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“The only thing I’ve ever been as sure of was when I woke up in the hospital in London, looked into your eyes, and knew in my heart that I loved you and you loved me.”
35
Smoke
Married. Siren and I were getting married. Instead of thinking it was ridiculous or even being terrified by it, it felt right. More right than anything in my life up to this point. And while it had been a spur of the moment, fueled by the harrowing experience we’d shared, I knew, like she did, that it was real.
I smiled to myself, thinking that no proposal in the history of the universe could have been more appropriate for Siren and me. Of course she was the one to ask me. It was the way it was supposed to be. I would’ve wanted to marry her. There would’ve come a time I admitted it to myself, but it would have taken months, maybe even years, until I stopped trying to talk myself out of believing she’d want the same thing.
I let her lead me by the hand out to where Decker, Casper, Hughes, and Uncle Gene waited.
“We’re getting married,” Siren announced like she might have if she’d told them we were going out for lunch.
I looked at Casper and watched as her smiling eyes filled with tears. I dropped Siren’s hand and walked over to her.
“Congratulations,” she whispered, hugging me. “I would’ve had to kick your ass if you screwed things up with her.”
“She’d never let me.”
Casper laughed. “I believe it.”
I turned around and saw Hughes hugging my future wife and knew he was as happy for us as Casper was.
“Hey, Gene,” I said, resting my hand on his shoulder. He looked stunned. “You okay?”
He smiled. “You’re a lucky man.”
I nodded. “The luckiest.”
“She reminds me of my Janie. She was incandescent. Her passion, white-hot.”
Decker approached and shook my hand. “The timing is fuckin’ crazy, but the announcement is a truly happy one.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, smiling when Siren put her arm through Deck’s.
“When you tell this story, Ashford, and I know you will, be sure to get it right. I was the one who proposed.”
“I’ll remind you two wacky lovebirds that we have a mission to wrap up.”
“Smoke? Will you come with me?”
There was a knock at the door, and Hughes answered. When he closed it behind him, he had a box in his hand. “Is this what you’re off after?”
Siren nodded.
“I had one of my guys swing by and get it since it seemed for a while we’d never get the two of you out of the bedroom.” Hughes stepped closer and handed it to her.
“I don’t have the key,” she murmured.
“May I?”
She looked at me with scrunched eyes. “Sure.”
I took the box from her hands, gripped the tiny padlock, and ripped it off.
“If that wasn’t the sexiest thing ever,” she murmured only loud enough for me to hear. “I feel like proposing all over again.”
“Do you want some privacy?” I asked.
