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“Sure.” He picks up the microphone as the music cuts out. “Ladies and gentlemen, can we please all gather around the dance floor for the first dance.”
Amelia beams at me as I walk over, offer
ing her my hand. “May I have this dance, Mrs. Cole?”
She stretches her arm out, her warm palm landing in mine. “You may.”
I lead her over to the makeshift dance floor, the lights surrounding it twinkling in her eyes as she wraps her arms around my neck. I pull her up flush against me as the first chords of Maya’s guitar flows through me, my fingers brushing along the curve of her bare back.
“Are you cold?” I ask when she shivers.
She shakes her head, her gaze snapping over to the stage when Maya starts singing. She gasps. “Oh my God, Maya’s singing.” I look over, seeing Maya’s eyes closed as she sings the lyrics to an acoustic version of Can’t Help Falling In Love With You by Elvis. “This song is so beautiful.”
Her eyes flutter closed as Maya’s raspy voice surrounds us and I hum along with it as I sway us gently, contented to watch her in my arms.
“I can’t believe you’re dancing,” I say, shaking my head. “When? How?” I want to bombard her with questions but I press my lips together when she smiles.
“The day you proposed I felt a small spot on my foot.” We gently sway to the left. “I went and saw Doctor Bale the next day and he did some tests.” I listen intently as she connects her gaze to mine. “The swelling had started to go down on my spinal cord which meant the nerves were starting to work again.”
“But that was only two months ago.”
She nods her head. “He said I could regain feeling again over a couple of weeks or over a couple of months but I should get all the feeling back now.” She pauses. “There’s still a couple of spots I can’t feel but…”
I move my head closer to her, my lips a hairsbreadth from hers. “But you can walk.”
“I can.” She closes her eyes as I place a kiss on her lips.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask when I pull back.
Her cheeks redden as she clears her throat. “I wanted to give you a taste of your own medicine.”
I raise a brow, a smirk lifting up the corner of my lips. “Oh yeah? And what would that be?”
She screws up her nose. “Surprises.”
My head snaps back as I let out a burst of laughter, my stomach cramping at the abruptness of it before I connect my gaze back to her shimmering eyes.
“Thank you,” she whispers.
I smirk. “For what?”
She motions to everything around us with one hand before wrapping it back around my neck. “For all of this.”
“Well, I can’t take all of the credit. I did have a lot of help from some very persistent women.” My eyes scan the crowd seeing my mom, dad, Carl, and Jan standing together before moving back to her. I brush my nose against hers gently. “I love you more than life itself, Lia.”
“I love you, too,” she replies. “For giving me my life back; for not leaving when you could have; for sticking beside me every step of the way… but most of all; I love you for being you.”
My fingers whisper up her back to the base of her neck. “Well you’re stuck with me now because I’m not going anywhere.”
I lean closer and everyone cheers when Amelia closes the gap between us, stopping a hairsbreadth from my lips, whispering, “Good, because loving you is like breathing. I won’t be able to stop, even if I tried.”
Holding my hand out, I call, “Come on, Lucas,” looking behind me as he runs at me, colliding with my legs before he takes my hand. His green eyes—the same as his father's—look up at me, his long lashes batting against his chubby cheeks when he looks down at a leaf crunching under his foot.
He picks it up, presumably to bring it home and add it to all the others he “rehomes.”
His head springs back up and his eyes widen as he shouts, “Frankie!”
He lets go of my hand, running at a nine-year-old Frankie, his little four-year-old legs carrying him as fast as they can.
