Chapter Twenty-One
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Zarah
T he sun sparkles over the aquamarine water. My husband is pretending to sleep, but his hand keeps inching down my tummy toward the waistband of my bikini. We’re lying on a wide lounger under a huge umbrella, the private beach stretching as far as we can see.
Zane’s standing in the water, Stella in his arms, her legs wrapped around his waist. He can’t keep his lips off her.
Lucille and Linc are down the shore, throwing Baby a Frisbee.
Stella’s mom and dad, Monica and Brad, are lying near us, also dozing in the sun. Douglas and Stella’s sister, brother-in-law, and niece are building sandcastles.
Quinn Sawyer and her wife are poking through the sand collecting seashells.
At the last minute, I arranged for everyone to join us. When I wasn’t well, I was jealous of their ties to Stella. She’s been my lifeline through this whole thing, and I wanted her all to myself.
The feeling was especially difficult to put away after the terrible lies Jerricka made me believe about her death, but Gage and I had a long heart-to-heart and he helped me see trying to keep Stella from her family would only hurt her, and me, in the long run. Now, instead of seeing them as adversaries and competition, I enjoy spending time with them. Brad said he’d teach me how to golf (something I am very much looking forward to), and Monica said she was honored when I asked her to help me plan Stella and Zane’s wedding ceremony. Quinn and I pour over fashion magazines, and Gage and I babysit when the grownups want time alone.
Have I ever told you my husband’s smart? He really is.
The Stella, a huge yacht, bobs on the water in the glimmering horizon. Zane bought it for Stella as a wedding gift and some kind of inside joke they were reluctant to explain. One day I’ll figure out why seeing the enormous boat made her cry.
“You’re thinking,” Gage murmurs into my hair.
We were going to wait to get married, but we had a small ceremony at the house, and Zane walked me down the staircase I used as a wedding aisle. Gage met me at the bottom, Linc standing by his side. It was romantic and cozy, the way I’ve been trying to keep our life as he acclimates to being part of the Maddox legacy.
He’s adapting well, even if he won’t admit it.
“About how much I love you.”
“Hmm.” He props himself up on an elbow and kisses me, gliding his tongue over my lips. Breaking the kiss, he curls his body around mine and drifts, content.
Across the sand, I meet Zane’s eyes.
Mom and Dad would be happy for us. We avenged their deaths, and in doing so, brought a lot of evil people to justice.
We deserve to be happy.
We’ve earned it.
Stella, my sister, my savior, and my best friend, beckons for us to join them, and I rouse my sleepy husband with a kiss and a promise to do naughty things to him later.
Quinn and her wife, Linc, Lucille, and Baby, Brad and Monica, Douglas, and Adelyn and her husband and daughter join us at the water’s edge, and we watch the sun sink beyond the water.
We’re family.
No one will tear us apart, ever again.
We’ll be ready if they try.