in what might have been a smile on a more expressive face.
But Emily had eyes only for the man at the head of their procession. A barefoot king in a pair of ragged dungarees.
The silence rustled expectantly around them.
"You're late again," she said, swallowing around the knot in her throat.
"Not too late, I hope," Justin replied. "It's bad form to be late for your own wedding."
Emily pressed her fingers to her trembling lips. She understood that he was offering her his life as
bravely and as gallantly as he had on the beach. Not to end it in a flash of smoking gunpowder, but to
cup its fragile moments in her palm, to nourish it and protect it as she would her own through all the sweet years to come.
She opened her mouth to give him her answer.
A silver tray popped into her vision, crowned by a conch shell brimming with amber liquid. Penfeld bowed. "A spot of tea, perhaps, my dear? To celebrate this momentous occasion. '
He didn't utter a protest when she shoved the tray aside and flew across the bluff into Justin's waiting arms. Trini's deep-throated laughter pealed out as Justin rocked her in his hard embrace.
He swept out an arm toward the wind-battered cross. "I wanted David to share the moment with us."
"Oh, he is," Emily breathed in wonder. "Look."
They both stared at the base of the cross to discover a single fragile pohutukawa bloom had pushed its way up through the sandy soil, its tender petals unfurling in a fresh promise of new life.
Their lips met in a melting caress, making promises and vows they would gladly spend their lifetimes keeping. As the natives danced around them, Justin stroked her hair and pressed his lips to her ear, whispering the words she'd once thought never to hear again except on the distant wings of the wind-
"Stay with me always, my sweet, my love . . . my Claire."
About the Author
A self-professed army brat, Teresa Medeiros was born in Germany. She wrote her first novel at the
age of twenty-one and enjoyed an earlier career as a registered nurse before realizing her dream of
writing full time before the age of thirty. She lives in a log home in Kentucky with her husband
Michael, five neurotic cats, and two gracious dogs.