Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 77793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77793 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Gah, I can’t stop grinning. I have no idea if this will work out, but it’s okay. It’s okay because right now is a fresh start, and I don’t need to know the ending of things to be happy. I’m just so honored to be able to have this first step, as Echo called it. I think we might have taken that a while back, but I guess every step is a first step into something else, something new, something fucking great.
“I missed you,” I choke out as silence pervades the room. I was aiming to keep it on a manly level here, but somehow a bit of a sob still escapes when I open my mouth again, and I have to press my lips together tightly to keep it back. Echo starts blinking like I’m her sun, and she’s looking into me, too, and her eyes are doing the sun-watering thing because they’ve been a little bit scalded. Everyone is patiently waiting. I feel like now is the time to pull something wise and perfect out of my wazoo, but I have nothing. Just the imperfect. So I’m going to offer that because it’s all I can offer, and Echo needs to hear it just as it is. “I missed you so much that I felt like I couldn’t breathe.” I finish that confession with another hiccup-sounding burp of a sob. Not classy, I know, but that’s okay too.
“I missed you too,” she whispers, and she has to brush her hands over her eyes. “You have a good heart, Orion Von Rippenstein, and I’m honored that it chose me to marry when we were drunk. I’m honored that it chose me after, too, to share in you and your family’s life. I’m just…I’m really thankful. And I’m sorry. I’m here now. Your family feels like magic, and it rubbed off on me and made me want to be all shiny and magical too.”
I suck my breath in through my teeth, and it makes an accidental whistle. “Welcome home to the place where some seriously awesome magic, chocolate chip cookies, and sometimes even liver happens, courtesy of Ginger. For me, when you were gone, this place wasn’t home, but now it feels like it again, and it has ever since you walked through the door. Welcome to your forever home, Echo.”
Lennox just can’t resist any opportunity to bust my balls and be a smartass. “Dude, she’s not a dog.”
“I think he meant forever, not furrever.” Atlas has my back on this one.
“Forever or furrever, I’m just really glad you’re here.” My voice is getting as thick as the syrup they add to canned fruit. That stuff is delicious, FYI. “Can I hug you now?”
Echo nods, and I wrap my arms around her and hold her tight. I’ve thought about this moment for so long. Each day she wasn’t with me felt like it was a thousand and eight years long. I thought it would never happen. This past month has been miserable. It’s been busy, filled with me trying to occupy the time so that I didn’t think about how much I missed Echo, how empty I felt, and how hollowed out my life was without her. It was an impossible thing—how someone could change my life so much in such a short time—but it was very real and incredibly painful.
That pain is mingled with the joy I feel now. It’s there, pumping through my veins with every beat of my heart, and my heart is currently beating double time, so I’m doing a heck of a lot of feeling over here.
“You could kiss her too,” Lennox suggests mildly from somewhere behind me.
I can’t see anyone, but I imagine they’re shaking with laughter behind me. Laughter they’re holding in. Probably hope, too, barely suppressed but bubbling up like it’s bubbling up inside me.
“Would that be okay?” I ask softly.
Echo nods. My knees feel weak, but damn it, I’m not going down. Those babies are going to hold me up, and I’m going to kiss Echo until we’re both breathless. Before I can tilt her face up, she grasps my shirt, balling her fists into the fabric, then stands on her tiptoes and claims my lips. She kisses me hard, even in front of everyone, and while the room erupts in cheers, I kiss her back with all the happiness I can’t contain. I pour it all into the kiss—my happiness and so much else.
“We can go slow,” I promise her before I kiss her again. “As slow as you need to. We’ll work everything out. And no matter what, we will always be your family.”
“Should I whip up some liver tarts to celebrate?” Ginger pipes up.
The room erupts in laughter again over Ginger’s suggestion.
Before anyone can groan or even think about protesting liver, Echo surprises us all by replying, “Sure. That would be great.” Then, she sighs softly. “I missed you all. I missed you all more than I thought it would be possible to miss anyone. And Mrs. Johnson, I—”