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“Today has been magical.”
She smiles into my eyes, and I hold her closer as we begin to sway softly to the raspy tone of Caden North’s voice. Wren’s favorite singer’s eyes find mine as he begrudgingly croons a cover of “Work of Art” by Benson Boone, the man’s distaste for singing another’s lyrics putting a great big self-satisfactory smirk on my face.
“Stop taunting the man.” There’s a smile in my wife’s voice that belies her words, and when I meet her gray gaze, blatant mischief dances in her eyes. “I still can’t believe you’re friends with him.”
“Pfft! I amnotfriends with that arrogant prick, little bird.” I grimace before narrowing my eyes playfully. “And I still can’t believe I let you talk me into having him perform at our wedding.”
Wren’s low chuckle makes me shake my head as my eyes move around the dancefloor. My gaze shifts past Ford, who’s speaking with Summer North, wife of Caden—though I don’t hold that against her—to find Alex dancing with Reyna, their daughter, Ana, propped between them.
Grayson is standing off to one side, watching his seven-year-old twins squabble about who gets to play with Alessia when she wakes from her nap. He rolls his eyes before stepping in patiently, catching my gaze as he does, and he mouths the words, “These damn kids.”
A silent understanding passes between us before he intervenes, and my smile is gracious when Wren slips from my embrace, catching my hand in her much smaller one.
“I haven’t given you your gift yet.”
Her cheeks flush, enticing me further to follow her as she weaves her way through our guests, leading me into the main house.
We continue past staff and caterers until she leads me into the study. “Close the door.”
I do as she instructs, and when I turn back to face her, she’s standing beside a sheet-covered canvas.
“What do you get the man who can buy anything his heart desires?” Wren nibbles her bottom lip nervously, and I chuckle.
“The only thing my heart desires are you and Sia.”
My wife’s smile lights up the room, my words dispelling her nerves as I’d hoped they would, and she continues with more confidence than before.
“It’s entirely from my imagination. Pieced together from stories mostly, but…” She trails off, inhaling through her nose before blowing it out through her mouth. “I think you’ll like it.”
She drops the sheet, and my mouth drops alongside it as my chest tightens with emotion.
It’s an image in the staccato style Wren prefers of Renzo and me as young men, arms around one another as we laugh at something in the foreground. I step closer, realizing it’s underwear covered in chili seeds, and I half-snort as tears fill my eyes, not for the first time today.
“That was absolutelynotyour father’s reaction.”
Wren gently props the canvas back against the wall and walks closer with a pleased smile. “I know. Nonna Julia was particularly fond of telling that story.”
Once she’s within touching distance, I slip my hands around her waist, drawing her closer to brush my lips over hers. My words whisper across her mouth as our gazes hold, and the entire world fades into oblivion.
“You’re the dream I would never allow myself to have. The dream I never felt worthy of. The dream I woulddieto protect, little bird.”
Wren presses her lips firmly to mine, her eyelids fluttering closed as she sighs, “You complete me, Vaughn Burton. I love you. I love you witheverythingI am.”
I palm her cheeks with a furrowed brow, a feeling of utter contentment filling my chest as I speak from my soul.
“I love you deeper than the deepest ocean, higher than the tallest mountain. I love you further than the stars and into all the galaxies beyond. The boundaries of my love for you are ever-expanding, each and every day until the end of time, Wren Burton.”
When our lips meet, it’s as though the stars have aligned when a sense of completeness fills me from head to toe, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that this place, in this woman’s arms, in receipt of her love, is the place I’ve yearned for my whole life.
A place I’d never have thought myself worthy of. A place not meant for devils and villains like me.
Home.
THE END
