Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 23821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 119(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 23821 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 119(@200wpm)___ 95(@250wpm)___ 79(@300wpm)
Varro’s T-shirt was old and faded, the threadbare jeans were worse and both simply… perfect. Lying there sleeping, he was the picture of ease, barefoot, his thick black hair tousled on the pillow, one hand behind his head and the other, his left, resting over his heart. I noticed, as I always did, his ring.
I had adamantly maintained that a wedding wasn’t necessary, but because he knew me, he understood that I was lying. I needed the vows, his promise to stand by me forever, the bedrock foundation something I could, and would, build my life on. It was a beautiful celebration, and with it came a wedding ring. He had commissioned two huge, thick, heavy pieces of platinum that could not be missed. Varro Dacien was married now, and the band proclaimed that.
Not that the ring was the only change; the biggest one was in Varro himself. He was content, grounded, and the wild, dangerous daredevil, though still there, was now layered in a desire to be home, on his porch, in the hammock, waiting for me to come home from work.
I crossed to him quietly, smiling when I heard the Nick Drake album I had bought him on our first anniversary playing softly in the background. Gently, I ran my knuckles under the arch of his foot to wake him.
His eyes fluttered open a little, and I was gifted with the glow of warm brown and the curl of his lip when he realized it was me. The smile never failed to make my heart skip a beat. He didn’t give that one away; it was only for me, had only ever been mine, and would belong only to me for the rest of my life.
“Welcome home, baby,” he rumbled, lifting his arms for me.
It was a magic word, home, and he chuckled when he saw my happy shiver.
“Come kiss me.”
As I sank down over him, I thought how strange it was to imagine a time when I didn’t believe in happily ever afters.
Varro had given me mine.