Later that night, when the music softened and the candles burned low, I pulled my wife into my chest on the dance floor.
“My wife,” I murmured against her temple.
She smiled up at me. “My husband.”
We swayed slow. No rush. No audience. Just us. When I said I didn’t want a long engagement. I said it because life doesn’t promise you tomorrow but tonight under soft lights and surrounded by the people who carried us through the fire, I knew one thing for certain.
Love didn’t leave me when Lena did. It evolved and now it wears Zaria’s name.
The first timewe came to Costa Rica, I was still learning how to hold joy without flinching.
This time, I’m walking through it barefoot.
The ocean stretches wide and endless in front of me, the same stretch of paradise Lena stood in before her body began to fail her. The same resort. Same golden sand. Same sky that looks painted in pink and fire every evening.
Our honeymoon.
My husband is inside the villa showering and probably humming off-key like he does when he’s happy. We’ve barely left the room since we arrived. Love making until our bodies went soft and lazy. Sleeping tangled together. Waking up just to start all over again.
But today isn’t about that.
Today is about her.
Calil comes out dressed in sage green linen. My husband is effortlessly fine. He walks over and takes my hand without saying a word. His thumb brushes over my ring like he still can’t believe I’m his.
“Ready?” he asks softly.
I nod.
We walk down toward the beach and when I see them, my breath catches.
All our people are there.
Caleb standing tall beside Yanna. Ahmir with his arm around her waist. CJ laughing with Knox near the shoreline. Amiyah holding Phoenix on her hip while Pastor Barré talks quietly with Dana. Maverick talking to Ajaih with love in his eyes. Calla and Jane Jr holding hands as he whispers something in her ear that makes her blush before they walk over to her mom.
We’re all dressed in light fabrics of varying soft colors. Not somber. Celebratory.
Calil reaches into the small wooden box he’s been carrying since we left the villa. He told me he had a surprise. I thought it was something sexy. Something indulgent.
Instead, he opens the lid and shows me what’s inside.
A small glass vial that makes my heart stutter.
“I saved some,” he says quietly. “For when we came back.”
Lena’s ashes. The thoughtfulness of it steals the air from my lungs. Calil considers me before I even consider myself at times. We walk closer to the water together. The tide kisses the sand in gentle waves like it understands the reverence of this moment.
Calil clears his throat.
“She loved this place,” he says to everyone. “She said it felt like heaven rehearsing.”
A soft ripple of laughter moves through the group.
He hands me the vial.
“You do it,” he says.
My hands shake as I open it. The wind is light, respectful. I kneel at the edge of the ocean, Calil kneeling beside me.
