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Her head drew back. “Dinner?”
Ignoring the drop below them, Garrett reached out, tugging his wife into his arms. He pressed her against him and shuddered. “Please don’t move,” he breathed into her hair.
In the background, he could hear a mixture of cheering and applause. And sirens.
“Garrett, I can’t breathe.”
The words were muffled because her face was pressed to his chest.
He gave her a bit of space so she wouldn’t smother. “Baby, I’m going to pick you up now. I want you to wrap your legs around me, okay? Then I’m going to carry us back the way I came.”
Garrett tested the grill under her feet, relieved it seemed solid enough to bear his weight many times over. He kept holding her as he picked her up, urging her legs up and around his waist.
“I did marry you,” she mumbled into his shoulder as he hefted her aloft, adjusting her weight more securely.
At least she didn’t phrase it as a question. That was some comfort.
“Yes, you did.”
Keeping a tight grip, he turned with small mincing steps. Ahead of him, the crowd was standing quietly, except for Bethany who was gesticulating wildly.
“C’mon,” Bethany mouthed, hopping up and down.
Ignoring her, Garrett picked a spot above her head—a sign on a concrete wall—to focus on. Keeping his breath shallow so he wouldn’t jostle Emma, he began the careful trek back.
His wife’s warm breath puffed through his shirt. “You tricked me into marrying you.”
“Uh, yeah. I suppose I did,” he admitted. “But you’re pretty happy about it now.”
There was a very long pause. Too long.
“I guess that’s true,” she finally said.
Damn it. She had to stop yanking his heart out of his chest and then putting it back while he was walking over a two-story deep pit.
“I love you more than anything,” he said, cradling her head to his chest. “Do you believe me?”
She hesitated, raising her head a touch. “Yeah.”
“Good. Please keep that in mind for the foreseeable future.”
They reached the edge of the pit. “Why?”
Garrett took two more steps, reaching terra firma, and kept going straight to the ambulance that had arrived in the interim. “Because I’m tying you to our bed for the next month.”
There was the softest of huffs. Laughter. “Been there, done that.”
It was a good thing he was on solid ground because the relief he felt was enough to weaken his knees. She remembered him.
Dear God, thank you.
When a uniformed firefighter stretched out to take her from him, Garrett didn’t let them.
Chapter Fifty-One
EMMA
Emma blinked as Dr. Saha’s replacement shone his penlight into her eyes.