Page 90 of Adored

“This is a promise that I’ll be yours forever. I’ve never given them away. A part of me knew deep down that Storm wasn’t the one for me, and I never gave them to her. You’re the first and only person I’ve trusted them with,” he admitted.

God.

Poe was so in love.

“Will you accept my promise that there is more?” he asked.

He didn’t hesitate.

“I’d love to wear them,” he admitted. “I want the world to know that I’m yours.”

That gave Gamble so much peace.

How could he not?

He’d found his happily ever after.

HIS.

PERSON.

With gentle fingers, he unbuttoned the top of his shirt, and Gamble put the chain over his neck so he could guard it now.

That was the last piece of himself he had left before he had to die and be buried at Arlington next to Maura and Jagger.

Poe picked up one, and as he read it, something caught him off guard.

“They say Captain Gamble Holloway,” he stated.

Oh, he was aware.

“That’s all of him that remains,” he said. “He was interred with full Marine honors. I just wanted you to have that piece of Gamble Holloway before he was gone forever.”

With tenderness and adoration, Poe touched his face.

“He’s not gone. He lives in my heart. He’s the man who I made love to in a grotto, and went swimming with in a pond—to my surprise. I’ll carry those memories forever with me, even as you’re a new person. You’ll always be in my heart.”

And that was the opening he needed.

“Forever? Even if he’s dead?”

Poe reassured him.

“My sweet man, he’s never gone. He’s always…,” he began, and realized he’d walked into his own trap. Someone just shrinked him good.

Gamble laughed.

“Oh, Gamble. You’re a tricky fellow, aren’t you?” he asked. “You just turned that around to help me get through this. Bravo, Mate. Bravo.”

The Marine shrugged.

“I mean, you said something similar about my daughter,” he admitted.

Yes, yes, he had.

“I walked right into that, and you just mind fucked the mind fucker. Mate…you play dirty.”

All was fair in love and war.