Page 131 of Malachi
“Cheers!” we called out, clinking our glasses together. The whiskey burned beautifully as I sipped. I had to chuckle a little as Eden almost gagged at the taste of the bitter alcohol.
“Here’s to working together as a family, and to the beginning of our new lives away from this hellhole,” Talia announced, raising her glass again. We really were going to get drunk at this rate.
“Fucking cheers to that!” Ollie agreed loudly.
“Cheers!” I took a longer sip, almost sputtering as Eden audibly groaned as she drank.
“You okay, there, love?” I teased quietly.
“Hush. I’m doing the thing,” she hissed, giving me a look through her narrowed eyes. Christ, I loved this woman.
“Here’s to the plan working,” Zeke announced, raising his glass in the air.
“But it didn’t work,” Ollie commented lamely.
“Don’t be an ass, Ollie. You know what I mean,” Zeke chastised him with a sigh of annoyance. Ollie was in full pain-in-the-ass mode tonight. I had to admit, it was nice to have that bit of normalcy again.
“Here’s toaplan working. That’s a better way to say it,” Ollie corrected him, making the girls chuckle at his antics. If it made the girls laugh, I guess I would just get on board.
“To Plan B,” Zeke corrected himself, raising his glass once again.
“Yeah, to birth control! Oh wait, you meant the other Plan B, sorry.” Ollie interjected, our glasses all poised halfway to our lips.
“OLLIE!” Groans erupted around the table. I rolled my eyes so hard, I was pretty sure I had just seen my brain.
“Whatever. Cheers!” Ollie called out happily.
“Cheers!” We all finally toasted together.
“Here’s to love,” Ruth said, smiling around the room. “To finding it even through the most horrific conditions and making it our own.”
“Well said, darling,” Levi praised her. Looks of love went around. Each couple had eyes only for each other. I looked down at Eden. She cuddled up into my side, squeezing her arm around me as we raised our glasses in the air.
“To love,” she declared, her eyes locked on mine.
“To us,” Talia added, holding up her glass of water.
“Cheers!” we all shouted. I took a sip, then turned to my wife, leaning down to kiss her upturned lips.
“You’re supposed to drink after a toast,” I teased her in a quiet whisper.
“I was more excited about the kiss,” she admitted quietly.
“Christ, I need to slow down. I’ll be drunk in under twenty minutes if I keep this up,” Ollie groaned.
“Fucking lightweight,” I teased, finally looking away from Eden to roll my eyes at my idiot brother.
“So what happens next?” Gideon asked, playing with the rim of his glass absentmindedly.
“What do you mean?” Delilah asked. She had moved off of her chair to sit on Ollie’s lap, curling into him.
“I mean, where do we go from here?” Gideon explained further.
“I think that’s the beauty of all this,” Levi explained after a moment of thought.
“How so?” Naomi questioned.
“We can do anything we want,” Levi answered with a wide smile and a sigh that held more promise than mere words could say.
