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June 17 - June 18, 2023
When I was adventuring between the pages of a book, I wasn’t sad over things I was missing outside.
“Your happiness is always necessary to me.” He tilted my chin up and kissed the tip of my nose. “We’ll find new ways of navigating the world together, Wadsworth. If you can no longer wear heels, we’ll design flats you adore. If you ever find those no longer work, I’ll have a wheeled chair made and bejeweled to your liking. Anything at all in the universe you need, we will make it so. And if you’d prefer to do it on your own, I will always step aside. I also promise to keep my opinion mostly to myself.” “Mostly?”
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“How clever.” “You do say you like a man with a rather large—” “Stop.” I held my hand up. “I beg of you. My uncle is right there.” “Brain.” He finished anyway, grinning at my reddening face. “You truly astound me with the direction your filthy mind travels in, Wadsworth. We’re at a crime scene; have a care.” I
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“Wadsworth, meet Sir Isaac Mewton. Sir Isaac Mewton, this is that special human I told you about. You’ll be nice to her or there won’t be any more belly rubs in your future.”
“I imagine they’ll do more than hold hands in bed. The way they stare at each other when they think no one is looking could impregnate her on the spot. Now, that’s downright indecent, especially over the soup course.”
We needn’t complete each other; we complemented each other. He and I were whole on our own, which made us so much stronger when combined than two symbolic halves coming together to create one. Our bond had double the strength. Nothing could tear it apart. And after tomorrow, nothing would.
caitlin liked this
“I want to fall asleep against your chest and wake up in your arms. I long to be free to hug or kiss you whenever I choose, for as long as I choose. I want to know the sound of your breath as you slip into sleep. I want to—”
“Nothing in life comes with a guarantee, Wadsworth.” Thomas took a deep breath. “Outside forces will always be out of your control. One thing you can control is how you choose to live. If you wake up fearful of every bad thing that might happen, you miss out on the good. Death will come for us all one day. Worrying about tomorrow only accomplishes ruining today.”
“Love is immortal. Death can neither touch nor steal it. Especially when it’s true.
“My love for you will be a constant in a sea of unknown variables. We may fight or be cross with each other, but our love will never fade or wilt. Trust in that. Trust in us. Forget the future. Forget worry. The only thing that terrifies me is the possibility of living with regret. I don’t ever want to wake and wonder what life could have been like with you in it. I don’t ever want to regret holding myself back from loving you as fully and openly as possible.”
“You’re a vision, my sweet child. Your mother would be overcome with pride. You look very much like her today.” He adjusted his diamond-pinned cravat and leaned in, whispering, “There’s a carriage waiting in the alley in case you’ve changed your mind. I’ll take care of the details.”
Father-daughter relationships hit so hard
I looked at my father and smiled. He’d take me from this chapel at once, no questions or judgment, should I choose a different fate. And I loved him for it.
“There, there, Audrey Rose. You’ll always be my darling baby girl. If you’re happy, then I am, too. I just wanted you to know that you have choices. Options. Whatever you’d like, I will make happen. As I ought to have done for you a long while ago.”
“Part of growing older means letting go. You can’t move forward if you never take those first few steps onto new ground. Now’s the time to be brave, Daughter. Walking into the future means trusting in yourself even when you can’t see around the bend. As long as you’re certain this is what you want, all will be well.”
he’d likely go up in fire and brimstone if he knew we’d already consummated our marriage. Three times last night. And once this morning.
“I will love and honor you every second, every minute, every hour of the day,” Thomas continued, stepping closer. “I vow to seek your counsel on all matters, both big and small, and to cherish you with each breath in my lungs. I promise to never make the same mistake twice, to make it my daily duty to see you smile, and to hold your hand through each challenge, each victory, and each new adventure this life brings our way.”
“From this day until my last, I vow to love and hold you, as my equal in all ways, Audrey Rose.”
We love a feminist
“You fight. You fight for what you want. You do not wallow or surrender. The lesson is not in lying down and allowing yourself to be stabbed, child. It’s in pushing yourself up and battling back.” Her eyes flashed. “You fell down. So? Will you stay there, weeping over skinned knees? Or will you brush off your skirts, adjust your hair, and carry on? Do not relinquish your grasp on hope. It’s one of the best weapons anyone possesses.”
“I long to live in a world where equal treatment is not something in need of commending.”
“I love you, Audrey Rose. More than all the stars in the universe.”
“These violent delights have violent ends And in their triumph die, like fire and powder, Which as they kiss consume.” A rose by any other name does not deserve to live. Why do you think that is? I
It was the sort of angelic look that convinced countless women to trust him, never remembering Lucifer had once been an angel, too. He prowled closer, yet was careful to stay out of reach. Here was one man who remembered my claws were also things to be feared.
“Let’s see, Wadsworth.” Thomas ticked off points on his fingers. “You’ve carved open dozens of bodies from London to Romania to America, been held at gunpoint beneath a castle once owned by Vlad the Impaler, got stabbed while defeating a deranged carnival, and have just captured the White City Devil. All before turning eighteen. I’m downright woozy with want. I beg you to ravish me now before I lose my mind.”
“You are my heart, my soul, my equal. You see the light in me when I’m lost within darkness. When I’m cold and distant, you’re as warm as autumn sunshine, bathing me in your glow. If I am the night, then you are the stars lighting up my endless dark.” His voice broke, wrenching my heart. “My best friend, the absolute love of my life, now until forevermore, I call you my wife.”
“Beyond life, beyond death,” he whispered, his breath warm against my ear, “my love for thee is eternal, Audrey Rose Cresswell.”
