A Life Earthbound (40 page)

“Oh, speaking of that…” Capri interrupted, her face flushing as she glanced around at the three of them, biting back a grin. “Rian asked me to marry him about an hour ago.”

“
What!
” Blythe’s jaw dropped as she gaped at Capri, eyes wide.

“You did say yes, right?” Liam asked, his mouth splitting in a wide grin.

In answer, she held up her left hand, where an old-fashioned looking gold band with a simple, emerald cut diamond rested.

With a hoot of laughter, he rose to his feet and scooped her up into his arms, spinning her around once before setting her back on her feet. Blythe laughed and got up to hug Capri as well. “Lemme see that rock. Ha! That boy did good!”

“It was his mother’s,” Capri explained with a soft smile.

While they admired the ring, Rhiannon rose to her feet, tears welling in her eyes as she watched her young friend, her lovely face filled with joy and promise. She blinked and a couple tears escaped as Capri turned toward her.

Capri’s smile instantly faded, replaced by worry. “Rhiannon, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” She laughed shakily, brushing away the tears, embarrassed by them. This would take some getting used to, this crying thing… “It’s just that I had this mental image of you in a wedding dress and it broke my heart. You’re going to be such a lovely bride.”

Capri beamed, reaching out to hug Rhiannon. “Thank you. You’re the first ones I’ve told.”

“Rightfully so,” Blythe put in as Rhiannon and Capri pulled apart, both turning to face her. “We’re the four Dryads, we’re closer than family and we can’t forget that, especially not now. We’ve spent too long being torn apart by petty stuff and I’ll be the first to admit it. I say we all make a truce–right here, right now–to never let anything divide us ever again. Deal?”

She held out her hand, palm down, between all of them. Liam was the first to place his hand on top of hers.

“Sounds good to me,” he said cheerfully, grinning at her before shifting his eyes to Rhiannon.

She stared at him as one last tear fell down her cheek. “Count me in,” she declared, placing her hand over his.

Capri, more than a little misty eyed herself, joyfully placed her hand on top of all theirs, binding them together, just as she’d always hoped she would.

“Deal.”

After dinner, they
walked hand-in-hand into the courtyard under the night sky bursting with stars.

Rhiannon had a blanket tucked under her arm, a small bag filled with snacks and a bottle of wine. Beside her, Liam carried a lantern filled with fireflies, his guitar slung over his back.

They went to the old spot where they hadn’t been since they were teens, an open grassy area with a perfect view of the stars. Liam spread out the blanket while Rhiannon uncorked the wine with a sultry pop. He tumbled down onto the blanket, flipped to his side and grinned deviously up at her.

“You know how long it’s been that I’ve wanted to take you out here again?” he asked her, his eyes shining brightly in the glow of the fireflies from the lamp beside him.

Rhiannon kneeled down and handed him a glass of wine, smirking. “Since the last time we were out here?”

“You’re good.” He took a slow sip, then sat up and leaned toward her, pressing his lips to hers. She savored the taste of wine from his tongue and delighted in the way his breath quickened as her free hand caressed through his hair.

“I merely used deductive reasoning, Liam,” she corrected as she pulled away, taking a smooth sip of her own wine and eyeing him over the rim.

“Clever girl.” He chuckled, setting his glass aside and reaching for his guitar. “So, what should I play for you?”

“Mmm…I don’t know, surprise me.” She smiled, enjoying the moment. “You know, I used to listen to you practice outside in the back gardens? I would hide just inside the doors and sit and listen to you for hours.”

“Really?” He looked up from tuning the strings, eyes wide.

“Mmm hmm.” She bit her lip, tilting her head and smiling. “You could say I’m your biggest fan.”

“Well.” Honestly surprised and honored, he laughed and strummed a few notes on the guitar. “Then I suppose I should give my biggest fan a song worthy of her devotion.”

“Let’s hear it.”

He cleared his throat, strummed a few testing notes, and then began to sing a timeless Beatles tune about a blackbird learning to fly…

She shut her eyes and sighed, her mouth curving into a contented smile. Around them, fireflies danced in the night air as a gentle breeze blew by to trail temptingly over her skin. The moon up above, joined by the stars, shone incandescently down from the heavens. All she could hear was the sweet music his fingers made sliding over the guitar strings, and the lilting, caressing sound of his voice that she had loved her entire life.

It hit her then, this crazed moment of awareness, of feeling her heart swollen with this love for him. So it had happened, after all.

Stunned and breathless, she turned to him and stopped his hand with her own, halting the music and his singing. He lifted his eyes to stare at her, alarmed by the look on her face.

“What is it?” he asked, already pushing aside his guitar, thinking something was wrong.

“I love you,” she told him, her head shaking and her lips curving as she let out an unsteady laugh, not yet believing it herself.

“Oh.” He paused, his brows furrowed together as he pondered what she said. “Did you just now come to that conclusion?”

She nodded, though she felt embarrassed. “I’ve never said that to anyone before in my entire life and then today I told my father I loved him, and now I’ve told you.” She tilted back her head and stared up at the stars, letting out a huff of breath and laughing at herself. “It’s been quite the day for revelations and new beginnings. I guess it’s all part of this…freedom thing I’m trying.”

Without a word, he reached over and tilted her face so she was looking at him, and he silently kissed her, his hand cupping around her jaw line. Her body shifted and she wrapped her arms around him until he slowly laid back against the blanket with her curled against him.

He stroked a hand lazily down her back as he broke the kiss, his other hand still touching her face, marveling at her. “So I assume that this means you’re going to tell your parents to shove it, figuratively speaking, in regards to selecting a husband for you?”

She laughed, pressing her face against the crook of his neck. “I don’t think they’ll be trying that again anytime soon.”

“And in regards to you and me?” he added, more seriously now.

Rhiannon rose up to stare down at him, wondering how he couldn’t see it. It was all so clear to her now… “Liam...” She reached out to touch his face with her fingertips, trailing them along his cheek, her eyes following the movement before meeting his. “Nothing, and no one, will ever keep me from you again. As long as you want me, I’m yours.”

“You’re all I’ve ever wanted, Rhia,” he murmured, needing her to remember that. “I was only waiting for you to be free.”

About the Author

Nothing can compare to the exhilaration of discovering, at last, a mode of release for the imagination. Mine came, after years of struggling to visualize my creativity, in the form of the written word. I found myself with my nose constantly in a book, absorbing the life of the characters and the beauty of the setting. It was intoxicating, to say the least, and the only thing I knew was that I wanted to give writing a shot, and take the thousands of characters and storylines in my head and put them down on paper and form them into something real and compelling.

In truth, I’m just a girl from a small town north of Los Angeles with an imagination for days and thank goodness a keyboard at my fingertips. And even though my husband thinks I’m a nerd and my mom is undoubtedly my biggest fan, at the end of the day I’m loving life and enjoying giving breath to the characters living in my heart and sharing with others all of the creativity I can harness.

I believe in true love and I’ve always believed in happy endings. And that is just the beginning of the story.