They are the same words carved into our wedding rings in Ogham script. The words that mean, quite simply, his soul is mated to mine.
The ritual is more powerful than I expected it to be. Raw energy pulses between us, our souls and our love binding us as one. There are tears in my eyes when we exchange the rings. I’ve never felt more emotional in my life. The love that I have for this man overwhelms me. That love is reflected in Ronan’s eyes.
And finally come the words that seal our fates.
My life, my love, my breath.
May we always have each other, in this life and the next.
Rory hands us a cup which we both drink from, and then he proclaims the words that make it official.
We are now husband and wife.
Ronan kisses me, in front of everyone, and he doesn’t hold back. When he finally pulls away at Rory’s insistence, I’m laughing and a little off kilter.
We both walk to the alter and perform the last and final step of the ceremony. The lighting of the candle.
And then he promptly bundles me up into his arms and carries me to the back office which he insists is custom as well. I’m pretty sure he’s making that part up, but I go with it, because… Ronan.
Always Ronan.
Epilogue
Sasha
I’m still half asleep when the creaking of the rocking chair down the hall rouses me.
I glance at the clock and realize that I must have slept through her cries. I’m not in the least surprised that Ronan didn’t.
He once told me he worried he wouldn’t do well with her cries. He was right. Because every time he hears them, he’s the first to her side. She’s got him wrapped around her little finger.
I untangle my hair from my face and pad down the hall, peeking in to find Ronan in the rocking chair. Saoirse is bundled in his arms, sucking from the bottle in his hand.
He picked the name. A play on my own. I love it. I love everything about my baby girl. And my husband. And the sight of the two of them together right now, even in my sleep deprived state, still steals my breath away.
He leans down and kisses her forehead with the gentlest of touches, and then his eyes meet mine across the room. Even after all this time, he still makes me feel like I’m on a rollercoaster when he looks at me like that. My whole world is off kilter, and yet it’s never been more perfect. Saoirse starts to fuss, and he sets the bottle aside and rubs her back, soothing her almost immediately.
I’m not going to lie and say that I have the same effect on her. I don’t. But that’s just Ronan. He is the balm to both of our troubles. Our calm in the storm. Whenever she’s upset, all he has to do is hold her, and she’s okay. I know the feeling well.
And Ronan certainly doesn’t mind. He likes that he can calm her. Being a parent has changed him so much. Made him see the emotions he is capable of. He’s the proudest father I’ve ever had the fortune to know. The fact that he’s my husband and the father of my child is proof that lightning really can strike twice. I don’t know how I ever got so lucky.
When Saoirse is asleep, he bundles her into the crib and then comes back to me. His hand grazes over my cheek, strong and warm.
“Ye should be sleeping,” he says. “I didn’t want to wake you.”
“You didn’t,” I tell him.
He kisses me and leads me back down the hall to our bedroom. We’re both exhausted. But I’ve never been happier when he falls in beside me and then rolls me beneath his solid frame.
He kisses my neck and gropes around under my nightgown as I tug his briefs down and free his cock. We can barely keep our eyes open, but we can’t seem to keep our hands off each other either. That’s one thing that hasn’t changed.
He’s moving inside of me while I clutch at his back and he kisses me all over. It doesn’t last. We never do. But these few brief stolen minutes that we get to connect like this are everything to me.
When we both finish, he stays inside of me for a while until his breathing calms. I stroke his back and he’s nearly asleep when I whisper in his ear.
“I need to get back on the pill,” I tell him. “Before I end up like Mack.”
She’s already pregnant again with her second. A fact that she never lets Lachlan forget.
“What’s wrong with that?” Ronan murmurs sleepily. “We make a good baby.”
“We do,” I agree. “But I want to enjoy this one for a while longer before another comes along.”
Ronan falls onto his side and his fingers stroke over my face. “Okay, love.”
And that’s that. Things are pretty much always this easy with Ronan. He doesn’t argue with me unless it’s about my safety.
We just are. We exist in our own little bubble, with the exception of Lachlan and Mack who we see often.
The syndicate is running smoother than it ever has. Ronan manages the club as efficiently as he does everything. And then he comes home to me. Always.
Whatever fears I had, whatever concerns… they don’t exist anymore. I don’t know if it will always be this way. But what I do know, is that Ronan and I will fight to protect what we have.
And God help anyone who ever tries to take that away.