Epilogue

Epilogue

TWO YEARS LATER

“Are you ready, Martin?”

Alice paced the room, they were already five minutes late, and one thing he’d learned about his feisty sister was that she hated to be late.

“I can’t do this… thing.”

She tutted and crossed to him, helping him with the burgundy tie. It matched the color of her dress, and she had it tied properly in a few seconds.

“There.” She patted his chest and smoothed his jacket. “You look so handsome.” She sounded choked, and he pulled her in for a hug. They’d traveled a hard road these last two years, both of them fighting their own ghosts, but here, today, they were as good as they’d ever been.

“And you look beautiful,” he murmured in her ear. The word had long since lost its power to evoke awful memories. All he had to do was recall the tone of the word when Tyler whispered it to him and he felt a warmth that stayed with him for hours.

“Okay, big brother, let’s go.”

A moment of doubt hit him as he stepped outside. What he was doing today was a miracle, a dream that he never thought would ever happen. He loved Tyler, and Tyler loved him, and at Christmas when Tyler had gone down on one knee and proposed, he’d said yes in an instant. There had been not one millisecond of hesitation. He held the rainbow crystal tight, and focused on what he wanted.

He wanted Tyler. He wanted forever. To him, the two things were the same.

Their honeymoon was planned, the Jeep already packed. Two weeks in the tents by the stream, with a double cot, looking for sapphires and maybe a fleck or two of gold. Perfect.

Tyler was there already, standing under an arch of flowers, his family behind him. Then, hand in hand with Alice, Martin headed to join his fiancé.

“Hey, beautiful,” Tyler whispered.

“Hey back.”

Alice squeezed his hand and then made a show of passing her hold to Tyler’s.

Martin turned and faced Tyler and repeated their vows. Tyler never let go of him, and Martin gripped tight.

“I love you,” he said as they were finally told they could kiss.

Tyler cradled his cheek with his free hand, and Martin was lost in his hazel eyes, and then he smiled.

He couldn’t believe how far he’d come. From being a kid broken through violence and fire to finding this man with his sapphires and his rambling and his warm welcoming heart. The future for them was bright, and he finally had an extended family that made sense. How had he gotten so lucky to have found Crooked Tree and Tyler?

Really he had only one thing to say to the man who’d stolen his heart.

“I love you too.”

THE END