Page 122 of Stronger Than Fate
We walked with our hands tightly clasped. When we passed through the church doors and were out of everyone’s sight, Henry turned to face me. My heart was racing, my body trembling from head to toe, and my tears were already flowing uncontrollably. We looked at each other without blinking, until our arms opened and we melted into a strong embrace. It was like coming home after a long time, like taking refuge in the best place in the world. His arms were that place I never wanted to leave. Henry buried his head in my neck and I began to caress his hair. He pulled back a little and we looked into each other’s eyes for endless seconds.
“I love you, Dalina! I’m crazy in love with you! I can’t keep fighting against this feeling anymore. I’m completely and desperately in love with you. I need you more than I can explain with words. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to be with you—you just saw what I did, I interrupted a wedding and it wasn’t even yours,” he said with a shy smile, and I smiled too. “You’re everything I need and everything I want, nothing else matters. Just now, when I thought I had lost you, I felt like my life was over. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. Please, love me. Please tell me you still love me, and if you stopped loving me, I swear I’ll earn that love agai—”
I placed my fingers on his lips.
“God, how I wanted to hear you say that! I love you... I love you...” I exclaimed. “How could I stop loving you? You gave me reasons not to, but feelings don’t understand reason. My heart belongs to you completely...”
He didn’t let me finish, he took possession of my mouth with a kiss that bordered on desperation. He explored my entire mouth and I explored his. His hands sank into my hair and caressed my back. In that moment, we could only feel our lips, feel our skin and the blood rushing frantically through our veins. His warm mouth kissed me deeply and passionately, consuming my mouth, my body, and my soul. It was a kiss full of love, discovering each other and opening our hearts so that love could flow through our bodies and envelop the other. We let ourselves be carried away by that feeling to do what our hearts asked for—to love each other. Passion turned into love.
“I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve you. I love you, my Dalina. I love you. I’m never letting you go again.”
“And I love you, my Henry.”
We kissed again until...
“Ahem, ahem...”
The throat clearing forced us to separate. When we turned around, we found our three siblings. Mine were serious as the devil, while Niky still had the smile that hadn’t left her face all night.
“Woollardy, what’s the meaning of this show you put on?” Bastián asked.
Henry stopped embracing me, but continued holding my hand in his, tightly squeezed.
“It means I love Dalina, I love her with all my heart.”
“Henry thought it was Dalina who was getting married today,” Niky added.
“And why did you think such nonsense?” Lolo asked.
Henry looked at Niky and she blushed.
“Let’s just say someone made me believe it and I didn’t doubt their word.”
“Who made you believe such a thing?” Bastián asked incredulously.
I didn’t need any explanation, now I understood the joy Niky had these days. The clever girl had everything organized for her brother to put on such a scene, but I would find out all about her scheming later.
“It doesn’t matter,” Henry said.
“It was me,” Niky stated, and my two brothers looked at her in astonishment. “Someone had to do something, right? Anyone with eyes could see that these two love each other like no one else, they couldn’t go on like this. They were both suffering, but neither would take the step. I’ll never cease to be amazed by the blindness of those who refuse to accept reality. And well... I’mnot the kind of person who sits back and does nothing, especially when I see people I care about suffering.”
“What matters is that we love each other and we’re not going to separate anymore,” Henry affirmed, looking at me tenderly.
“This is a conversation to have elsewhere. Now we should go in and accompany our cousin. That goes for you too, Dalina,” Bastián said.
“Bastián, I don’t think it would be good for Sara if we went in. I have no doubt that the people in there,” I said, pointing to the church door, “would be watching us. Today is Sara and her fiancé’s day, we can’t steal their spotlight.”
“I agree with Dali,” Lolo pointed out, “besides, I don’t plan on going back in there because I feel watched and that makes me self-conscious,” he indicated with a mocking smile.
“It’s best to wait until they come out and then we’ll talk to her,” I suggested.
“I owe you all an apology for making you live through this moment,” Henry said, “although I would do it again as many times as necessary because I have the woman I love by my side.”
My brothers looked at him and then at me. When I thought they were going to say something, the church doors opened and we all moved to make way for the newlyweds who were coming out smiling. Sara immediately came over to us.
“Well?” she asked, looking at me and Henry.
“I got her back, and not least importantly, she’s single,” Henry said, looking at me with a smile.
