She was a goddess.
Her eyes never left his face.
And in those eyes was every man’s deepest dream, a dream he did not even know he had, until it walked toward him with sun kissing delicate curves and joyous tears streaming down a serene face.
Jonas marveled at the glory of a world that could bring him someone like her.
Krissy arrived beside him and they looked at each other. He saw the wonder in her gaze, a look a man could die to receive.
Fred cleared his throat, reminding them they could not get lost in each other and block out all else just yet.
Jonas noted that his happy-go-lucky uncle had somehow transformed into a man of quiet authority.
The age-old ritual of two people joining together in front of the community that would love and support them began.
Jonas, because of his large family, had been to dozens of weddings. And yet never had the words resonated so deeply with him, never had he felt the sacredness of the vows so intensely as when he was saying them. It felt, not as if the words were leaving him, but as if they were entering him, becoming part of his muscle, his cells, his bones, his soul.
For better, for worse.
For richer, for poorer.
In sickness and in health.
To love and to cherish.
Till death do us part.
And then, just when he thought the experience could not intensify anymore, Krissy, so beloved to him in such a short time, was saying those words to him, her voice strong and sure, her gaze steady on his face.
He could feel the promise, weaving together with his promises to her, making something brand-new in the world, strong, invincible.
And then they were declared husband and wife, and to the cheers of the assembled, they kissed each other.
A kiss that said welcome home.
A kiss that promised it would stretch toward eternity.
A kiss that filled every void that neither of them had known they still carried.
After a long, long time, they came up for air. Jonas rose out of the silence of their joined lips like a swimmer coming from the bottom of a body of water, breaking the surface. His family was cheering. His sister was crying. Mike was grinning ear to ear. Chance was moaning. His nephews were pelting the gathering with flowers and leaves.
He took Krissy’s hand. It felt so right in his, a perfect fit. He gazed down at her, and she drank him in with wonder. Finally, they turned and walked down the aisle. The gathering had been waiting, and daisy petals floated around them until it felt as if they were walking through a blizzard.
How right his sister had been that this was the kind of moment that was not just about two people.
This moment, this celebration of hope, this confirmation of love, this confidence in the future, was not just for Krissy and Jonas.
It was for all of them.
Love was a gift that radiated outward to the whole world.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
KRISSY AWOKE IN the morning, sun pouring through the red and white oaks that shaded their cabin and dappling her face. Her feet hurt, in the best possible way, and a smile tickled her lips as she remembered dancing into the wee hours of the morning.
No doubt that was why she was exhausted, despite having slept soundly.
In her husband’s arms.
She realized the place beside her in bed was empty, but she turned to the rumpled sheets and touched them. Buried her nose in his pillow and drank in the scent of him.
She was married to Jonas Boyden.
It was almost too big to comprehend. Ever since they had driven under those gateposts onto the resort, it felt as if enchantment had unfolded.
An enchantment where love was fanned to life, where every moment shone brilliantly, where the impossible became possible, where what was considered normal was suspended.
Krissy realized she needed to see Jonas to make sure she was not having a dream. She climbed from the bed, showered, pulled a comb through her hair and tossed on some shorts and a T-shirt.
There was always coffee on the front porch of the main lodge, and she was sure she would find Jonas there.
She heard him before she saw him, among the deep rise and fall of male voices. She stopped, loving that she knew him so well that she could tell which voice was his. She loved the sound of it, the pure masculine vibrancy, and she felt a quiver as she remembered how his voice had worshipped her last night.
Beautiful.
My heart.
My love.
But then he stopped talking. And she heard the other voice. Mike?
“I have to give it to you, buddy, you went the extra mile to keep that car.”
Just as she had recognized his voice, now she recognized Jonas’s shout of laughter. Everything in Krissy’s world felt as if it was crashing down around her. She did not wait to hear his response.
This was what the enchantment had kept her from seeing, had kept her from remembering, had kept her from focusing on.
From the beginning, it had been a deception.
Her eagerness not to be alone on a weekend that would have intensified her sense of having lost her family and best friend, her aunt Jane, had clouded out reason, had clouded out fact, had clouded out everything.
And now that the first doubt had wiggled its way past the shining walls of the enchantment, others crowded in.
What kind of idiot followed through, turning what was supposed to be a game into reality? What kind of fool got married on an impulse?
Sickly, Krissy realized exactly who got married on an impulse.
Her parents had. An impulse, and because they had to. Because momentary passion had led to a permanent situation, an unwanted pregnancy.
She suddenly saw her exhaustion this morning in a completely different light. She counted back to the first time she and Jonas had spent the night together. She realized her cycle was off.
She had been so swept up in the
