Epilogue
Rio was nervous. It’s wasn’t the tailored tux he was wearing or the five hundred guests waiting in the flower-filled church; it was the woman who would forever hold his heart.
He paced—something he never did—waiting for Luke to come get him. “I don’t have the foggiest notion of how to be a good husband. I’m used to keeping my own counsel.” He tossed a look at Blade sitting on the couch and Shane by the window. “Couples, the ones who make it work like you two, talk and share their feelings.” He shook his head and continued to walk the length of the groom’s room. “I’m afraid I’ll fail and disappoint Skylar.”
He stopped and lifted his hands. His voice trembled. “She’d stay out of loyalty and love, and that would slowly kill me. I love her more than I thought it possible to love anyone.”
Blade got up and went to Rio. Shane joined them, standing on the other side of Rio.
“We didn’t know, either,” Blade told him. “Love will guide you. In any case, any woman strong enough and patient enough to wait two years on a man who showed no interest in her, and courageous enough to take out an armed gunman, is strong enough to whip you into shape.”
“My money’s on Skylar,” Shane said. “I used to feel sorry for her.”
Rio whirled and took a step back to stare at his best friends. “What? You both knew she was watching me?”
“And we watched you trying not to look back,” Shane said, smiling.
“You know I made sure my and Sierra’s paths crossed again so I could make her mine.” Blade laid his hand on Rio’s shoulder.
“I took a job to protect Paige from an unscrupulous man because she already had my heart.” Shane place his hand on Rio’s other shoulder. “Blade is right. Love will guide you.”
He stared at the two men he’d gladly lay down his life for. There had always been honesty and trust among them. His fear disappeared. Laughing, he hugged them, knowing he had enough love to last a lifetime and beyond, and every day would be a happy one for him and his little warrior.
* * *
Skylar stood in the bridal room of the church she had grown up in. She’d wanted a few minutes alone before she went down the aisle. She’d thought about this day so many times and now it was here.
Tears tried to form in her eyes, but she willed them away. She wanted to look absolutely perfect for Rio. She could hardly believe that they were going to be married.
As promised, Ruth Grayson and Felicia Falcon had been invaluable in helping Skylar’s mother and grandmothers plan the wedding. Sierra had been there as well. She’d reasoned that if Skylar was determined to marry Rio, Sierra, as matron-of-honor, considered it her sacred duty to make the wedding spectacular.
The shower Sierra had given Skylar in Tucson certainly qualified as such. Blade, Shane, and Rio had showed up at the “in” restaurant Sierra had completely booked to make sure the women were behaving themselves. Sierra, Paige, and Skylar had assured them they were—until the men left and they went back to having fun and being naughty.
A smile curved Skylar’s lower lip as she thought back over the past months. Rio and her father were actually becoming friends. He’d proudly introduced him to family, friends, and business associates. Her grandparents called Rio son. And if the looks her parents kept giving each other were any indication, their dating would soon lead to another wedding. This time they’d make it work. Skylar was sure of it.
There was a soft knock on the door. “Skylar, it’s time,” her mother said.
Skylar turned from gazing out the window and heard the soft flutter of her couture ivory gown. It had a barely there illusion neckline and sleeves, a fitted waist, and a wide-sweeping skirt with a flurry of delicate beading and crystal embroidery inspired by her Moor ancestors.
Her maternal grandmother’s tiara was attached to a lace-and-embroidery fifteen-foot cathedral veil. On her right wrist she wore her paternal grandmother’s diamond bracelet. The diamond earrings belonged to her mother. In her surprisingly steady hands she held her bridal bouquet of lush cascading pink roses and white spray roses. Attached securely was a lace sachet containing the petals of the first pink rose Rio had given her.
Her new life with Rio was ahead of her. She started to the door. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw a white-haired man with a long staff. He was smiling. More surprised than afraid, she paused, then continued to the door.
He won’t be alone anymore.
She wasn’t sure if she’d thought or actually heard the words. It didn’t matter. “No, he won’t. Thank you,” she quietly whispered and left the room.
Skylar joined her beaming parents in the foyer, then watched her mother and the procession of her attendants enter the sanctuary filled with family and friends. She smelled the lovely scent of hundreds of flowers—fragrant garden pink roses, green hydrangeas, pink ranunculus, graduated calla lilies, blush tulips—that filled the church.
As she’d often done, she stared down at her engagement ring, a flawless emerald-cut ten-carat diamond surrounded by pink diamonds, and remembered the pure pleasure and unbelievable happiness when Rio slid it on her finger two days after they were engaged. They’d always be thankful to Blade and Sierra for rearranging their schedule so she and Rio had never slept apart. And they didn’t plan to.
Her father swallowed, blinked, and lifted his arm. “You’ll always be my baby, but I trust Rio to keep you safe and to love you.”
Skylar looped her arm through her father’s and kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you. I’ll always love you.”
“Let’s not keep Rio waiting.”
Too full of emotion to speak, Skylar stepped into the aisle with her father. Her gaze went immediately to Rio. He waited for her with a wide smile on his incredibly handsome face. Her heart leaped with boundless happiness. He was as anxious and as ready as she was for their new life together.
As she started down the aisle on her father’s arm, she knew neither would ever be alone or lonely again.
They had love and each other. They had all that they desired.