by M. D. Melai
He was my one day… my forever.
As the wedding march started to play, I took a deep breath as I closed my eyes and took a few steps before opening them.
As the doors opened, so did my eyes, and there stood Emilio, at the end of the aisle, with tears already rolling down his handsome face.
My heart instantly skipped a beat.
I couldn’t hold back the tears of joy I had as I stared at him.
My whole world was wrapped up in him.
The closer Benito and I got to Emilio, the more elated I became.
“Who gives this woman to be with this man?” the priest asked the moment Benito and I reached Emilio.
“Her mothers and I do,” Benito said, before kissing me on the cheek and handing my hand over to Emilio.
Complete. That was the word that came to my mind in that moment.
I felt complete.
***
The reception had been in full swing for a while, and I was dancing with Dante when a finger tapped me on the shoulder.
I slowly turned around to see Lucas standing there.
“May I have this dance?” he asked.
“You made it!” I said, throwing my arms around his neck. “I didn’t think you were going to.”
“Of course I did.”
“How is Ana doing?” I asked as he pulled me in and we started to sway to the song.
“She is doing good, and told me to tell you she was sorry she couldn’t make it. She had an emergency photoshoot for a magazine.”
“Tell her she was missed, and that we will have to do lunch as soon as I get back and she is free.”
“I’ll tell her.”
Lucas did go on that extended vacation he said he was going to go on, and he did return back to us, just like he said he would.
I’ll never forget the day he came walking back into the house, calling out “Honey, I’m home,” and acting as if it had only been days since we had last seen each other, instead of an entire year. We did keep in touch while he was gone, though, and our friendship had only grown.
Ana, his girlfriend of two years now, was wonderful. We actually hung out together a lot—all four of us. Lucas had finally found his happiness, and I couldn’t have been happier for him.
As the song slowly started to fade, Emilio made his way over to me. He asked if he could cut in, and Lucas graciously handed me over.
“She’s all yours tonight,” Lucas said, before he bent down and kissed my cheek.
The smile Emilio wore hadn’t left his face since the moment I had said ‘I do.’
“Congratulations man,” Lucas said as he shook Emilio’s hand, and leaned in and whispered something in his ear.
“Thanks man,” Emilio said a moment later. “See you when we get back. Don’t burn the club down.”
“I’ll try not to,” Lucas laughed as he walked away.
“What did he just say to you?” I asked as soon as Emilio pulled me in close.
“The truth?” Emilio asked.
“Yes, that would be nice,” I said laughing.
“That I was the luckiest man in the room, and that he would kill me if I hurt you,” he said smiling.
“Don’t worry, he won’t have to. I’ll do that myself,” I said smiling, before I kissed him.
Then just like I had done a thousand times before, and hopefully thousand times after this, I leaned my head down on Emilio’s shoulder and listened to his heart beat.
“Have I told you how beautiful you look tonight, Mrs. Amante?” he whispered into ear.
“Once or twice.”
“Have I told you how much I love you lately?”
“Once or twice,” I laughed into his shoulder.
“Last one—have I told you how I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you?”
“A couple of times.”
“Okay, good. I was just making sure I had all my bases covered,” he laughed.
We didn’t talk after that, just held each other close and danced to the music.
The last six years, since moving to New Jersey, had been filled with many different things; heartache, secrets, lies, pain, and unimaginable loss. But those years also held joy, strength, love, and forgiveness.
I couldn’t wait to start this next chapter in my life. Marrying my best friend, the one who held my heart in the palm of his hand, was the best decision I would ever make.
The last three years with him had been some of the best in my life.
After I healed from my wounds, Emilio took me on a vacation. And for a month, we sat on the beach, talked, and reintroduced ourselves to each other. I found out a lot more about Emilio in those days. He was full of surprises, and every day since then was a new adventure with him.
A year and half after we officially got back together, Emilio asked me to marry him on the docks of Giorgio’s lake house. We were just sitting there watching the waves roll in like we had done so many times before, when he took my hands and told me he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me.
He had changed so much over the years. He was happier, lighter, and more relaxed. There were moments, though, when he got this look in his eyes, and I knew he was fighting against his own fears and concerns. In those moments, I would just take his hand, pull him in close, and reassure him that I loved him, and that everything was okay.
Life hasn’t been perfect, but it’s been pretty close to it.
The memories still haunt me sometimes, and the scars I bare now still burn at times, as if they were fresh wounds. But when I look around at my life now, I’m grateful for it—for my family, my friends, and especially for Emilio.
Every day I fall asleep next to him thinking I couldn’t love him anymore, but then I wake up the next morning more in love with him than I was the day before. And I know tomorrow I will love him more than I do today.
I can’t wait for the right moment in the next couple of days to tell Emilio about the secret I’ve been hiding from him—it wasn’t just nervousness this morning. The secret I’ve been keeping is one that will be arriving in just seven short months.
Because you see, our love story doesn’t just end here…
We would like to thank everyone for reading the Deceptive Series. We hope that you have enjoyed your journey with Liliana. For more updates from the authors, please visit the links listed below.
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Thank you so much!
M.D. Melai and C.S. Leigh
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, we would like to thank God for blessing us with this opportunity once again. There would be no way we could have done this without his constant guidance and reassurance that this was meant to happen.
Thank you to our wonderful Beta readers: Carrie, Dessie, Jane, Erica, Lindsey, Brie, and Melissa. We can never thank you enough for your love of Liliana’s journey and your wonderful words of encouragement and input. We thank you for taking time out of your busy lives to read our book and give us the perfect amount of feedback. Words cannot express our gratitude enough.
Jessica DeLucio. Seriously, you’re amazing. The cover looks wonderful, better than we could have ever imagined. You are amazing and so very talented. We appreciate the work you have done on the entire series! Every cover was beautifully designed, and without you, we wouldn’t have been able to do that! We hope that you will help us in our future work, because you’re
awesome!
Readers! What can we say about you all? Thank you so much for your love of Liliana and her wonderful story. You all have made our dreams come true! When we sat out to write her story years ago, it was just a dream—an idea. We never thought we would actually publish her story, and when we finally did, we were worried no one would want to read it, but the feedback and love you have sent our way has been unbelievable. We could not have asked for better fans. You all continue to inspire and drive us to be the best writers we can be. We try our best to tell you a story and have it come to life page after page. We hope that we have accomplished that since The Deceptive Series was our first.
Last, but not least, we’d like to say a special thank you to our family. Without you this would not have been possible. We could tell you thank you a million times and it would never be enough. We love you all so very much. Thank you for the constant support and wonderful words that you have given us.
M.D. Melai would like to say a special thank you to her husband and her mom dad for the countless hours they all spent watching “E” for her so she could either finish writing or editing. Thank you all for putting up with all her “craziness.”
C.S. Leigh would like to thank her parents and siblings for the constant support. You all have been by my side since Melai and I started this journey six years ago. I would like to give a special shout-out to my mom and dad; thank you dad for helping us on our way to greatness, and thank you mom for being one of our beta-readers and constantly giving us feedback. I can’t even fathom a great enough expression of love and gratitude that I have for each of you. It has been a journey, and I couldn’t think of a better support system than you all.
About the Authors
M.D. Melai and C.S. Leigh are a cousin writing duo that lives in Wichita Falls, Texas.
M.D. Melai, when she’s not writing, spends her days with her family and friends while chasing around her four-year old son. She is in the process of achieving her bachelor’s degrees in History and English.
C.S. Leigh graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, but followed her passion of writing. She spends her days and weekends with her family and friends while continuing to write with her co-author.