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His abdominals relaxed, his brow eased, and the muscles of his cheeks stretched as he smiled. “Me, neither.”
And that was the truth, their shared truth.
He kissed her and his kiss held the promise of a life together, a long life together. And love. Yes, a bounty of love.
The next morning, the first thing Gideon did, well, thesecond thing Gideon did, was to take Elise to see the White Lake Resort Colony.
The waters were manmade from the vast underground rivers that traveled beneath the Metro Phoenix area. The colony was fifteen miles long and stretched the entire length of the White Tanks. On either side of the lake, over a hundred hotels and gardens served the globe as one of the finest collection of resorts in the world.
She was properly awed and happy. He was stunned at how closely connected to her he was, that he could feel her external sensations, the warmth of the wrought-iron railing beneath her hands as she gazed down into the replica of the Vancouver Island Butchart Gardens, the way the breeze tickled the backs of her arms, and that as she shifted to look at him, a shiver passed over her shoulders and down her back. The answering scent of strawberries told the rest of the story.
He leaned down and kissed her. “I’m so grateful for you, Elise.”
She smiled and gave him an answering kiss. She turned and pressed up against him, planting her hand on his chest as she liked to do, rubbing her fingers back and forth. He could feel the softness of his T-shirt against her fingertips.
She leaned her head against his shoulder and he surrounded her with his arms. “I can’t believe there are so many extraordinary gardens.”
“At least a hundred.”
“Then it will take us some time to explore them all.” She shifted against him so that she could see down into the garden. She gave a little cry. “Look, a little girl just mounted her wings.” But a voice came over the outdoor speaker system at almost the exact same moment. “There is no mounting of wings in the garden. Will the Twoling’s mother please discipline the child?”
When the mother began to give chase, Elise laughed. “I guess some things don’t change.”
“Nope.”
“I love this world,” she said with a sigh. “I feel as though I’ve come home. Really come home. I never thought in the course of my life that I would ever know such happiness.”
He hugged her. “I feel the same way.”
He couldn’t believe that all this bounty had come to him, unexpected, unrequested. Before he had met Elise, there had been no deep-seated need that he’d been aware of, but truthfully, he must have been kidding himself. Now his heart was full and he couldn’t imagine a life without her. He’d become the moon to her earth and he would spend the rest of his life in constant motion around her, seeing to her, tending to her, keeping her safe, teaching her how to wield a sword, and maybe one day filling her belly with child.
“I hope we have children some day, Gideon.”
He kissed the side of her neck. He knew she wasn’t reading his mind. She didn’t have that kind of power to push past his shields without him knowing. But that she had been thinking the same thing, at the exact same moment, meant a lot to him. It was one more sign that their decision to complete thebreh-hedden had been the right one. “I would love to have a little Eliserunning around, mounting her wings when she wasn’t supposed to.”
“Or a little Gideon.”
“Yes, a little Gideon.”
Once more he gave her a squeeze, his heart stretched to capacity, his world expanded beyond anything he had ever imagined for himself. He had loved the day of his ascension, because he belonged in this world. But now, with Elise pressed close to his heart, he knew the real gift of ascended life and it was love. Now and forever, it was love.
