Page 83 of Hope & Harmony

Her words trail off as I take her face into my hands.

“It is something special,” I tell her, my voice low, my eyes taking in every part of her that I can see. The freckles on either side of her nose and the tiny scar above her lip. The way the hairs at her temples have grown curlier as the night has progressed. The rosy flush on her cheeks.

I don’t think it’s possible to know you’re in love with someone this quickly, but it’s hard to categorize the way I feel without using the word love because I love everything about her. I love all these little bits of information I’m learning as I get to know her. I love watching her smile and hearing her laugh. I love holding her close.

But mostly, I love the brightness I can see in her eyes, a brightness this world might have lost if things had been even just slightly different three years ago. The night we met.

Even if we may have introduced ourselves for the first time tonight, we left a mark on each other years ago.

“I’m so glad I found you,” she whispers, slipping her hands around my waist before sliding them underneath the flannel of my shirt so they’re pressed against my bare skin.

I lick my lips. “And I’m so gladIfoundyou,” I reply, knowing the words have a different meaning when I say them.

Her eyes soften momentarily, then I bring my mouth to hers again. She opens, her tongue twisting with mine, our hands beginning to shift and grab and pull. The softness of the earlier moment dissipates, and the desire I felt before returns with a vengeance. I moan as Madi moves her body, pressing the softer parts of her against the harder parts of me.

“Will you stay?” I ask quietly as I kiss down her neck.

“There’s nowhere else I want to be,” she answers.

I smile and then bring my lips to hers before leading her inside.

EPILOGUE

MADISON

I’m not sure when I start hearing the music.

Time is funny like that when you’re sleeping so deeply.

All I know for certain is at some point, in place of the air conditioner’s hum and the city noise outside the window of our apartment, I begin to hear music. A gentle strumming on the guitar and a warm, raspy voice that always settles something in my soul as I lie dozing in our king-size bed, only barely beginning to rise out of sleep.

I know I’m safe. I know I’m rested. I know I’m warm.

But it’s so early.

Except I love hearing that voice and the sound of the guitar.

It’s what I yearn for.

Day in and day out.

When I finally open my eyes and see him sitting in his familiar spot next to the fireplace, I smile.

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