Page 23 of Tower (Post-Apocalyptic Fairy Tales #1)

Six months later

“Wait! We forgot my necklace!”

My outburst is louder and more panicked than it should have been, but my anxiety has been rising since first thing this morning.

I honestly don’t know why.

There’s no emergency here. It’s silly to be stressed.

Everything has been quiet in the region for the past four months, ever since the frequent skirmishes with that gang to the north finally settled.

The survivors have retreated far from our territory, and I don’t expect to see even a glimpse of them again.

We didn’t get out of the conflict unscathed. We lost two guys, and Carlotta is still recovering from a gunshot to her thigh. But we fared a lot better than the other gang did.

Since then, it’s been relatively quiet in town and in the area. I still never leave base on my own, but Levi hasn’t put up any resistance to our weekly outings.

So these nerves today are silly.

And they’re getting in the way of what should be a good day.

“Here it is,” Becca says, stepping toward me with the tree necklace Levi gave me on my birthday. I place the pendant on the base of my neck and move my hair out of the way so Becca can clasp it. “You look so beautiful. Levi is going to faint dead away.”

I can’t help but laugh at that comment. Then I turn back toward the full-length mirror that normally hangs in one of the rooms at base and is now leaning against the side of my dad’s pickup. It’s fairly big but not heavy, so it wasn’t too difficult to bring with us.

We needed a mirror since there is nowhere for me to get ready in the orchard so I’m having to primp on the far side of the truck.

I do look really good, I conclude as I scan myself in the mirror.

My hair is hanging loose, with just the top part secured with a hair ornament Jen made me from the broken pieces of my mom’s smallest crystal butterfly.

My dress was one I bought from my favorite boho shop for the last Easter Sunday before Impact.

It has a loosely fitted bodice and a long, full skirt in warm cream color with a rustic lace overlay.

Until today, I only wore it once.

Becca did my nails and some light makeup. I’ve got my necklace on as well as pearl drop earrings and matching bracelet.

I’m carrying a small bouquet of wildflowers that took Dep an hour of searching this morning to collect from the nearby overgrown fields.

I’m ready.

There’s absolutely no reason for me to feel like I’m about to charge into battle.

Becca and Jen walk with me toward the gazebo where Hawk is waiting, wearing an old suit so tacky it looks like it might have been worn at a high school prom. He gives me a lopsided grin. “You ready for this, princess?”

I smile at him, relaxing immediately in the face of his unflappably laid-back manner. “I think I am.”

Jen moves around the back of the gathered crowd to come around toward the front, nodding at Carlotta and John, Becca’s boyfriend, who are on stools with guitars. They start playing, and Becca in a cute pink dress with her own bouquet starts walking down the aisle as my one bridesmaid.

When the music changes to the familiar strains of Wagner made rustic by the twang of the guitars, Hawk offers me his arm.

As I tuck my hand in at his elbow, he drawls softly, “I’m real proud of you, princess. You made him better. You made all of us better.”

So my eyes are swelling and my heart is still pounding as we start walking down the aisle, set off by ropes tied to big pots of greenery. For two steps, the gazebo and the still struggling orchard and so many familiar, smiling faces surrounding me are nothing but a blur.

Then I finally focus on Levi, standing at the end of the aisle in front of the gazebo steps. He’s wearing a dark suit we scavenged from an old department store. The sleeves are slightly too short, but it otherwise fits. He trimmed his hair and beard, and he’s smiling as I approach.

When I’m close enough, I can see his eyes devouring me—from the crystal butterfly in my hair to the hem of my long skirt.

He loves me. So much. It’s impossible not to see it.

As much as I love him.

And I get to spend the rest of my life—in whatever kind of world this becomes—with him.

It’s then I noticed him peering toward my feet.

My nerves completely vanish, and there’s nothing left but joy. Pure, undiluted joy in this day, in this man, in this marriage, in this community, in the life I’ve built out of ashes.

With a quirk of a smile, I lift my skirt to show Levi I’m wearing my boots.