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“Now we’re married.”
“And, I’mwithyou, so…”
“Okay.” I suck in my grin, and he closes his fist in a victorious pump before pulling the gun out and grabbing his vodka off the table, dabbing some on a clean napkin and wiping my ears. The guests catch sight of what’s going on and the room goes a little silent.
I think surely my brothers will yell at me, tell me no and force me to go to my room for even thinking about defiling my body with piercings. But then I realize that I’m married and completely free to do whatever the hell I please— reasonably. And I look right in my brother's eyes as Adrik pierces my ears. Vince is shaking his head a bit, but Pops doesn’t seem to mind, which is all that really matters to me anyhow.
“All done.” Adrik says after I’ve barely felt a thing, and it could be because I’m a little more than tipsy. He holds up his phone for me to look at them, and I love them instantly.
“Thank you.” I look back at him, tears in my eyes because it’s such a marking moment for all of me to be given to all of him, and somehow we’re both better for it.
After dinner, we are sent off with wildflowers tossed at us as we get into a car. One of the boys is driving us tonight. To where, I do not know, but every time I ask Adrik, he just shakes his head and grins like he knows something I don’t.
We drive for an hour, and mostly we kiss during that time. Poor guy in the front probably had a night shift tonight, and didn’t think he'd have to ignore newlyweds making out in the back seat of our car reserved for high-profile missions.
We laugh between one another as we continue to kiss, until my head is on his lap and his fingers are twisting the spirals of my curls. The car stops and our driver taps the steering.
“Here.” He declares, and Adrik helps me out of the car. I nearly topple over when I see a beautiful cottage style house; Ivy running up the siding, a smoking chimney, wooden beams and lush landscape that makes it look like we're in the middle of a forest and not only an hour or so out from LA.
“Is this where we’re staying for our honeymoon?” I gleefully ask and he shakes his head.
“Oh, then why are we here?” I laugh as he takes my hand and pulls me to the front door.
“Because this is our home.”
“Home? But I didn’t know—“
“I had it built a while ago. It finished up just this morning. I just wanted a place to escape to when the Magdalin felt overcrowded. I also hated living next to my ghost brother’s old room.”
“How did you choose the style?” I’m shaking my head and looking around at everything in awe.
“Well, I always loved the town we visited at the safe-house. It was a place where a lot of childhood memories were made. Back when I wasn’t smart enough to figure out how grim my family actually was. So, I don’t know… I had it made. Almost thought about canceling the entire project and selling the property off to someone until, well, this morning when I got the call that it was done.”
He unlocks the front door, and it swings wide, revealing a beautiful cottage style house complete with a grandfather clock, earthy decorations, a cozy kitchen with hanging brass dishes and plants in every corner of the ceiling. And far as I can see, it’s the most beautiful place I’ve ever laid eyes on.
“I haveone more gift for you.” He pulls out a piece of paper ripped from a journal. It’s like the very harsh one I left him right before we left Russia. But this one has his name at the fold and I take it nervously, opening it up and reading;
“Dearest Esperanza Mikhailova,
You have taught me many things about life, but one of the most important, is the strength to fight for love and not against it. Before I met you, sobriety was never in the cards for me. I went for years numbing the pain of living just to stay alive— if you can call it that. But who you saw me to be, changed me. And everything about you has made my sober life far more worth living than anything cigarettes and alcohol could do. I don’t need those, if I have you. In fact, I don’t need anything else in this entire world if I have you. You’re my compass, my muse, my heart, and my light. I’ll never stop protecting, loving, and fighting for you.
Thank you for loving and believing in me. You’ve taken this beast and turned me into a prince.
All my love, heart, and whole being— your husband,
Adrik.”
I lookup from the letter, tears in my eyes. “You were never abeast.”
“I was never a prince either, but somehow you showed me both sides of myself, and I will never stop trying to give back to you for changing my life for the better. I promise to help you get everything you deserve from life.” He whispers, wiping a tear away with his thumb and kissing me softly.
“Adrik, you’re everything I ever wanted, I just took my time figuring it out. You’re thoughtful, kind, and brave, and you care about things that other people turn a blind eye to. You’re not afraid to see things for how they are and how they should be. There is no one on this planet, or dimension— or whatever else there is in books and fantasies— that is more right for me than you.”
He breathes a laugh through his nose, his grin reaching the creases under her eyes again, and he kisses me with such intent that I could swear we’re spinning around in a circle. This time is a good circle, a circle of trust and mutual love, more essential than the air we breathe. We’re lost to one another. Lost in time and touch, and given to passions, we never have to hide from one another again.
I’d choose Adrik all over again, go through the pain it took to get here, if it meant we’d always be like this. I was naive to think that I could choose love. Love doesn’t wait for you to choose it, it chooses you. It’s as simple as that. Anything less than genuine and you might as well box it up and toss it to the curb. Because love is nothing if not genuine. So straight-forward, it punches you in the face if you dare ignore it. I wasn’t trying to ignore it, though. I didn’t even see it coming.
But here we are, bodies clinging to one another. Anything, and everything I am is bending towards him like a sapling to the sun. And I don’t know when he became a sun instead of a moon, but he is a sun to me now— my sun. The warmest, most assuring light in every uncertainty we’ll ever face.
