Page 65 of Where the River Meets the Skye

Jenna turned her gaze to Nick, and then back to them when he nodded. “Actually, before we do that, Nick and I have an announcement.”

River’s eyes widened as did Skye’s. Jenna and Nick were both beaming now, and River thought he had noticed them being a little bit more touchy feely than normal throughout the day, exchanging kisses as they passed each other, and at one point he recalled them being missing for several minutes.

Jenna thrust her hand forward and River almost squealed at the large diamond band on her ring finger.

“Oh my God, you guys are engaged?” Skye said. They nodded and River hugged Jenna as Skye hugged Nick. River was forever grateful when Jenna moved aside to allow Nick to sit so he could hug him without standing.

“I’m so happy for you,” he said. “Do you have a date?”

“Not yet,” Nick shrugged. “Sometime in the spring.”

“Fuck, you guys,” Skye was doing a happy dance when he hugged Jenna and she laughed. “This is the best news ever.”

“We want you both to be in the wedding,” Jenna said, pulling away and gripping Skye’s hands.

“Oh, um, yeah, we’d love to. I don’t know if that’s a good idea for me, though. I can’t really stand up for that long.” River bit his lip. He hated to let his friends down, but passing out during their wedding wasn’t going to help anyone either.

“We can have you sit,” Jenna said, nonplussed. “You have a handicap, River, like a lot of people. It’s not going to keep us from wanting you in our wedding.”

“You want me sitting up there the whole time?”

“Sure. Why not? What if you had a wheelchair? It wouldn’t be any different.”

River hadn’t thought of that, except that sitting was still painful for him, but there was no way he would miss out on Nick and Jenna’s wedding.

“It’ll be a short ceremony anyway, ‘cause we want to get to the reception,” Nick said with a grin. “We know you might not be able to be there for long but we can’t get married without you, River.” Nick’s big hazel eyes were so full of hope it made River’s chest ache.

“I’ll be there,” he said, giving his friends a smile. “You might have to put me in a wheelchair, but I’ll be there.”

Jenna kissed River on the cheek and Skye ordered their pizza.

River unwrapped his new blanket completely and couldn’t keep the smile off of his face as he draped it over himself. It was amazingly comfortable and covered his entire body, and it made him feel whole and safe, and like maybe this little apartment could actually be their home.

“Looks good on you, angel,” Skye said, grinning at his husband, and leaning down to kiss him again.

They spent the evening with their friends, surrounded by boxes, watching Star Wars on their laptop, and huddled under their pride blankets, holding hands.

Skye

“Hey, you wanna turn on some Christmas music for us?” Skye asked as he fluffed the tree.

River was sitting up length wise on the couch, his pillow propped up behind him for support. He was bundled up in a hoodie, flannel pajama pants, slippers and his pride blanket from Jaden and Chloe and was still shivering. Skye had already turned the heat up once to try and accommodate his husband but River’s thermoregulation was so out of whack he knew he’d be turning it back down again in thirty minutes anyway when his husband got too hot.

River picked up his phone and swiped, and soon there was classical Christmas music filling the space. Skye swayed his hips a little to the tune as he continued to decorate the tree.

“You want something warm to drink?” he asked. “Coffee, tea, hot chocolate?”

“Sure,” River said as he shivered some more. “Tea sounds good.”

“Peppermint okay?”

River nodded. “I can get it, Skye.”

Skye eyed him. “I’ll get it,” he said, and pressed his lips to River’s temple. A few minutes later Skye handed River a warm mug of peppermint tea, and watched as he breathed it in and sighed contentedly.

“What’s with the blue lights this year?” River asked as Skye strung the lights.

Skye looked over at him and smiled. “It’s my favorite color,” he said, and gave his husband a wink.

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