The man babbled on.
And on.
And on.
He even wandered around the statues doing it.
But I didn’t fall asleep and I didn’t get bored.
I might not have memorized every moment (because there were a lot of them; the Lunwynian wedding ceremony was long), but I definitely memorized what I was feeling.
And when the ceremony was finally done, my new husband turned me to him, wrapped his arms around me and dipped his lips to mine.
But before he could kiss me, I whispered, “Remember this kiss.”
His eyes peering into mine, already warm, they turned sweet.
“Always,” he replied.
And without delay, my husband gave me exactly what I wanted, in fact what he always gave me.
A kiss worth remembering.
* * * * *
Apollo
Six months later, Apollo looked from the contract he was signing to the man sitting across from him at his desk.
“Is this all?” he asked.
“It is,” Jeremiah answered.
Apollo nodded, lifted the paper and tossed it across the desk, murmuring, “Then enjoy the rest of your day.”
“You as well,” Jeremiah replied.
Apollo said nothing.
But he knew he would.
He straightened from his chair, dipped his chin at his secretary and sauntered out of the room.
He heard them the instant he opened the doors. Thus he headed straight to the great room.
He got to the top of the steps and wasn’t able to fully take in the rooms occupants before Élan dashed to him, stopping only when she hit his body. The moment she did, she wrapped her arms around his h*ps and tipped her head back to catch his eyes.
“Maddie and me made cookies!” she cried.
“Is that so?” he asked softly, putting a hand to her thick hair.
“Sugar!” she stated excitedly.
“Are they good?” he asked.
“They are!” she exclaimed, then added excitedly. “And we rolled them in pretty colored sugar crystals so they’re all blue and pink and green!”
“I can’t wait to try one,” he told her.
“It’s safe now,” she replied authoritatively. “But Chris has a burnt tongue. Maddie told him to wait until they cooled but he didn’t listen.” She grinned. “He still said they were yummy.”
Apollo smiled in his daughter’s eyes and slid his hand to her cheek where he brushed it affectionately with his finger.
Her grin turned into a smile and she let him go but only to move to his side and take his hand.
That was when Apollo fully saw all that was happening in the great room.
And that was when Apollo went completely still.
This was because the fire was burning merrily in its grate. A soft snow was falling outside the windows. Laures, Alek, Draven, Derrik, Remi and Gaston were lingering around chairs and a table that had been arranged in the center of the space. Off to the side, up the steps and almost hidden around a corner, Hans and Loretta were in each other’s arms, faces close, attention absolutely not focused on what was happening twenty feet away. And Meeta was sitting in a chair, eyes on the action in the center of the room.
And the action was Achilles sitting opposite Madeleine, a game of ricken set up on a table between them, Christophe sitting in a chair pulled close to Maddie’s side.
His Maddie had her eyes to the board but her hand resting on her rounded belly.
Achilles made a move. Christophe and Maddie studied the board, then Chris leaned deep, hanging over the side of his chair to whisper into Maddie’s ear.
Maddie looked to him. “You’re sure?” she asked.
Christophe nodded.
She leaned in and whispered in his boy’s ear.
When she pulled away, Apollo saw his son grin at his wife. “That’s better.”
She turned back to the board, her lips curled up, and made her move.
“Bloody hell,” Achilles muttered.
Remi hooted, “Get out of that one, Lees.”
Achilles looked to Christophe and Madeleine. “You two are a formidable pair.”
Maddie grinned at Achilles before she turned and lifted her hand, palm facing Chris.
His son lifted his hand and smacked it.
And Apollo’s chest expanded so sharply, he thought it would burst.
Because there she was. His dove. His Maddie. His wife.
In a warm, safe place where she was always welcome because it was her home, surrounded by love, making memories of laughter and happy times.
And there was his son, right next to her.
A formidable pair.
Suddenly, she turned to him, smiled and called, “There you are.”
Apollo didn’t move.
For in her eyes he saw nothing. No darkness. No despair.
He’d mined those depths and nothing but light shined through.
He’d given that to her.
It had been the most important mission of his life.
And he’d bested it.
He swallowed past the thick in his throat and called back, “Indeed.”
It was then he felt his daughter tugging at his hand.
He let her lead him to his family.
He pulled up a chair on Maddie’s other side and allowed his daughter to crawl into his lap.
When she did, he wrapped his arms around her.
And then he watched Christophe and Madeleine beat Achilles at ricken.
And directly after, sitting in the heart of his familial home, his wife and children safe, close and happy, with great contentment, Apollo Ulfr listened to his family’s laughter ringing in the air.
* * * * *
Maddie
I was sitting on the sofa, reading a letter from Finnie.
Or I was trying to. She’d written it on the deck of Frey’s ship so the salty sea air had made the letters bleed.
But I got the jist of it and the jist of it was that apparently, dads with sons stopped being idiot dads when they had daughters.
Or at least they weren’t idiot dads with their daughters.
I could tell by Finnie’s stories of how Frey was with their Alyssa.
Added proof were the stories I read through Circe’s letters of how Lahn was with Andromeda (then again, he wasn’t an idiot dad with Isis, either; just Tunahn).
And last, from what I’d learned through Cora’s letters of how Tor was with their little Dara.
I was grinning as I was nearing the end of Finnie’s tales of Frey turning from idiot dad to an overprotective one when I felt movement in the room.
I looked up to see Élan entering.
She walked directly to me, threw herself on the sofa beside me and crossed her arms on her little girl chest.
I knew what that meant.
“I take it the carriage is ready,” I remarked and she tipped her head back to aim her jade eyes to me.