Kitty French - Knight and Day

“I’m not going to cry,” Sophie said. “Not yet, anyway.”

She looked out beyond the villa at the lush Ibizan landscape. “This place has been good to all of us, hasn’t it?”

Kara nodded, suddenly nostalgic even though the summer wasn’t quite at its end. The day was heavy with portentous, magical romance, of lifetime love being sealed with a promise, and of precious new love being acknowledged for the first time.

Despite her stern warning to Sophie, tears lodged in her own throat and she resolutely swallowed them down.

“Come on, lady. We need to get you to the beach on time.”

Dylan drove Lucien to the secluded private cove in Kara’s red Mustang, roof down, shades on, a whole lot of handsome that turned the head of every woman they passed along the way.

Lucien’s perfectly tailored black-blue suit followed close against the lines of his body, his open necked white shirt an elegant contrast with his golden skin. He epitomised laid-back glamour in the way only a beautiful, self assured man can.

At the wheel, Dylan was a different kind of sexy. A little more subtle maybe, a little less intense, yet no less capable of commanding any room he walked into. They made a formidable duo as Dylan parked the car at the top of the cove, flicking his phone onto silent when it buzzed for the third time since they’d set out. He wasn’t in work mode today.

“I’m guessing there’s no need to say it’s not too late to back out,” he said with a grin, getting out of the car and running his hand over his inside pocket for the tenth time since that morning. Yes, the rings were still there. “You’d have to be one crazy fool to not marry someone like Sophie.”

Lucien rested against the side of the car, his arms crossed lightly over his chest. His tone was thoughtful.

“I used to think you’d have to be a crazy fool to marry anyone.”

Dylan looked out across the still, blue sea, keeping his personal feelings towards marriage firmly out of the conversation.

“So what changed?”

Lucien shrugged. “I still think everyone else is a crazy fool to do it.”

“But not you?”

“Hell, yeah. I’m as much of a crazy fool for Sophie as the next guy. Whatever love is, it’s what I have with her.”

Around them, the sounds of nature filled the quiet air. The chirp of crickets, the light breeze moving through the leaves, the distant lap of the Mediterranean.

“From where I’m standing, that makes you lucky, not crazy.”

“Crazy and lucky. I can live with that.”

The cherry red Mustang was conspicuous when the car bearing Sophie and Kara eased into the tiny clearing that served as the beach car park.

“Looks like you haven’t been stood up at the altar,” Kara said lightly, glad to be able to be flippant about a subject that a few months previously would have wounded her deeply. As they stepped onto the sand, she straightened Sophie’s train and made last minute adjustments to her artfully romantic up-do, checking that the tiny fresh flowers she’d pinned in the back of it still looked perfect.

A single diamond on a golden trace chain glittered at Sophie’s throat, a wedding gift from Lucien. The bracelet around her wrist was her only other jewellery, another gift from Lucien, given to her back when he hadn’t known how to express his love in words. He’d shown her instead by entrusting his mother’s bracelet into her care, one of his most treasured possessions, and now one of hers.

A slow, steady bloom of joy unfurled inside Sophie’s chest as she and Kara picked their way along the path towards the beach, Tilly scampering ahead of them.

The late afternoon sun hung low in the sky, casting the whole scene peachy gold. The tiny, private cove provided the perfect, intimate setting for this most special of days, with its sugar-white sands and a tiny pavilion restaurant nestled at the edge. The soft, joyful sound of steel drum music floated on the air as Kara caught up with Tilly and took her hand. She shook it off and set off purposefully across the deeper sand, wobbly and ungainly but determined, making Sophie and Kara laugh as they clutched each other’s forearms to kick their shoes off.

In the distance, a raffia pergola stood close to the sea’s edge, fresh island flowers wound around its struts.

Inside it were three figures. The wedding celebrant. Dylan.

And Lucien.

Sophie stopped for a second and caught her breath as she looked at him, so distinctive even from a distance. He turned at the sound of Tilly running towards him, breaking into a huge smile and hunkering down with his arms out towards the little girl. Sophie watched him swing her up into his arms, and whoosh, her heart burst wide with love for them both. Kara gripped her hand tight.

“I hope I have what you have one day, Sophie.”

Sophie hugged her quickly. “You will, Kara.”

Sophie saw Dylan turn and raise his hand in greeting across the beach.

“You might just have found it already.”

Lucien walked to meet them a little way before they reached the pergola, handing Tilly over to Kara as she moved away to join Dylan.

“You look so much beyond beautiful,” he said softly when they were alone, and Sophie found herself breathless and close to tears. He’d never looked more handsome, and the rare edge of vulnerability in his eyes made her heart swell with love for him. He’d laid aside all of his fears and prejudices against marriage for her, long held beliefs that had crumbled in the face of their big, huge, unconditional love for each other.

“You too, Lucien,” she said, reaching out to lay her palm on his cheek.

He turned his face into her hand and kissed it. “You ready?”

She laughed gently. “I’ve been ready since the first day I met you, Lucien Knight.”

He leaned down and lifted her in his arms. “You’re supposed to do this after we’re married,” she said, looping her arms around his neck as he walked towards the pergola.

“When did we ever do things the conventional way?” he said, his fingers finding the hidden zip at the side of her dress.

“Lucien…”

“Just checking for later,” he murmured against her hair, depositing her on her bare feet beneath the raffia canopy, then dropping a kiss on her forehead. “Come on, Princess. Let’s do this thing.”

Kara sat down facing the ocean with Tilly sitting on her knees and Dylan alongside her with his arm slung across the back of her chair. In front of them, the celebrant began the informal ceremony, welcoming them to witness the marriage of Sophie and Lucien. A tingle ran down Kara’s spine as she listened to the words, and for the first time ever she silently thanked Richard for standing her up at the altar.

This was a real wedding. This was true love. Lucien and Sophie stood in front of her, facing each other, and no one else existed in their world at that moment.

Sophie looked down at Lucien’s hands holding her smaller ones, his thumbs gentle over her knuckles as the celebrant asked if there was anything she’d like to say to Lucien before she gave him his ring. She nodded and swallowed hard. There was so much she wanted to say.

“Lucien.” She looked into his beautiful eyes and stepped close. He held on tight to her hands. “You’ve taught me that love is so much bigger than I ever knew it could be.” She paused, gathering herself together. “I love you for so many different reasons. For your generosity and your spirit, for your loyalty and your strength, and for your vulnerability. I love you because you let me in.” She couldn’t keep the catch from her voice, and his eyes burned over-bright with emotion.

“I promise to love you forever, with every breath in my body.” She smiled, and then added under her breath, for his ears alone, “More than once a month with the lights out.”

He laughed softly and looked at the floor, nodding.

“You made me into the princess from all of the fairy tales I loved as a child, Lucien,” she said, and when he looked up at her again his eyes told her he loved her in a million different ways.

“I love you for the man you’ve always been, for the father you’ve become, and for the husband you’re going to be.”

She took his ring from the celebrant’s outstretched palm.

“Lying with you beneath the northern lights, or here beneath the Spanish sun… you’re my Viking and my sunshine.” The tears ran unchecked down her cheeks now. “You’re my hero, Lucien Knight.”

She slid the ring onto his wedding finger, holding it there for a few seconds, sealing it forever with her love.

“Always, Lucien. Always.”

Behind them, Dylan rubbed Kara’s shoulder, seeing the happy tears glittering on her cheeks as she cradled Tilly in her arms. He knew without question that he wanted her in his life forever, and he knew with almost as much certainty that he was going to lose her.

Lucien breathed in hard as Sophie slipped the ring on his finger. He hadn’t counted on the amazing sense of peace that seeing it there would bring him, or that he’d finally, finally understand the reason why people all around the world of all different faiths wedded themselves to each other forever. Why they placed their blind faith in someone else, and their heart in someone else’s hands, and trusted them not to break it into smithereens.

He drew Sophie close, her face in his hands, and kissed her mouth. Her lips were warm and pliant, salty with her tears.

“I think you’re supposed to wait until the end to do that,” she whispered, laughing shakily. As if Lucien was ever going to follow the rules.

The celebrant held his palm out, and Lucien took Sophie’s ring between his fingers with the reverence it deserved. And then he looked up at Sophie with all of the devotion she deserved, too.

“Sophie,” he said, and wiped the tears from her cheek with his fingertips. “There isn’t a single part of my life that isn’t a hundred times better for having you in it.” He wanted to remember the look on her face forever. “You’re the girl who kisses envelopes before you mail them,” he said. “The girl who still surprises me every single day. The world’s a better place through your eyes than mine.” He stroked the back of his fingers along her jawline.

“Before you, I thought I was a lone wolf. I was wrong. I need my pack. You. Tilly.” He laid his hand on her stomach. “This baby. All the important lessons in life I’ve learned have been from you.  You’ve shown me that love doesn’t have to break people.”

Reaching for her left hand, he stroked his thumb over the place her ring would fit.

“I promise to love you forever, Sophie, and to honour every perfect inch of your body with my own. Often. Daily. Sometimes twice a day,” he added. Behind them, Kara and Dylan’s soft laughter carried on the breeze.

“I promise I’ll never leave you, or screw anyone else, or break your heart.” He slid the ring onto her wedding finger and knew he’d never seen anything as profoundly perfect in his life. Sophie gasped softly, tears on her cheeks all over again.

“I look at you today, barefoot and beautiful, growing our baby inside you, and I wonder how the hell I got this lucky.” He moved her in close, sliding his arm around her waist and lifting her hand to his mouth. He placed his lips over her wedding ring and set the seal.

“You’re my fucking hero, Sophie Knight.”

They danced as the sun set over this most blissful of days.

Encircled in Lucien’s arms, Sophie laid her head on his shoulder and let her gaze slide slowly over the scene as he stroked her back. Tilly, crashed out on a cream, calico-covered lounger that had appeared out of nowhere just when it was needed.

Kara and Dylan, their arms wrapped around each other. Sophie could see Dylan’s face as he rested his chin on top of Kara’s head, and his expression told her all she needed to know about the depth of his feelings for the woman in his arms.

She breathed in a deep, happy sigh and closed her eyes, wondering if she'd ever experience such a perfect moment again.

Lucien Knight.

Her love, her hero, and finally, her husband.

Kara and Dylan made their way home in the Mustang a couple of hours later. He slung his arm around her waist, her sandals hanging from his fingers as they walked slowly along the beach towards the Love Tug, close enough to the water’s edge for the sea to wash over Kara’s bare feet.