by Tessa Radley
“I used to wear it a lot.”
“I remember.”
“At first I wore it to remind me of Aaron.” For an instant she looked apprehensive. Then she said in a rush, “After I met you, I wore it because the colour always reminded me of your eyes.”
God. She never ceased to surprise him. But he was thankful he’d told her how much he loved her before this final bastion had fallen. Her arms crept around his neck and pulled him close. The kiss he placed on her mouth was long and lingering. Her lips parted and he deepened the kiss. Heat rose swiftly within him. After a few minutes, he raised his head and muttered hoarsely, “I don’t deserve your love. I don’t deserve a second chance.”
“Watch it, you’re talking about the man I love.” She reared up on her elbow.
“When we first met, I looked at you, wanted you…but I was a coward. I saw all your passion, your intensity, and turned and ran instead of sweeping up the challenge you presented. I would’ve received riches beyond measure. Instead I retreated, threw Felicity in your face as the model for womanhood. You say I’m blind. I’m not. I’m stupid.”
“You’re not stupid. Fliss was a darling.”
“Loyal to the last, aren’t you?” He brushed her hair back from her face. “I married her for all the wrong reasons. Because my mother wanted grandchildren. Because she was biddable. Because she was so different from you, she didn’t tie my head—or my heart—in knots. But I came to wish she had a little of your steel.” As he admitted the truth, the shame started to recede.
“Fliss was weak. But it’s not her fault. Not wholly. She had a hard time.”
“She had you. Yet she married the man you wanted, left you to look after the man she loved—and still you defend her.”
“I must. I loved her. And she gave me T.J.”
“Our son.”
“Yes, our son. Now I’ve got you. And you love me. What more could I want?” She smiled at him, a slow smile. A happy smile filled with promise.
Damon leaned forward and gave her a gentle kiss, thankful that he’d found her again. The woman who loved him more than he deserved. The woman who bewitched him. The woman who held his heart in her hands.
Two weeks later and a world away from the bustle of Auckland, a lone couple stood on the wide strip of golden sand. The woman’s feet were bare and damp from the surf, and she was clad in a simple long white dress. A blue opal pendant hung from a gold chain that glinted in the late-afternoon sun. And she wore a brand-new set of matching earings and a bracelet that her bridegroom had given her as a wedding present. The groom wore a light-coloured suit fitting for the island’s humidity, and the page boy wore a pair of floral board shorts and a dun-coloured shirt.
There were no bridal attendants, no guests, no hoopla. Only a bride, her groom and their son. As the celebrant walked toward them with two women who had agreed to act as witnesses, the groom leaned down. “Is a Pacific island close enough to your fantasy?”
The bride tipped her head up. “I don’t need anything beside you—and our son.”
“You’re sure you don’t feel cheated of the celebration, the guests, the presents?”
Rebecca laughed. “Believe me, there will be mountains of presents to open when we fly home—between your mother and Demetra, I don’t doubt that. But I’ve had the best gifts already. You, the fact that T.J. swam today and that he laughed while doing it.”
The groom cupped her face in both his hands and stared down at her with gleaming blue eyes, his touch warm and tender. She turned her head and kissed the arch of his thumb. Never had she been happier.
“I love you,” Damon told her, his voice fierce. “Have I told you today?”
“Yes, but I’ll never tire of hearing it.”
“And I’ll never tire of the wonder of finding you and my son”
He bent to kiss her.
Rebecca’s toes curled into the soft sand. The familiar flare of desire flickered within her. The celebrant gave a cough. For a moment Rebecca thought Damon was going to ignore the man. Then he murmured, “Later” against her lips and drew away. The wide white pirate smile he flashed her held a promise that made her tingle.
“Dearly beloved,” the celebrant intoned. “We are gathered here today to celebrate a wedding, the love of two people for each other…”
Soula Asteriades smiled from ear to ear as she made her way to the deck where the sound of festivities could be heard.
Her eldest spinster sister, Iphegenia, was ensconced in a large comfortable chair with plenty of cushions supporting her. The younger, Athina, was playing tavli with Johnny. Soula’s three brothers and their wives and children and grandchildren were scattered across the deck, some of the little ones playing in the peculiar long, skinny pool her son had built. Savvas and his bride-to-be shared a lounger, their heads close together like a pair of lovebirds.
“Look, a photo,” Soula announced, holding up a cell phone. “The first photo of my eldest son, his new bride wearing a beautiful white dress—no sign of scarlet in sight—and their son, my first grandson. This is a miracle for which I claim no responsibility.”
As the family surged forward, happiness swamped her. She tilted her face to the heavens and knew somewhere out there her beloved Ari was watching, celebrating with her.
ISBN: 9781426800191
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