Page 66 of Crashing the Altar
Bristling, I huffed, “The road to the altar wasn’t exactly easy. After all that, we’re due for a break, don’t you think?”
He let out a wry laugh. “I used to have that same youthful arrogance. It bit me in the ass so hard it’s a miracle I don’t still have bruises from the teeth marks.” Blue eyes stared at me with an intensity that made me squirm. “No matter how much you love each other, the hard days will manage to find you. Life isn’t something you can control. It’s going to test you, test the strength of your relationship when you least expect it.”
A chill ran down my spine at his warning. The idea of something tearing me and Penny apart after we’d finally found our way together struck terror into my heart. I couldn’t lose her.
“If there’s one piece of advice you take from me, let it be this: don’t let the hard days win, son. Fight through them. Fight for each other.”
Swallowing roughly, I managed to rasp out a hoarse, “Yes, sir.”
Satisfied he’d driven the point home, Dad gave a firm nod, stood, and walked out of the barn, leaving me in a daze.
In almost twenty-nine years, I’d never experienced a heart-to-heart with my father. And when I finally did, it was one hell of a doozy.
After a long day on the range, sweat and dirt clung to my skin as I pushed through the door to the cabin, exhausted. I was desperate for a hot shower, dinner, and my wife’s warm body tucked against mine in bed—in that order.
But my personal needs were put on the back burner the second I saw Penny’s tear-streaked face.
Crossing the distance between us in three strides, I knelt before where she sat on the couch, cupping her cheeks. “Lucky, baby, what’s wrong?”
My heart shattered when her lip trembled, and a sob bubbled up from her chest. Pulling her into my arms, my throat closed up as I begged, “Please, sweetheart. Talk to me.”
“P-pictures.” Her watery voice was muffled against my chest.
Rearing back, I tipped her chin up until those glassy eyes met mine. “What pictures?”
A loud hiccup sounded. “On—On my phone.”
Brow furrowing, I scanned the surroundings, locating her cell discarded on the couch cushion. Picking it up, I asked, “May I?”
She gave a tiny nod.
Upon unlocking the screen, I was immediately met with a portrait of Penny in a white dress and me in a black suit, standing at the altar inside the little chapel in Colorado where we’d gotten married.
Relief coursed through my veins. Penny was crying happy tears.
Staring at the image, I breathed out in wonder, “You look beautiful.”
Penny took the phone from my hand. Using her thumb and pointer finger, she zoomed in on my face. “This.”
“What?” She wasn’t making any sense.
Sniffling, her voice grew thick. “How did I never see it before?”
“Honey, I’m gonna need a little more than that.”
Aggressively, she pressed her finger to the screen. “That’s the same way you look at me in every picture ever taken of us. Like I’m your whole world.”
With a hand cradling the back of her head, I brought her close enough to press a kiss to her temple, murmuring against her skin, “Because you are.”
Wrenching out of my hold, she stood, chest heaving. “If I would have noticed—I would have—would have—”
She was on the verge of hyperventilating, so I jumped to my feet to loop one arm around her waist and placed the other hand over her racing heart.
“Hey, hey, hey. It’s okay.”
Tears spilled over her lashes, and Penny shook her head. “It’s not okay. We wasted so much time.”
Gripping her chin, I dusted a kiss over her lips. “Don’t get so caught up in the past that you miss out on all that lies ahead of us in the future.”
