Chapter 27

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

MEMPHIS

Two months later…

Noah smiled at Madeline as she moved to stand beside him in the living room of their home, marveling at the woman who always took his breath away. She was wearing a summery dress and had a circlet of daisies in her hair that was swept up into a messy bun. The vision before him made her look like a spring nymph. They were baking in the summer heat, taking shelter inside of the small house on base that was on a dead -end street not too far from the waterway.

The guys were still teasing him about wearing his dress blue uniform when he should be wearing his dress whites – but they didn't understand his reasoning for it. This was a private event, just friends and family, and when Madeline made the innocent comment of ‘ Oh, I bet this looks great on you' as they were unpacking and moving in… his decision was made .

"Will you marry me… again?" he had asked her, marveling at how beautiful life was when you found that special someone. "No one is chasing us; we aren't trying to get you on a plane or smuggle you out of the country. There's literally no drama forcing our hands this time around. It would be for us - a simple renewal of our vows."

"Pasteur, I think we're ready," Noah smiled, nodding at the other pilot, who was a licensed minister on paper but almost as wild as Trophy when they went into a foreign port on deployment. "Madeline?"

Noah extended his hand toward her and felt his heart turn over at the graceful way she would move sometimes. That bend at her wrist, the way she would hold her fingers delicately before placing them in his hand, did something seriously intimate to every nerve ending that ran along his spine. That jolt, that awareness, and that recognition of his mate, his partner, was powerful to experience and a treasure to have in his life.

"Dearly beloved," Pasteur began as Noah looked at Madeline who was gazing up at him with such love and adoration… only to hear someone clear their throat loudly.

Noah looked over to see Tic-Tak holding up three fingers with a questioning expression… and shrugged at Moonbeam, who shook his head in obvious frustration of his own escapades in the dating world.

This was their third marriage – to each other.

Orion was nodding silently in approval, his wife and son standing there before him. Things were changing among his friends as their lives unfolded before each of them. Trophy was frowning, looking lost in thought, and Shellac looked bewildered, like he didn't get what the big deal was. The man had voiced his opinion already after a bad breakup with his girlfriend last year – and Noah couldn't blame the jaded man.

But that wasn't his experience with Madeline. No, from the first moment she had turned to him, he was putty in her hands. There was something in the way that his wife looked at him that made him feel like a king. He would marry her every day if it kept that smile on her face or the light in her eyes.

"The third time is the charm," Noah began softly, looking at Madeline again and treasuring her glorious smile of approval.