Page 118 of Brighter Shades of Light
In the two months they had all been home from Afghanistan, they had become family to me. As a child, I had been alone. My mother had been addicted to pain pills and never around. I never had many friends or people I could confide in.
And now I had a huge family. Because of Cody.
“Sebastian?” Emily appeared beside me.
“Emily.” I gave her a gentle hug. “You look stunning.”
She blushed. “Thank you. This is my husband, Steve.”
I looked at the tall man beside her and shook his hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Steve. Emily has spoken very highly of you.”
“She has done the same about you,” Steve answered. He was in a suit, but it looked awkward on him. I had a feeling he spent most of his time in casual clothes by the way he kept pulling at his tie.
Cody stepped forward to greet Steve and Emily. “Thanks for coming to the wedding.”
“Of course,” Emily answered. “I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks.” Cody genuinely smiled at her, and I was proud of him for being civil.
A few minutes later, he led me to the dancefloor. He linked our fingers and put his free hand on my waist. I was an atrocious dancer, but fortunately, the slow song was easy to dance to. Even if it wasn’t, nothing could bring me down today. I was too happy.
“I’ve thought more on it, and I want to take your last name,” he said. “Cody Vale has a nice ring to it.”
“Are you sure?” We had proposed hyphenating our names but hadn’t settled on anything yet.
“Yep.”
I kissed him as we swayed from side to side. After the dance, we walked over to another group of friends and mingled some more.
“I love you more than anything in this world,” Cody whispered in my ear, his hand at the small of my back.
“And I love you more than that.”
It was, without a doubt, the happiest day of my life.
Epilogue
Grounded
“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.”
-Aristotle
Cody
Six years later
“If you’re still at your desk when I come in there, I’m gonna pick your ass up and haul you over my shoulder,” I said from outside Sebastian’s office.
I heard him chuckle before his chair squeaked. “I’m coming, Captain Vale.”
Years after marrying him, and I still loved being called by his last name.
After serving for four years, I had been promoted to Captain. However, when my contract was up a year later, I decided to go into the reserves instead of signing on for more years. The Marine Corps and everyone I served with was my family, and I was proud of the time I spent there. But after three deployments, one of them lasting a year, I had been ready for more stability.
I wanted to settle down with Sebastian and not be away from him so often. He had supported me wholeheartedly while I was active and never once made me feel obligated to go into the reserves, so I didn’t do it for him. I did it for me and what I wanted in my life.
And what I wanted was to spend my days with the man I loved, coming home to him every night. He grounded me.
