The Lost Girl (40 page)

“So are you saying that all that matters is love and commitment, and there’s no need for anything else? The ceremony doesn’t really matter?” I asked, uncertain.

“Yes. If the love is true, and we vow to it with all our hearts, then yes. That’s all it takes to be married. At least to me.”

“That sure makes sense.
That
kind of marriage I can understand.” I glanced down to where his hand clutched mine and then back to his face. “That I can do,” I said, smiling. “Ask me again.”

He blinked, suddenly awestruck. “W-what?”

“Ask me again,” I said, grinning.

He looked absolutely baffled, surely never expecting this sudden turn of events.

“Ask …? Y-you mean …? Really?” He bolted upright on the bed so frantically that the sheets fell to his waist.

“If you don’t, I will,” I warned him playfully.

He opened and closed his mouth like a fish, gray eyes glinting in surprise.

“Tristan, I would gladly ask, but I know you are sort of a traditional guy, and I know you’d be upset if I did it for you, so …”

He snapped out of his stupor and gulped a couple of times before looking down at the rings on his palm. “Right. Okay. No, I can do this.” Then he picked the smallest ring and held my hands in his, trembling a little. “Joe Gray … w-will you marry me?”

I smiled and squeezed his hand reassuringly. “Yes, I will. With all my heart.” He slid the ring onto my finger, still trembling with emotion. “I promise I will honor you
and love you always,” I said, my eyes locked with his. “And now, my turn. Tristan Halloway, will you marry me?” I asked, and he smiled, elated.

“I will. With all my heart. Until the end and after,” he said, and I pushed the bigger ring onto his finger.

“This means we’re married now?” I asked, light-headed all of a sudden.

“I-I suppose we are,” he said, smiling like a fool in love.

“Huh,” I said, and extended my hand to appreciate my beautiful white gold ring. “I guess we’ll have to sign legal papers to make it official, of course, when we get back home. But we’re pretty much married, aren’t we?” I felt like giggling, but I stopped myself just in time. “No hospital will ever block you from seeing me ever again, sir. You’ll be my husband.”

The look on his face was indescribable. “Can I kiss my fiancée now? Even though you hate traditions, it is said to be customary.”

My heart fluttered and butterflies erupted in my stomach in anticipation. It felt like this would be the first time he’d kissed me in my whole life. I tried to steady myself and still my beating heart.

Why does this feel so much like a first kiss?

“Maybe it’s because it will be your first kiss as my future wife,” he answered, his grin wide, his eyes glistening with emotion.

“Oh, oops. Did I say that out loud?” I blushed, embarrassed. My heart was still pounding like crazy in my chest. What was going on with me?

You’re in love. You’ll be married to the man of your dreams, your one and only, the love of your life. Your soulmate. Your miracle ghost boy.

You’ll finally be his wife. You’ll be Mrs. Halloway. That’s what’s going on
, a tiny voice in my head told me.

Oh. So that’s what’s happening.

I’m happy.

Undeniably, incredibly, breathtakingly happy.

My eyes met his, which shone with an unmeasurable happiness as well. And then he closed the remaining inches between us and gave his future wife her first kiss.

I woke up early the next morning and stared at the white ceiling above me in blissful joy.

I had the oddest of illnesses. I had a permanent smile plastered on my face and it wouldn’t go away, no matter how hard I tried to make it. The cause: extreme happiness. It was a most vexing condition. A silly smile was stuck to my lips as if glued there. I must have looked like a loony. A very,
very
happy loony.

I yawned and stretched, looking at the breathtakingly gorgeous man sleeping peacefully by my side, belly down on the mattress, one arm sneaking under his pillow. A hint of a smile was creeping to the corners of his lips even though he was deep in sleep. His smooth back was laid bare for me to admire, the sheets only covering a small part of him. I would never get used to how beautiful this man was.

Not man,
my husband
. I have a
husband
now.

In the eyes of the world there were some papers still to be signed, but in our hearts we were already husband and wife. I extended my hand and surveyed my wedding ring in
the light of the day. The white gold ring looked even more beautiful in daylight.

God, I was a
wife
now. The word made me feel strange inside, but so excited at the same time.

I shuffled slowly out of bed and went to stand by the window, surveying the view outside. Even though I had only slept for a few hours, I had woken up filled with energy. I grabbed a light-yellow summer dress that was tossed over one chair and pulled it on, deciding to go downstairs for an early breakfast. I could prepare a tray of food and bring Tristan his breakfast in bed.

I’ll bring breakfast in bed to my
husband
, I thought, smiling to myself.

I was gathering a breakfast tray when Harry and Robin bustled inside, all merry and chirpy, with identical goofy grins on their faces.

“Hey, guys! You are up pretty early,” I exclaimed, and noticed their hands clasped together as they headed for the table.

“Up? We’re just getting back from our date, dude!” Harry said, sitting on a stool at my side and taking a piece of toast from my tray.

“You’re
still
on your date?” I asked, surprised.

“She’s like that energized bunny rabbit advert,” Harry said, resting his head sleepily on the table. “You won’t believe half of the stuff we’ve done since we left yesterday … She never gets tired!” he whined, but there was a smile in his voice.

“I told you to drink that coffee in the middle of the night,” she jeered at him.

“I’m never making that mistake again. Next date I’ll gulp down as much coffee as I possibly can,” he promised,
yawning, his blond hair falling over his face in disarray.

“Next date, huh?” I teased, wiggling my eyebrows suggestively at Robin, who giggled a little and nodded, smiling happily at the news.

“I might need some time to recover from this first date, though,” Harry mumbled, crossing his arms over the table and resting his head on them. He looked like he was ready to sleep right there and then. “Just wake me up in a couple of days and we can go on our second date,” he grumbled sleepily, and closed his eyes.

Robin chuckled and silently mouthed “best date of my life” to me. I beamed, happy for her. They deserved this awesome date. They deserved to be happy.

“Oh, hey, speaking of happy, Robin. I need to ask you this big favor,” I began. “I need you to let Harry stay at your house for a couple of days.”

“Sure, he can stay. There are a lot of empty guest rooms there,” Robin said, and looked quizzically at me, not understanding why I would toss Harry out in such an outrageous way.

“I want to have some privacy in the house with Tristan,” I explained.

Harry’s head snapped up and he stared at me with wide eyes. “Oh,
right
! Tristan. I forgot all about him. You and lover boy want the house all to themselves, you naughty thing you,” he sniggered teasingly. “I take it you two finally worked things out, then?”

“I guess you might say that,” I hinted mischeviously, twirling my wedding ring underneath the table. “But you have to ask him about it.” I didn’t want to drop the bomb yet; I was waiting for Tristan to wake up before breaking the news.

“Where is he?” Harry asked, bouncing on his seat, all sleepiness forgotten now.

“Sleeping upstairs.”

“I’ll wake him up; I need to hear this from him!” Harry exclaimed, already darting out of the kitchen and running upstairs, shouting as loud and obnoxiously as he possibly could. If I knew Harry’s tactics well – and I’m positively sure that I did – he was probably going to bounce on the bed until Tristan gave in and woke up.

“Oh, so do I finally get to meet the famous and mysterious boyfriend after all?” Robin teased, wiggling her eyebrows at me.

“He’s not my boyfriend any more,” I mumbled, glancing down at my toast with my best poker face. She frowned, not understanding what was happening.

After a couple of minutes, during which Robin tried desperately to catch my eye so she could read what was going on, we heard Tristan’s and Harry’s voices coming from the living room, chatting happily about something. Then they wandered into the kitchen. Tristan was wearing sweatpants, but he was shirtless and barefoot. His hair was a bit of a mess, but not as much as usual as it was really short now.

“Oh, hey.” Tristan halted, a little surprised by Robin’s presence in the kitchen. “Sorry, Harry didn’t tell me we had company …” he apologized, passing a hand through his hair, embarrassed at his lack of clothing and general state of dishevelment.

“It’s … fine,” Robin squeaked, wriggling on her seat, her eyes bugging out of her sockets as she stared at Tristan’s bare chest. I couldn’t blame her for staring; a half-naked Tristan had that effect on most people.

I chuckled and turned to Tristan. His attention was fixed only on me as he leaned in to give me a light peck on the lips.

“Morning, sweetheart,” he murmured in a low, raspy morning voice. “Did you tell Harry?”

I shook my head, giggling. “I didn’t. I thought you’d want us to do it together.”

Harry was watching us with a curious frown, and was about to ask what that was all about, when I chipped in, grinning like a mad woman. “So, Tristan, this is Robin. She’s an old friend of Tiffany’s and we’ve been hanging out these past weeks. Robin, this is Tristan,” I introduced. “My fiancé.”

Both Harry’s and Robin’s eyebrows shot up.

“Are you saying …” Harry began, stunned.

“Yep,” I replied, wiggling my ringed finger.

“You did not!” He gasped in awe.

“We sure did,” Tristan said, sitting on my stool and putting me on his lap, wrapping his arms around me. Harry’s eyes wandered to Tristan’s ringed finger as he searched for confirmation. “We still need to sign the legal papers, but it’s official in our hearts. And we have the rings on already to prove we’re very serious about it.”

“Wow, I can’t believe it. This is epic news!” Harry exclaimed. “From getting back together to getting married … You guys are fast!” he said, and then rushed over to us. “
Ohmygod.
Congratulations to the soon to be officially married couple, then,” he said, giving us both a big squeezing hug.

“Thanks, Harry,” I said, grinning happily.

“How did you trick her into doing this, man?” Harry asked, bewildered. He knew of my aversion to marriage and how I used to fight against it.

“Actually, she was the one who asked me.” Tristan chuckled behind me.

“Hey!” I scoffed, smiling, jabbing him lightly in the ribs. “You sold me the idea, mister. Don’t come complaining to me now!”

“That’s true.” He smiled, leaning his chin on my shoulder. “It turns out she was really against the ceremony, but not marriage per se, so we skipped the festivities and got the vows and rings exchanged last night, just the two of us. Pretty swell, isn’t it?” Tristan tended to slip into his old-fashioned slang when he got too excited about something.

I laughed and leaned against his broad chest. “So, Harry, you have to pack up and leave so we can start honeymooning in here,” I told him.

Harry looked at us, startled. “What? Leave? But aren’t we telling people about your engagement? I wanna hear what you guys are going to say to everyone!” he whined.

“Harry, we’ll tell people later … like, when we get back home. I don’t want to deal with people right now. In about five minutes I’ll be locking the front doors and will be jumping his bones. So you have five minutes to pack,” I warned him, as Tristan started laying light kisses on my neck, tightening his arms around me.

Harry widened his eyes. “Oh, dear God! They are not kidding. I really have only five minutes. Gah!” he shouted, and ran out of the kitchen in a hurry to get his things from his room.

Tristan stopped kissing my neck and watched as Harry ran, a chuckle rumbling in his throat.

“Is it really okay for you to take Harry in for a couple days, Robin?” I asked.

“It’s fine.” She shrugged. “You two can honeymoon freely, don’t worry. I’ll keep him busy.”

“I’ll bet you will,” I teased, raising my eyebrows at her.

She blushed vividly, clearly not meaning what I had implied. “Shut up, your mind is too full of naughty thoughts right now!” she admonished.

Harry burst into the kitchen precisely seven minutes later, a little out of breath and holding a backpack over his shoulder. “Done! We can go now.” Robin giggled at his flustering and waved us goodbye before darting out with Harry tugging at her arm. Then we heard Harry’s muffled voice coming from the living room, asking if he could sleep in her room, followed by the sound of a smack, then Harry’s low voice piping, “I’ll take that as a maybe, then …” before they disappeared out of earshot.

I laughed then hopped off Tristan’s lap. “So,
hubby
” – and I shamelessly giggled at that – “get back to the bedroom now. I was planning on bringing you this awesome breakfast in bed, and I’m sticking to my plan. It is romantic as hell,” I told him. “You’ll act all surprised and stare lovingly at me in appreciation when I get there, okay? Now, go.”

“Such a bossy wife I have …” He shook his head, but looked pleased. “All right,
wifey
,” he said, and that made me giggle again. “You don’t know how amazing it is to be able to call you that.” A wide grin spread over his handsome face as he crossed the kitchen and leaned against the doorframe.

“I know.” I grinned back. “It’s friggin’ swell!”

He laughed at my teasing and wandered off to our room. “So I’ll wait for you to jump my bones after breakfast, then?” he shouted from the stairs.

“Fine by me, hubby!” I shouted back.