Be good.
Always,
Dean
I stared in awe at the words.
I gave him my blessing.
I still wasn’t sure I fully understood till I put the letter down to see Callum before me on one knee. My hand flew to my mouth and I shook my head because I thought my tears had finally, finally dried. But here they were again and in fuller force than ever before as Callum held a little, velvet box and told me how much he loved me.
“I never told you this,” he laughed so gorgeously, “because I never had the chance, I guess. But I’ve had recurring dreams of you since you went away and one of them was just a memory of the day it happened, but the other, which came as often as that one did, was a dream I’ve been having of you since I first met you as a kid. And it changed as we got grew older, obviously. Became more realistic. But I’ve been dreaming of marrying you since I was six years old, Lake. I dreamed down to your white dress and your hair being down, off to one side. I guessed if I kept having this dream even after you left, it meant that inside, I always knew you might come back to me. My body could never shut down the part of me that loved you. It was too big and it was too strong because you’ve always been my goal, my dream and my everything. All I’ve ever wanted was you.”
I cried. So damned much. I wanted to sit properly at the edge of the bed, but in my aching joy, I crumbled to my knees in front of Callum and he laughed as we knelt on the floor together, tears in both our eyes, unable to stop kissing though he wasn’t quite through with his speech. He opened the box and the ring was a simple but enormous princess-cut diamond that sparkled at me between two smaller, matching stones.
“Lake,” Callum murmured, kissing my weak, jubilant body. “I grew up on you and I’m the man I am because of you. I’ve spent every year of my life since I was six years old as half of your whole and I was at my best that way. You always completed me and I know we’ve never officially dated,” he grinned that beautiful, sexy grin, “but I think we could make it easier on ourselves by making this official, so we can finally have a name.”
“God, just say it, Callum,” I begged through my elation.
“I want to spend the rest of my life watching the way you love. I can’t think of anything I want more than to wake up every morning knowing you’re my wife, the mother of my babies.”
“Callum,” I pleaded, bursting with anticipation. He laughed and gave me a quick kiss to soothe me. When he pulled away, he took my hand and looked at me with more love than I knew existed in this world.
“Baby.” Callum grinned wide. He paused again for effect and I was ready to smack him so he laughed and soaked in my reaction for another second before starting again. “I would dare you to do it but I think you’re going to say yes anyway, so…”
“Callum!”
“Lake DePalma, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” I cried. “Yes, Callum, yes,” I whispered, wiping my tears to watch him slide the beautiful ring on my finger. I wanted to stare and admire it forever but I needed to feel his lips even more. We sat there on the bedroom floor for the rest of the morning, kissing, engaged, in bliss. Finally together. Again and forever, just us, the way we were always meant to be. In his arms, I could feel his heart as much as mine, and I knew neither of ours had ever been fuller. It had been such a long, crazy, unbelievable fight back to each other.
But God, was it worth it.
Epilogue
Callum
Two Years Later
We lived for the dares as kids. During the war back to each other’s hearts, we ached for nothing but all truth. I knew Lake and I were in a good place when we found a happy medium that leaned a hair more toward the dares.
We got married in Scotland, on a smaller island. Logan was my best man because I knew it was important to him – Oz was just happy for an excuse to wear his kilt. My mother gave an embarrassing toast about how she found it amusing that Lake and I thought our teenage love was subtle. I gave Lake the idea to surprise her at the reception.
“I can’t believe I never thought about that,” Lake had groaned into her hands while we were doing planning.
“It wasn’t your last memory of it. But it was for her.”
The song “Cheek to Cheek” had lived forever in Lake’s heart as a good memory. She’d already been gone by the time my mom waltzed down the hall to the tune, only to discover Lake’s bedroom empty, important things packed away and a note left on her bed. So I figured it was time to make it once again a good memory for my mother.
There was no traditional father-daughter dance to be had at the wedding, so after we walked into the grand ballroom as Mr. and Mrs. Pike, Lake surprised my mother by gliding to her with a hand extended. With a dramatic flourish, she tucked a big, red flower in her hair. My mom got it before we even played their song. She gasped and squealed loud enough to make even Oz wince, and they danced around the floor to the crooning that would never again do anything but lift my mother’s heart.
Our guests drank, danced and laughed all night. Isabel said “matron of honor” sounded gross, and that she’d had the role in too many weddings already, so serving as maid of honor was Shanna, the incredible woman who played such a big role in delivering Lake back to me. She’d actually known before most that I was going to propose. I’d told her to get ready to visit, just as we were leaving Sunstone. She flew in early from Virginia because it was actually more of a wedding week, and all our friends, from all walks of our lives, took part in the festivities leading up to the big day. It was what made the actual night so perfect and filled with true joy. The kind of perfect that even Oz, Logan and I had to notice.
“Fuckin’ great wedding, mate.”
“Damned good,” Logan nodded.
“I agree,” I grinned. They both looked at me at the same time and then shook their heads.
“I don’t even want to imagine how you twisted kids are going to celebrate your honeymoon,” Logan snorted.
“Fuck, I do,” Oz said. When I cringed, he clarified. “Don’t worry, only her end of it. And I promise I’ll stop fantasizing about her the second you get home because you know, that’s your wife.”
Lake was my wife. I couldn’t stop saying it to myself in my head.
We went several places on our honeymoon. We justified that we’d earned the full month off to travel and relax. I waited till our final stop – just an easy trip to St. Barts – to bust out the whip.
Or rather, the tie.
“Don’t tell me that’s the one,” Lake whispered in giddy shock, biting that sexy lip of hers.
I kept it tight in my grip even as I whipped off my shirt. “Oh, it’s the one.”
She knew at that point that she was in for it. It was the damned white tie that she’d tricked me with ages ago. She caught on to the camera I’d installed in my room to catch her stealing. I’d been an idiot to think Lake was ever anything but a step ahead of me. I saw it missing, dove into the film and found her doing a striptease for me on my bed.
I made her repeat it for me that night.
This time, when she stuck that perfect ass in the air, I brought the tie down on it. I tied it around her ankles when I had her lay on her stomach on the king mattress. Never had she felt so fucking tight. I came home from that honeymoon with several new favorites, as far as positions in bed. Or out of bed. I had a feeling we’d never really stop discovering those.