Summer's Last Breath

Part 34

Jamie and I were married a month later on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I had wanted to give my dad plenty of time to fully accept the situation. I wanted our wedding day to be a happy occasion, not one marred by feelings of guilt or disappointment.

We couldn't have picked a more perfect day. The sun was bright in a clear blue sky, warming the air to a balmy seventy degrees with a slight breeze.

Technically, I was already Erin Shaw Jacobs. We'd made our union official at the courthouse the previous day, but in my mind, and Jamie's too, this was the ceremony that would truly make me his and he mine.

"You are absolutely beautiful," my mom said as she met my gaze in the mirror of Mrs. Jacobs's bathroom. "I want so much for you to happy."

She would never have voiced it out loud, but I was certain she'd been holding out hope I'd change my mind and set a different course for my life, one not as permanent as the commitment I was making to Jamie.

"I will be, Mom." I ran my hands down the front of the dress she'd helped me pick out. White with long sheer sleeves, the dress hugged my body from my collarbone to my hips, flaring slightly right above my knees. My hair had been fixed in a loosely tied side ponytail and it hung over one shoulder, the dark strands curled at the ends. "I guess I'm ready."

We walked out of Mrs. Jacobs's bathroom and I couldn't help stealing a peek out her bedroom window at the beach where I knew Jamie was waiting for me. He was stunningly handsome standing next to Noah and Jeb, my dad right there with them, looking more relaxed than I'd seen him in weeks.

"Jamie looks nervous," my mom observed from over my shoulder with a teasing lilt in her voice.

"I think he looks beautiful." The sun shone on his dark head and the twinkle it cast on the water at his back made this day feel like a fairytale.

With an ache building in my chest, I took that final walk to the beach with the roll of the surf setting the cadence of my steps, knowing my life was about to change forever, knowing in so many ways it already had.

The ceremony was romantic in its simplicity.

Ally stood next to Noah, clutching a bouquet of sea lavender my mom had picked and tied with a satin ribbon. Maggie and Mrs. Jacobs looked on, dabbing at teary eyes with their tissues.

My dad was waiting to give me away, and he pressed his lips to my cheek before he placed my hand in Jamie's.

I looked into Jamie's face and the tenderness of his gaze, the surety in the firm grip of his hands, eased the pressure in my chest. Nothing had ever felt more right.

Jamie's pulse beat in his neck under smooth, tanned skin, contrasting with his white linen shirt. The pearl he wore glimmered at the base of his throat, as though winking at me. The skirt of my dress winged lazily in the breeze against the legs of his blue pants as though I were a cloud and he were the sky and I'd float with him forever. Neither of us wore shoes, and my toes curled nervously in the sand.

No one presided over the ceremony unless you counted that mysterious place the Deep. Jamie and I stood before her, close enough an errant wave washed over our feet. No formal vows were spoken, only a proclamation of our love and commitment to each other. Rings weren't exchanged. It was as simple as me saying the words, "I love you. I'll be with you always."

My voice only shook a little and Jamie's smile in response made me heart swell. And then it was his turn.

"I love you, Erin," he began, and the timbre of his voice and the earnestness in his expression captured me in a spell that I was all too happy to be caught in. A tear swelled in his eye and slid down his cheek in a green rivulet of moisture. Only it wasn't a tear. It was pure magic. He cupped my hand and that magic spilled into it—a perfectly round, perfectly warm pearl, a perfect match to his pale green eyes. I sucked in a breath at the marvel of the treasure I held. He gently closed my fingers around it.