he meant every word.
Elena's fingers intertwined with his, warm and sure and perfect. She was trembling slightly—or maybe that was him. Maybe it was both of them, overwhelmed by the magnitude of this moment.
"Hi," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion.
"Hi yourself." Reed squeezed her hands gently, grounding them both. "You look incredible."
"You're not so bad yourself." Her lips curved into that smile—the one that had haunted his dreams for five years, the one he'd never thought he'd see again.
The pastor cleared his throat gently, and they both turned to face him, though Reed kept hold of Elena's hands like he was afraid she might evaporate if he let go.
"Dearly beloved," the pastor began, "we are gathered here today to witness the union of Reed and Elena in holy matrimony..."
Reed heard the words, but they washed over him like distant music. He was too focused on Elena—on the way the light played across her face, on the tears tracking silently down her cheeks, on the fierce joy blazing in her eyes.
When it came time for the vows, Reed had planned to recite something traditional. Simple. Safe. But standing here with Elena's hands in his, looking into the face of the woman who had survived impossible odds to find her way back to him, the prepared words felt inadequate.
"Elena," he said, his voice rough with emotion, "I had a whole speech prepared. Beautiful words about love and commitment and forever." He paused, swallowing hard. "But standing here,looking at you, all I can think about is the moment you walked back into my life."
Elena's grip on his hands tightened.
"I spent five years believing you were gone," Reed continued. "Five years trying to learn how to live without you. And then you walked into my office, and everything I thought I knew about grief and loss and moving on just... shattered."
A soft sound escaped Elena—half laugh, half sob.
"You once asked me to promise that I'd trust everything you do is to protect the people you love. I made that promise, even when I didn't understand it. Even when it nearly destroyed me." Reed lifted her hands to his lips and kissed her knuckles, one at a time. "Now I'm asking you to make me a promise. Stay. Stay with me, grow old with me, let me spend every day for the rest of our lives proving that you made the right choice coming back."
"Reed." His name came out broken, beautiful.
"I love you, Elena Vasquez. I loved you when you brought me coffee every morning before work. I loved you when I stood beside your empty grave. I love you now, standing in this chapel, about to become your husband." He paused, letting the weight of the words settle between them. "I will love you for the rest of my life."
