Chapter 19
As Miles Lawson spun Liana Langston around for the third time, the sunset blazed across the borderland sky like fire.
“Put me down!” Liana pounded his shoulder, but her fingers clung stubbornly to the back of his neck.
Two buttons on his military uniform had come undone, revealing a faded scar along his collarbone–the mark from the first fight he ever got into because of her.
“She’s my wife! Mine!” he shouted toward the mountains, startling a flock of seagulls into flight.
Passing army wives laughed and teased, “Colonel Lawson, still going to make the
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training run tonight?”
By the time the moonlight slipped through the windowpane, Liana had changed into a cotton nightgown.
The bed creaked beneath her weight, and Miles, sitting stiffly on the edge like a rookie soldier, had buttoned his uniform all the way up. His hands dangled awkwardly at his sides.
“Liana…” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he struggled to speak, voice hoarse as sandpaper. “Maybe… we should wait until after the wedding dinner…”
Liana suddenly remembered that awkward teenage boy from twelve years ago–the one who’d blocked her way after school, ears flushed bright red, stammering, “Lin–Liana, you dropped your pen, even though it was
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still clipped in her pocket.
She reached out and unfastened the top button of his uniform. “Miles, where’s the courage of the boy who used to climb walls to bring me breakfast?”
Outside, pear blossoms, late to bloom, drifted silently to the ground.
The bedside lamp cast their shadows against the wall–two vines finally twining together.
Miles’s kiss landed tremblingly on her collarbone, his fingertips still shaking.
Twelve years of silent yearning made him clumsy, boyish even, in his hunger.
“Don’t be scared…” Liana tilted her head, teeth grazing his Adam’s apple, tasting the
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alt of his sweat. “I’m yours–inside and out.”
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That line shattered the final restraint.
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Miles suddenly pinned her to the mattress, two uniform buttons flying.
His grip on her wrist, strong enough to snap steel rebar, was now as gentle as if holding a fragile treasure.
In the flickering light, Liana traced the scars on his back.
The longest one came from the time he shielded her from a bicycle crash. The round one was from falling off a lighting rig while secretly photographing her stage performance…
“Does it hurt?” she asked, fingers brushing the ridges.
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evo
He answered a different question. “It hurts less than dreaming of you married to someone else.”
When morning light crept in through the curtains, Miles was wiping her fingers gently with a warm towel.
The small damp patch on the bedsheet. made him pause, until a pillow hit his face.
“What are you staring at… this is so embarrassing…”
She didn’t finish the sentence before his lips silenced her again.
A truck horn blared in the distance. A
brand–new day had begun.
As the sun painted the lake red, Miles was in
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the courtyard, oiling his bicycle chain.
A white ribbon fluttered from the back seat of the bike. The front basket was stuffed with care packages from the soldiers–today, this was the most fashionable wedding ride. in the region.
The veil over Liana’s head lifted slightly in the breeze, revealing her lips painted a bright red.
“Hold on tight.” He pedaled hard, sweat quickly soaking through his shirt.
The roadside was packed:
Border soldiers had strung empty bullet casings into wind chimes.
Elderly women tossed confetti onto the couple.
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Young nurses sang folk songs.
Candy rained down from above, the wrappers catching sunlight and scattering rainbows.
Miles suddenly hit the brakes, turned, and kissed Liana through her veil.
Just like in high school, when he’d hidden behind the curtain and stolen a kiss from her stage costume.
“Time to kiss the bride!”
Amid laughter and cheers, he deepened the kiss.
Liana rested on his sweaty back, listening as their heartbeats gradually aligned.
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Far off, a train whistle sounded.
A locomotive was pulling into the borderland station.
And on the platform stood a figure in a worn. military uniform.
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