Page 61 of His Country

Ethan looked regal standing with Everett. He took his role as best man very seriously. But from the moment the ceremony started, his eyes had been on the shadow in the tree line.

He smiled secretively as he caught Aiden’s eye. With an elegant finger, he tapped just under his right eye.

I see you.

Ethan never stopped looking at him.

Later that evening when the reception was pulsing with bass and the guests were pleasantly drunk, bubbles of champagne dancing on their lips as they toasted the happy couple, Ethan found Aiden by the horses.

Tie loosened and vest unbuttoned, sleeves rolled up, he leaned on the fence. Their elbows brushed, silence blooming between them.

There was probably something to be said about destiny. About the sweetest victories coming after the most arduous battles. Maybe everything he had gone through had brought him here, to this moment, with the setting sun in his eyes. Orange light rippling through the trees and splashing across the yearlings in the field. Ethan smelling like flowers and alcohol, shifting so that his pinky brushed against Aiden’s on the rusted fence.

He was an empty shell before. Ethan had shattered him so light could slip in through all the broken cracks. And where Aiden had thought only bitterness could flourish, life began. Slow, nourished by the ashes of who he used to be, a garden took life.

“You saved that tortoise.”

Ethan looked over his shoulder at Aiden.

“And you saved me too.”

A slow smile bloomed across Ethan’s handsome face. “I did.”

“You started healing me. Ripped off all my half-healed scabs and forced me to treat them. Then you started loving me.”

He turned to face Ethan, stepping into his space so he could rest his forehead on his. They breathed together. Ethan’s hands slipped around his waist, holding him close. Champagne fizzled on Aiden’s tongue when Ethan kissed him. A toast of their own private ceremony, celebrating the life that would come.

Once, Aiden had heard about God ignoring your prayers. Giving you what you needed rather than want you wanted.Sometimes it hurt, but in the end, it was the unanswered prayers you were most thankful for.

Maybe that’s why they called it Gods country.