And All Their Stars (Water, Air, Earth, Fire, #2.5)

by Riley Nash

“I can think of nothing that would make me happier in the world than to have children who turn out just like you, Jonah Scott.”

Jesus Christ, the day my man discovered tree law. He’s made a name for himself as the lawyer to visit from across the state for all your arboreal woes.

We both flinch at the sound of her upending the entire toy box in the middle of the floor.

Just looking at his face makes my heart expand until it breaks apart into a thousand bittersweet shards. He’s my true north, the only path I’ll ever walk. I lace my fingers with his. “For you, anything.” I’ve never meant anything more.

“Has anyone ever licked your ass before?” His hand starts massaging my cheeks, his thumb sliding into the crack. “Yes.” “Gross.” I feel him scramble between my legs, pushing them apart unceremoniously. “Teach me how to do it better.”

“Everything will happen according to plan, because I made a spreadsheet. Nothing can go wrong when you’ve made a spreadsheet.”

I got my love of reading from years spent holed up in one unfamiliar room after another, avoiding ever-changing people in favor of paper and ink that always stayed the same.

“There’s no reason to be afraid, because you’re my yesterday, my today, and all my tomorrows. I don’t have a past, present, or future that isn’t you.”

Sometimes he feels like a member of our family who went missing a long time ago and just showed back up to fill the hole he left behind.

I’m not sure what Jonah meant by get your head in a good place. If he meant I should take all the mugs out of the cupboard and sort them by color, breaking two of them in the process, then I did a great job.

I don’t know what I’m going to say to Jonah, and I have no idea what comes next, but for now all that matters is that I did it. Eli’s safe. I’m safe. The Gray that I locked up for thirty-some years is safe. For the first time, no one's lost and there’s nothing left to fear.

“Where’s Ethan?” I crane my neck across the party. “He’s supposed to be preventing you from speaking to any locals.”

And I know, without question, this is not just the best day of my life but a day so beautiful I would never have believed it possible, even if I had read it in a fairy tale.

“Do you think people will know it’s a wedding ring, even though it’s on the wrong side?” “So far you’ve managed to stick ‘I’m married now’ onto the end of every single sentence since the ceremony, so I think they’ll get the hint.”

I tried to imagine how it would feel to not be lonely, a question I’ve been asking for as long as I can remember. But not this time. Today, all the precious things we used to dream about are right here, right now, just like this.