I moved the net and the twins slammed the lids on the top. I screwed them on tight to be sure, and lifted the wire handle for them to take. The minute they held them in the air, the lightning bugs shone from the glass, causing them both to squeal in excitement.
“We got real lightning bug jars!” Penelope shouted and then turned to me. “Can we run and show Daisy? Can we go show Aunts Ally, Molly and Lex and Uncles Axe, Aust and Rome?” Shaking my head in laughter at my daughter reeling off everyone who was just over the garden while we all visited at Rome’s house, I nodded my head.
“Just don’t run too fast. Make sure we’re always behind you,” Elsie said, and the twins ran off, their jars in the air as they giggled their way back to the yard.
I watched as their lights told us where they were, when Elsie’s hand slipped through mine and she offered my jar with the other. I took the wire handle and held it up to the dark.
“What do you think?” I asked as we started walking back to the garden, hearing the twins shouting for their aunts and uncles to come see their jars in the distance.
Elsie was holding up her jar and she laid her head on my arm. “Just as pretty as you promised they’d be.”
“Good,” I said and slipped my hand from hers and put my arm around her shoulders instead.
“Though not as good as my homemade jar in our window.”
I looked down at her and frowned. “You like that old jar of glow stick juice better than the real thing?”
Elsie shrugged. “It’s my real thing. That jar has kept me safe in the dark for years.” She put her arm around my waist and cuddled in closer. “And it led you back to me. It’s my jar, the jar that reminds me every single night of where we came from.” She looked up at me and smiled so big my heart swelled. “And how blessed we are now.”
Checking no one was around, I pulled my wife to a stop, and turned her in my arms. On instinct she tipped her head up toward me, waiting for my kiss. In seconds I had my lips on hers and she sighed as our lips moved against each other’s. When I pulled back, we were both breathless.
“You’re still as beautiful as you were when I made you that jar all those years ago,” I told my wife and watched as her eyes softened in the true lightning bug glow.
She lifted her hand to run through my hair. “And you’re still the sweetest soul that ever lived.”
Seeing the love she had for me in her pretty blue eyes, my heart melted when she pressed her palm to my cheek and her forehead to mine. Bringing my hand up to her cheek, she smiled as we silently said that we loved one another.
Because even though Elsie now had her voice, we both knew that sometimes, just sometimes, words were wasted. This, right here, was just for us. It was our best expressed ‘I love you’.
Just like our little homemade lightning bug jar that still sat on our window’s ledge, our light would never fade out.
And because we had each other, we would never ever drown.
The End
Playlist
Hero — Family Of The Year
Little Moment — Rathborne
Shine —Benjamin Francis Leftwich Poison & Wine — The Civil Wars Let It Go — James Bay
My Everything — Owl City
Let It All Go — Birdy
Only You — Josh Radin
Anymore Of This — Mindy Smith
Heavy Rope (Acoustic) — Lights
Stars — Grace Potter & The Nocturnals Here With Me — Susie Sue
No One’s Gonna Love You — Band Of Horses My Girl — Tiago Lorc
I Will Rise — Cattle & Cane Lift Me Up — Mree
Dream — Priscilla Ahn
Hurricane — Kayleigh O’conner
Moonshine — Sara Haze
Black River — Amos Lee
Can’t Help Falling In Love — Haley Reinhart Start Again — Conrad Sewell
Fireflies — Colin & Caroline Wonderful Life — Katie Melua
Storm Song — Phildel
Lost & Found — Katie Herzig Lost Boy — Ruth B
Bird Set Free — Sia
Take Me Home — Jess Glynne
To Listen to the soundtrack, please follow the link: https://open.spotify.com/user/authortilliecole/playlist/6e5VWcAI2ml4QU3q4Sd73E
Acknowledgements
Mam and Dad, thank you for helping me through the stress of writing this book—moving and writing a novel was not the smartest thing I’ve done!
To my husband. My shy guy (though not so much anymore!), thanks for coping with my madness and breakdowns through this. As always, love you loads.
Sam, Marc, Taylor, Isaac, Archie and Elias. Love you all.
To my fabulous beta readers: Thessa, Kia, Rebecca and Lynn. As always, you rock. My books are better because of you.
Thessa, my star and mega-assistant. Thank you for manning my Facebook page and keeping me in check. Thank you for all the Sweet Soul memes—though I know you don’t find ogling the models a chore! ;) You keep me positive and keep me going. Love you to bits.
Kelly, and Have Book Will Read Book Blog, thank you for hosting my blog tour. You are invaluable. I hope you know this.
Lysa, my wonderful web designer. I love our new website—you are a master designer. And I’ll keep my eye out for those pesky bulls!