Page 86 of A Royal Promise
A blue tent with a mesh roof was pitched in the middle of a grassy clearing. A small bonfire and an outdoor couch were positioned near it. Several yards away, he noticed a giant telescope ready for them to get a close-up look at the spectacular world above them.
“Do you like it?”
“Likeit?” Drew laughed incredulously. “This is amazing.” He pulled Bri in for one of his signature bear hugs and pressed a kiss to her temple. “You’reamazing. Best birthday present ever.”
They dropped off their backpack and headlamps in the tent and made their way over to the telescope.
He looked up at the sky in wonder. “This might be the prettiest view of the stars I’ve ever seen.” He pointed above them at the long, thin band of light stretching across the night sky. “You can even see the Milky Way.”
“I know.” Bri smiled proudly. “I scouted every night for a while with Bastian until I found the perfect spot for you to see the solar system you love so much.”
“I loveyouso much.” He kissed her again and then looked longingly at the telescope.
“Go ahead. I know you’re dying to look.” She laughed. “Just don’t move it. I had the staff angle it right where I wanted.” As he looked through the eyepiece, Bri said, “You know how you named a star after me last year?”
He murmured his affirmation, “Mm-hmm.”
“Well, the series of stars you should see right now is a new constellation as of last week. It contains the star you namedBrielleafter me and one I had namedAndrewafter you. In the middle of them is another star I namedEternal Love, so now we’re forever connected in the night sky by a symbol of love as infinite as ours.”
Drew stepped back from the telescope and peered at his wife in awe. Awe that he somehow landed the most gorgeous woman on the planet. Awe at how thoughtful she was. Awe at how deeply and truly she knew him. Awe that he got to spend forever with the love of his life.
He grabbed her face and kissed her with every ounce of passion he felt in that moment. He cradled her cheeks and tilted her head back to deepen the kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck, playing with the hair at the nape of his neck.
Each press of their lips reaffirmed their love for each other. When they finally parted, their lips were swollen, evidence of how thoroughly he’d kissed his wife.
He moved to stand behind her, encircling his arms around her waist as she took a turn looking through the telescope eyepiece.
Under the glittering night sky, with Bri in his arms, there was nowhere else in the world he would rather be.
Drew always wanted a love story so real and beautiful with Bri that it would be written in the stars. Now they had a constellation of their own—one that could act as a symbol of love for generations to come, exactly like he’d always dreamed of.
They spent hours examining the night sky and talking about their dreams for the future. When they finally retreated to their tent, Drew and Bri proved why the one bed—er, one blow-up mattress—trope was so effective in all the romance movies she loved so much.
He fell asleep holding his wife—his best friend, his person, hiseverything—with a satisfied smile on his lips, and he didn’t dream at all that night because real life was finally better than any fantasy he could ever conceive.