“Ellie,” Carter said, his voice hoarse as he looked into her eyes and saw forever unfold before him, “I take you to be my lawfully wedding wife…to have and to hold…in sickness and in health…for richer for poorer…until death do us part…”
The look on her face, as she seemed to stare into his soul and recite her vows, ensured the wetness in his eyes wouldn’t go away. As she finished, Carter rubbed the edge of his white shirt-cuff against the outer corner of one eye. The motion seemed to undo Ellie’s composure.
Two tears dripped down her cheeks. When the pastor pronounced them man and wife, Carter reached up to cup her face. With his thumbs he brushed her tears away, and with a fingertip she touched the damp spot at the corner of his eye.
“I love you, Carter. I always have. I always will.”
“Couldn’t have said it better.” He stood before her, incredulous yet deeply grateful for the rightness of this moment.
As he pulled her into his arms, the sun made one final brilliant flash before it descended into the waves like a woman melting into her lover’s awaiting embrace.
And by the glow of nature’s perfection, Carter kissed his bride.
Then, by the glow of candlelight, an hour later he laid her down amidst the plush fabrics of the bed in the hotel’s most exquisite suite. He spread her over the finest luxury satin bedding that he’d sprinkled with red rose petals before the ceremony. Champagne sat chilling on the bedside table, next to her red-rose bouquet.
He gazed down at Ellie, completely enraptured. But something troubled him, and he wanted to know how she truly felt. “Do you still think this was a good idea?”
Startled, she blinked at him. “Marrying you? Of course!”
“I mean leaving the island to get married and honeymoon at my Bahamas resort. We didn’t get married on El Dorado, like you’d expected.”
Taking his hand, she said, “Carter, the best thing I ever did was proving to myself that I could leave the island. This resort is beautiful, the stuff of fairy tales. The pictures from our wedding will be worthy of magazines.”
“I can probably arrange that.”
She held up her hands. “Not necessary, I assure you.” Her expression reflected his own exquisite happiness. “If not for you returning to the island, I never would’ve recognized how perfect we are for each other. I don’t regret anything. I love you, Carter.”
As he sat on the bed beside her, he stroked her face with reverence. “How do you feel, otherwise?”
“Amazing,” she said with a smile that dipped into a frown a few seconds later, her elation touched by a shadow of sadness. “I wish my father could’ve walked me down the aisle,” she murmured, wet droplets clinging to her lashes.
“Because it would’ve meant so much to you, I wish that, too.” Carter gently removed the pearl-beaded veil from her hair, setting it on the nightstand. “But I’m not sure he would’ve shared out sentiments.”
She gave a watery laugh. “You’re probably right. But if he knew then how much I loved you—how much I still love you and always will—he might have reconsidered.”
Carter poured the champagne into the long-stemmed glasses provided by room service, then dropped two plump strawberries into each one. “We can’t recreate the past in the present,” he conceded, “and I don’t know why things happen the way they do. But I believe everything we’ve ever said or done brings us to this exact moment—and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”
“Agreed,” she said, the lovely glow returning to her face.
“I suspect they know,” he affirmed to ease her wistfulness. “Those we’ve lost. I think their love stays with us, in our memories.”
Ellie glanced at the locket necklace spiraling around the stems of her bouquet. “I believe that, it’s just…I miss my parents so much.”
“Who’s to say they weren’t here today? Looking down on us, sharing the moment. I think that’s possible, don’t you?”
“I think so,” she whispered.
He passed her one of the glasses, even though he knew she wouldn’t drink it, then took his and held it up to her in a toast. “Cheers to those who came before, and to our children, who’ll know our best memories.”
Ellie smoothed her hand over abdomen. “Do you think our baby girl will want to know about her grandparents?”
“I know she will.” Carter leaned forward and kissed Ellie’s eyebrows, her temples, her cheeks, her nose, her chin. They’d found out two days ago they were going to be the proud parents of a baby girl—and Carter had never experienced a more profound joy than to know Ellie was pregnant with his child. He dipped his head and brushed his lips reverently over Ellie’s. “But if our little princess thinks she’s going to run off with some no-name scoundrel from El Dorado Island, she’s got another thing coming.”