Brennan held the paper carefully like it was the friggin’ Holy Grail. “Do I get to read it now?”
“You sure do.”
He smiled as he looked down and began to read:
Even
After
All this time
The Sun never says
To the Earth,
“You owe me.”
Look
What happens
With a love like that.
It lights the
Whole
Sky.Skye
“Look what happened to me, Brennan,” Skye said in a low, sober tone. “Look what my life was like, yes, but look what happened to me because you love me. Look who I am now. Look at the things I can do now that I couldn’t do a year and a half ago.” She gripped her hand into a fist around his and picked back up in a voice that managed to be fragile and strong at the same time. “Look what happens with a love like that. It lights the wholeSkye.”
Brennan’s head was once again tilted back against the wall, and Liza approached him with the handkerchief and a happy-tears smile. She traded him the poem for the handkerchief, folding the paper neatly and holding it at the level of her dress’s strapless neckline. He wiped away the long, wet rivulets that streamed from the outer corners of his eyes and murmured, “My God, how I love you.” He cleared the lump from his throat and spoke louder. “I love you so much, Skye.”
“I know you do. And I love you, too.So much. You saved me, Brennan. You really did. And I promise to spend the rest of my life lighting you up with love just like you always have for me. I promise to keep learning the depths of this real love so that I can love you as beautifully and completely that you’ve always loved me.” She paused to huff lightly. “Like, no disrespect, but Jesus Christ, Brennan, you are literally the most perfect human I’ve ever encountered, and the most perfect thing about you is your extraordinary ability tolove, and I’m just trying to get on your level here. But that’s the thing. I’m trying. I promise that I’ll never stop trying, no matter what it is, not until my heart stops beating, and my lungs stop breathing. I amhere. Baby, I am with you to either the bitter fucking end or the mother fucking promised land. I will follow you into the darkness, Brennan Riley, because my real home will always be right there in the middle of your beautiful heart.”
Then everyone was crying all over again, Brennan included, and Liza had to fold the handkerchief in half again to keep his both of their faces dry.
“All right, well then.” Brennan cleared his throat and gave Skye’s hand a loving squeeze. “As far as I’m concerned, those were vows and now we’re married. Let’s just sneak out the back.”
“Bubba, you never struck me as the type of man who’d like to kill his mama,” Della, one of his sisters, piped up in her thick, refined southern accent, “’cuz that sure would get the job done.”
Brennan exhaled long and loudly. There honestly was no getting out of the big, over-the-top, impersonal wedding. “Okay, fine. Baby doll, I will see you in only a few short minutes, and I’ve never been more excited for anything as long as I’ve lived.”
Skye gave his hand one last squeeze. “I love you. I can’t wait to see you.”
“Close your eyes, sweetheart,” he couldn’t help adding, squeezing his eyes shut.
“Okay, they’re closed.”
He tugged on her hand. “Come on over around this corner really quick.”
Liza tsked. “That’s totally cheating, B.”
“It’s technically not, and I don’t care about this stupid tradition anyway. My mama does. And she’s with the wedding coordinator right now.”
Skye’s other hand arrived at his chest, and he blindly wrapped one arm around her waist and gently found her cheek with his palm. “No peeking, baby girl.”
Her lips brushed his. “And no alligators.”
