Page 109 of Light

Not one to miss the cue on the cuddle fest, Mis crawls into my lap and then lolls with the same comfortable abandon. “And sad too.”

“Well, nobody’s going to be mad or sad around here for a long time.” As I declare it, using every queenly inflection in my repertoire, Reece stretches a hand out for mine. “You amazing miracles saved the day because you used the power of love. No matter what you do or where you go with your powers from now on, the three of you have to promise me that you’ll remember the lesson of this day forever.”

Lux tilts his head, cracking a rogue’s grin so similar to his father’s that my heart flips over a couple of times. He knows this answer already, and he thoroughly plans on beating his sisters to the punch with it this time.

Proudly and clearly, my son calls the sentence out like the perfect truth it is. “Love is the greatest superpower!”

Mis and Ira scramble to join their hands with his. As the three of them form their bright, bold triangle again, the girls echo, “Love is the greatest superpower!”

They remain that way, watching with endless giggles, as Reece pulls my fingertips to his lips and then runs lingering kisses across my knuckles. Our gazes meet, and my belly pings in a million places, zapped by the silver lightning in his irises. My breath hitches. My blood turns to fire. My sex turns to magma. He’ll never stop doing this to me…and I’ll never stop thanking him for it.

We’re snapped out of our seductive reverie once more by our son. “Dada?” he prompts with the soft uncertainty he gets when bringing up confusing subjects.

Reece leans in over Lux, conveying the kid has his full attention. “What is it, buddy?” he murmurs.

“If love is the greatest superpower, why was the Faline lady so scared of it?”

I suck in a huge breath along with my husband—and shoot him half a grin along with the silent snark in my head. Oooohhh, I’m so glad this one went to you and not me, Zeus.

His answering glower, filled with a whole bunch of thanks a fucking lot, precedes his reply to Lux—and makes me really, officially glad that the man got to field the query instead of me.

“Well, buddy…a lot of times, love isn’t always the easiest answer. It takes courage and bravery, especially if someone doesn’t understand it and then uses it to hurt you instead of heal you. But when you decide to trust in its power…” He squeezes the juncture of our hands once more, sending heat through every inch of my body. The good kind of heat this time. For the very first time… “And when you find someone who believes in it the same way you do…there’s nothing like the very real power of true love.”

Lux lets out such a long and savoring laugh, it’d sound outright dirty on a man twenty years his senior. To us, it’s just the perfect magic of our boy, living out loud in the beautiful freedom of his existence. “And that’s what you and Mama have!”

Reece joins him—and now Ira and Mis too—in their joyous, full laughter. In the light that will always captivate me, electrify me…and bolt me into the stars with everlasting love.

“Always,” he answers our boy in an adoring whisper. “And forever.”

Epilogue

Reece

The sun disappears over the waters of Dana Point Harbor as my best friend kisses his new bride. The small crowd gathered on the island overlooking the breakwater claps like crazy as Sawyer and Lydia, the new Mr. and Mrs. Foley, turn beneath the little arbor that’s dripping with too many fluffy white flower breeds for me to name. I simply take Emma’s word that her mother has picked out the best stuff and leave it at that. Besides, the best part of the day is yet to come.

The party.

With that thought lifting my spirits, I lean over and give Foley a hearty clap on the back.

“Well done, man,” I murmur, deciding to stay quiet about the fact that he’s practically as pretty as ’Dia in this moment. With his dark-blond hair tamed into a stylish man bun and his tuxedo still miraculously white, the guy’s a candidate for the “Eat Your Heart Out, Jason Momoa” Pinterest page.

Oops. Too late. I guess I said that last part aloud, since the guy brandishes a scowl vicious enough to peel off my skin. “Did you just invoke DC in a crowd of Marvel True Believers, man?” He cocks his head and clucks his tongue. “Hope you remembered to protect your junk with some Captain America Underoos.”

I narrow my gaze but lift a clenched smile. The videographer is moving in fast. “Smartass.”

“Prick monkey.”

“Fanboy snob.”

“DC whore.”

“Would you two stop being dicks and get with the program here?” Lydia spits as she wheels back around on us. The woman looks incredible in a sparkly mermaid-style gown with a frothy veil that perfectly frames her angular face—except that this second, she’s out for blood as bright as the strawberry tints in her long curls. “Holy shit,” she adds in response to her mother’s mortified gasp.

“Lydia Harlow!” Laurel rushes over in a cloud of expensive perfume and maternal indignity. The second she’s done with the reprimand, she bears down on the video guy. “All of that will be edited out.”

“Yes, ma’am.” The guy ducks in, adding for our ears alone, “I’ll make sure you guys get the blooper reel.”

“Lydia!” Laurel beckons. “No dawdling. We’re three minutes behind on the timeline.”