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“Nah.” He shook his head. “I definitely did better out of it. I got you, when I might have ended up with Dana in the greatest mistake of my life. My guardian angel must’ve been looking out for me.”
“You believe in angels?”
He nodded solemnly. “Falling in love did that for me.”
“I like the idea of Suzy as an angel.” Victoria glanced at the photo on her dressing table. “I can see her wearing a halo on her curls, smiling that sweet smile of hers.”
“With Michael beside her, holding her hand.”
“Of course.”
“They’d be happy for us, you know.”
Victoria nodded. “I think so, too.”
“They tried to match-make us two years ago—I was furious about it.”
“I’m not surprised! You’d just been through a bad experience with Dana. It wasn’t the right time.”
“And you didn’t like me,” he said righteously. “You thought I was a jerk that no sane woman could live with. Yet look at you now.”
“I didn’t know you!” she corrected, laughing at him.
He bent forward and placed a kiss on the tip of her nose. “So you think you know me now?”
Victoria nodded. “To know you is to love you.”
“Oh, Tory.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “I’ll never tire of hearing that, of kissing you, of making love to you.”
“I suppose that means that there will have to be a little brother or sister for Dylan one day.” Her eyes turned a wicked gold.
“That sounds like a great idea.” Connor laughed silently, happiness and joy filling him. “But we’ll need to practice.”
“So what are we waiting for?” his wife asked, pulling his head down to hers.
Epilogue
F rank and Juliet’s wedding took place at Victoria and Connor’s home.
And Victoria disgraced herself by crying buckets. But she didn’t care. Nor did the man who stood proudly beside her, holding her hand.
They were both happy.
And so were the bridal couple.
“Just know that it’s not that I don’t adore you. I do,” she sobbingly assured a radiant Juliet.
“It’s true,” Connor assured her.
Juliet laughed and patted her on the shoulder.
On the pretext of fetching a tissue, Victoria rushed upstairs and washed her face with cool water. She returned to the large deck onto which the reception rooms had been flung open, where a trio of musicians played festive songs. The evening was clear, and the first stars were starting to show. Lights flickered romantically in the trees while candles floated on the swimming pool.
Victoria couldn’t suppress a smile at the sight of Anne restraining Dylan as he leaned toward the flames on the water’s surface, gurgling with pleasure.
“Okay?” Connor asked her, coming up behind her and placing an arm around her shoulder.
She gave one last sniff. “I’m fine. I always cry at weddings.”
“I remember. You cried at Suzy and Michael’s wedding. But you didn’t cry at ours.” He placed a finger under her chin and gave her a searching glance. “Any reason for that?”
“Because I was terrified that once I started I wouldn’t be able to stop.”
He opened his arms and she stepped into them. “I’m still here.”
“Don’t,” she whispered, “you’ll set me off all over again.”
He shuffled his feet and she followed his lead. It looked to all the world as if they were dancing.
“I love your happy tears. Don’t store them up, you should release them.”
“I’d drown you.” She gave him a weak smile.
He smiled back. “Do your worst, I don’t scare easily.”
Oh, Connor.
This was when he turned her heart to mush. Wordlessly, she snuggled up to him and let the music take her to a quiet place where only she and Connor, with his arms around her and his body close to hers, existed.
When the song came to an end they made their way to the pool. Dylan saw them approaching and shrieked happily.
This was her family, her home. As the next melody started to play, Victoria knew that her life was complete, she had it all.
