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“Finding my dad, that was a really great moment. And seeing you for the first time is definitely one.”
His fingers tightened on mine. “What else?”
“Our first near kiss in the art room and definitely our first kiss by the river.”
“Both of those are way up on my list. And?”
“There are several others but the top two are when you asked me to marry you and the day you took me to the future site of our home. You were so excited and seeing how sure you were, how ready you were for us to start our lives together, that was the greatest moment of my life.”
He walked around the counter to pull me into his arms for a kiss which left me tingling from head to toe. There was such intensity and love looking back at me that it had my heart doing a long, slow roll.
“My greatest moment was the day you kissed my palm in English class.”
“Really? Why?” I asked.
“Because I knew then that you were totally into me.” Heteased.
“Clown.” I muttered.
He chuckled as he pulled me closer. “Seriously, it was the day of the state art show and seeing your sketch of me. I already knew how you felt about me and there it was in black and white for everyone else to see.” He leaned over and brushed his lips over my ear. “I think you like me.”
“There's no think about it.”
His tongue ran along the curve of my ear.“I know.”
He saw me back to my stool before he continued on with making our milk. I knew that in fifty yearsthe sight of him doing something as simple as heating milk was still going to warm my heart and put a smile on my face.
I sighed, happily, as I listened to the silence because everyone that I loved was under this roof, including my dad.
Bastian handed me my milk and as we made our wayback to our room he wrapped his hand firmly around mine. I pressed myself against his side and smiled because it wasn't just me anymore.
Epilogue
The ink had only just dried on our Columbia diplomas, two weeks since Bastian and I graduated, and it was our wedding day. We'd been staying with my dad and Saffron at the lighthouse. The wedding was going to take place on the plot of land that would become our home and later, after the festivities, Broderick was going to pull in his nice double-wide that we were setting up near the river bank to live in while the house was being built.
Broderick and Bastian officially drew up the contracts for their partnership and as a nice added surprise, a partnership too for Caden, after studying architectural engineering at NYU.
Bastian was at Broderick's as I got dressed at the lighthouse. My dad was giving me away, Poppy was my maid of honor, Sophia my bridesmaid, Hunter the ring bearer, Dylan the flower girl and Caden and Dom were both Bastian's best men.
My dress, the simple lace sheath, was beautiful. My up-swept hair finished with a simple fingertip veil, the earrings from the Wrights and bare feet completed my wedding ensemble.
Bastian and the men were wearing black suits with white shirts unbuttoned at the collar for the casual and simple wedding we both wanted.
A knock at my door had me calling for my dad to enter. He stopped just in the threshold and looked at me from head to toe and back again.
“You look beautiful. To think there could have been a chance of this day happening with you looking so happy and me missing it.”
“Well, let's not think of it, since not only are you here for this day, but from here on out we'll only ever be just down the road from each other.”
He pulled me to him. “You have no idea how much I love it that you and Bastian are making your home here.”
“Home is where the heart is, right?”
“Absolutely.” He took a step back and reached for my hand. “Are you ready?”
“Yes, very.”
We arrived and Logan helped both Saffron and me from the car before taking charge of Hunter and Dylan. Dante had arrived earlier to collect my younger siblings, the two-year-old twins: Brie and Caleb.
