He pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and tipped her chin up. “My warrior princess.” His lips met hers, and any remaining shreds of uncertainty fell with his touch. Her future was sealed. “I'll see you at the altar tomorrow,” he whispered.
"I'll be the one in white," she teased, her lips hovering over his. She felt his smile before he dipped her, deepening their kiss.
“Ow, ow, now that’s a kiss,” Seth howled as he stepped onto the porch holding a basket of rolls. “Just save it for the honeymoon, Carmichael,” he warned.
Nick and Kaylan chuckled as Nick brought them upright but kept his arms wrapped around her waist. “You’re just jealous, squirt.”
Kaylan watched Seth’s brows shoot up into his rusty hairline. “I don’t even know where to start with that statement,” he said as the rest of his family and the wedding party appeared on the porch behind. “But I think we can all agree that I can kick your butt any day, bro.”
Micah whistled. “Hawk, you might want to be nice until after the wedding. Don’t rile the linebacker.”
Kaylan chuckled and pulled away from Nick. “All right, you two. Let’s eat.”
Two families—the Richards and the SEALs—converged on the picnic tables, but Kaylan couldn’t help but notice how well they blended. Logan and his family, Titus and Liza, Colt, and Jay mixed with the Richards crew under the white lights. Kaylan basked in their laughter as they passed dishes and settled into banter and conversations. Pap and Gran sat at the head of the table talking to Logan and Kim. And Natalie, the newest member of the family, sat across from Nick. Even Sandy made an appearance, though he didn’t make it farther than the porch before lying down.
Safety, familiarity, strength, and adventure—that’s what these two families represented. Truthfully, she could no longer tell where one ended and the other began, but at some point the people surrounding her had become her entire world.
Nick tucked her against him. “I love you,” he whispered, his lips hovering over her ear. She could feel his pleasure, his peace. He had a home, a family; they had one another. If she’d known what to dream, she would never have imagined it coming true quite like this.
The tinkling of silverware on glass brought conversations to stillness as Pap rose at the head of the table. “I’d like to say a few words to my beautiful granddaughter and her groom.” He reached for Gran’s hand and squeezed. Tears pricked Kaylan’s eyes at the love radiating from Pap. If she and Nick still loved that fiercely in fifty-five years, she would count their marriage a success.
“I’ve watched you two during your relationship. I’ve watched the fear and uncertainty, the love and playfulness. I’ve watched the growth, and I’ve watched you two fall in love, a love that has been tested and tried and come out shining like gold.” The tea in his glass sloshed as he motioned to them. “I know you both realize that this won’t be easy. In fact, we may need to add a line to your vows that includes ‘in war and in peace.’” His audience chuckled and Kaylan smiled, leaning into Nick.
“Marriage is accepting every part of the other person. Their dreams become yours. Their fears become yours. Love requires sacrifice, something you two have learned. But more than that, love is sacrifice. It is more than a feeling. It is more than a one-time action. It is a recurring decision to put the other person before yourself, and I have watched you both practice this as you have determined whether or not to move forward in this journey.” His gaze landed on Kaylan. “Sugar, I’ve never been more proud of the woman you’ve become, and I can’t thank God enough for bringing this man into your life.” A tear slipped through Kaylan’s guard and danced down her cheek. Tears filled Pap’s eyes as he raised his glass to her fiancé. “Nick, welcome to our family.”
Whistles and clapping filled the air as David and Seth slapped Nick on the back and Micah pulled Kaylan into a hug and placed a kiss on her cheek.
Logan used the table and stood carefully, still adjusting to his new leg. “My turn to speak on behalf of Hawk’s family.” He nodded at Natalie, who smiled in response, accepting his relationship and longevity in Nick’s life. Kaylan felt emotion welling in Nick that he stuffed down.
“Hawk, you and Kaylan have been there for me and mine in more ways than I can count. You have loved us, but more than that, you have loved the team. Kaylan, I know you have struggled with our world and the demands of the job, but honestly, I’ve watched you spread your wings in our family, for that’s what it is. You can’t do what we do and not understand that family is more than blood; it’s a bond that stretches deep, and, Kayles, you are a vital part of this family.”
Tears threatened Kaylan again as the SEALs around her bobbed their heads in agreement. “You are good for Hawk, Kaylan. Keep giving him a hard time. Make him work for it.” The guys laughed. “May you be a safe place for him to come home to, a constant encouragement, a rock, and his best friend. You are one of us now. Welcome to our adventure.”
He slipped back into his seat as the guys shouted their agreement. Kaylan mouthed a silent “thank you” to Logan and Kim and received a nod in response.
The crew fell silent again as Nick addressed them. “Thank y’all for coming. For loving and supporting us, for calling us family.” Kaylan squeezed his hand. “You don’t know what that means to me. I agree with Pap. I think the biggest thing I have learned in falling for Kaylan is that love is sacrifice. I didn’t want to love Kaylan Richards,” he joked. She poked his side, and he jerked away laughing.
“Seriously, I was terrified that I wasn’t good enough for her, but surrendering my insecurity to the Lord made me stronger.” His blue eyes collided with her. “You make me a better man, Kayles. Your love points me to Jesus. You call me a warrior, babe, but truth be told, I’m only the warrior I am because I look at your heart, your trust in the Lord, and your love for others, and I find a passion and a strength to fight harder, love deeper, and follow Jesus more for you and for the men I work with.” He turned back to the people around them. “Thank y’all for being part of this journey. I’m ready to do this!”
He leaned over and kissed Kaylan, and their family cheered, bringing the meal to a close. As their families rose to clean off the tables, Kaylan wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned in so only he could hear. “I only have that heart because I see it in you, Nick Carmichael. You help me be brave.”
He kissed her again. “Then we’ll keep reminding each other.”
“We’ve got a lot of time to practice,” she said and watched his eyes light up.
He smiled the smile he reserved for her. “Forever, Kayles. We have forever.”
Epilogue
Kaylan’s hands shook as she clutched cream satin and chiffon. Their wedding day had finally come, but she couldn’t force herself to look in the mirror just yet or the dream would disappear.
“Do you want these or these?” Megan posed as she held up two variations of the same earring to her ears. One set boasted a pearl stud encased in a bed of muted gold, while the other dangled with pearls and faux diamonds.
“The pearl studs.”
Megan grinned slyly as she fitted them to her friend’s ear. “These are from Nick. I just wanted to see if you would pick the ones he sent.”
“Meg! What if I picked wrong?”
Kaylan’s friend rolled her eyes, her dark eyeliner causing her almost black eyes to pop with depth. “You two are thicker than dolphins off Hawaii beaches. He knows your taste.” She fixed the last one in place and reached for Kaylan’s hand. “And you look beautiful.”
A smile touched Kaylan’s lips at Megan’s unusual, gentle gesture. “Is that a tear I see?”
“What can I say?” Megan sniffed and took a step back, shrugging as she dabbed at the corner of her eye. “Ever since this Jesus thing, it’s just a whole new me. If you would’ve told me I would cry all the time, I would have run away from you.”
“Jesus melts even the toughest hearts. And you just needed someone who knew how to love yours.”
&nbs
p; “All right, you two. Stop fussing,” Marian Richards said as she waltzed into the room. Her hands flew to her mouth. “Kaylan, sweetheart, you are gorgeous.”
“You sure it looks all right?”
“Let’s put it this way,” Natalie interrupted as she came to stand in front of Kaylan. “That new brother of mine is going to pass out when he sees you.”
“Maybe I need to see this for myself.” Kaylan took a slow breath, closed her eyes, and turned to face the mirror in her bedroom. Please don’t let this be a dream, Lord, she prayed. If it is, I don’t want to wake up.
“Kayles, open your eyes,” David’s girlfriend, Melody, said.
Kaylan slowly blinked her eyes open and then held her breath. She didn’t recognize the woman in front of her. Her auburn hair had been curled, twisted, and swept back in an elegant but natural updo at the back of her neck. An ivory rose stood in stark contrast to her hair color. Her green eyes popped beneath dark lashes and creamy skin, the freckles momentarily obscured. Her ivory strapless bodice was crusted with jewels along the bust before gracefully twisting around her torso, slimming her waist then fanning out and falling in loose chiffon lines to her feet. She raised her dress just enough to see her one non-negotiable—cowboy boots, her little taste of home. They would make the sand difficult to navigate, but it was worth it.
She ran her hands down the loose folds of her dress. “This is happening.” After all the tears and laughter, growth and heartache, deployments and homecomings, her warrior, Nick Carmichael, would become her husband in just under an hour. Her heart raced, sending color into her cheeks.
Her mom slipped her arm around Kaylan’s shoulders as Kaylan’s bridesmaids exited the room. “Have I told you lately how proud I am? We couldn’t have prayed for a better man for you.”
Kaylan’s eyes flooded. “It seems impossible. Not fair somehow.” Her eyes traveled the room she had lived in for the past eight months and landed on an unsealed box sitting next to her empty bookshelf. She wandered to it and lifted the picture frame resting on the top of the box—Sarah Beth on the beach in Haiti on a beautiful, sunny day. The days Sarah Beth lived for.
“She’s watching, sweetheart. She wouldn’t want you to be sad.”
“I know. I’m so thankful for Meg and Natalie. Sarah Beth just knew my heart better than anyone.”
Marian lifted the picture from Kaylan’s hands and placed a finger under her chin. Kaylan met hazel eyes framed by tiny smile wrinkles. “Nick knows you better. Loves you more. Wants a lifetime with you.”
Kaylan let her mother’s words drift over her soul. She’d wrestled with loving a man who could lose his life at any moment, would willingly lay it down if the situation called for it. She’d cried into her pillow, wondering if she would lose the love of her life the way she had lost her best friend. It seemed almost cruel that God sometimes took the best people, the most dedicated. But if she believed there was more to life than weddings and wars and work, then she had to believe that it wasn’t punishment to die early but a beautiful gift to spend even more time with Jesus in eternity.
She would have eternity with Sarah Beth and an eternity with Nick Carmichael. She was marrying a man who inhaled the Bible and exhaled more of Jesus. He knew the heart of a warrior was not measured by his actions but his character.
“How do I deserve him?”
“Oh, baby, sometimes I wonder how he deserves you. But that’s the beauty of marriage. Two sinners join together to fight a battle here and share Jesus with as many people as possible, while glorifying the Lord. You are marrying a fighter, and you, my girl, are a fighter.”
A low whistle sounded from the door and Kaylan turned to find her dad. “Will you look at my baby girl? I can’t believe I’m giving you away today.”
Kaylan walked into her father’s arms, so safe and strong, the same arms that had comforted her and protected her all her life. “Never giving me away, Dad. Just passing me off.”
He placed a feather-light kiss on her forehead and then turned to lead her from the room. Her girls gathered in the living room.
“Ready, Kayles?” Megan grabbed hers and Kaylan’s bouquets from the table.
“I think so.” She studied her roommate in her one-shoulder coral dress, her short, black hair curled and pinned away from her face. “Have I told you that you look amazing in pink?” She grinned.
“For starters, it’s coral. But it’s close enough to pink that payback is going to be awful for you.”
“Yeah, yeah. You talk so tough.” She waltzed past her parents and friends and threw the door open, revealing a limo outside. “Let’s do this!”
The drive to the beach was short and sweet. She and Nick had chosen to get married in Coronado on the beach at sunset, truly a testament to her love for Nick. But she wouldn’t have it any other way. Friends, family, and SEALs had gathered from Alabama and other states around the country. All in all, the gathering fit Kaylan’s style—small and intimate.
As the car pulled onto the beach, Kaylan smiled at the small, marked-off section of shoreline. White wooden chairs sat in rows with wedding guests on each side of the aisle. Sea shells marked the aisle with a white runner that ended in an arbor laced with ivy, wooden vines, baby’s breath, and calla lilies. A small quartet sat off to the side playing music from Pride and Prejudice. Next to the bride’s side, a white tent glowed and friends bustled to set up the cake and an hors d’oeuvres table. Everything was perfect.
They’d decided against a military wedding. While it was fully part of their lives, it didn’t need to dominate every part.
Kaylan sat in the car, straining to see over the heads of her guests for eyes as blue as the ocean in a fog. Eyes that could storm one moment and lend utter calm the next. She knew her brothers would be next to his side along with Logan, all dressed in khaki pants, white button downs with the sleeves rolled up, and khaki vests. She knew her family and friends would flank the aisle, but she longed for only one person.
Nick Carmichael—Navy SEAL, surfer, love of her life. Her best friend.
Music began to play. Gentle strains of a violin mixed with the lap of the tide. Kaylan took a deep breath. This was happening. Her dad squeezed her arm as Liza walked down the aisle in her coral strapless dress. Natalie, Melody, Kim, and Meg slowly followed, each clutching a bundle of three calla lilies, grains of sand kicking up under their flats. Little Molly skipped down the aisle tossing petals, her ivory dress flouncing around her and her blonde curls billowing in her wake.
And then the music changed.
“Ready?” Her dad reached for her hand and pulled her from the car. He placed her hand in the crook of his arm and caught her eye. She clutched his tan jacket under her fingers, holding on for dear life as she prepared to walk toward her future. “I couldn’t give you away to a more deserving man. You know that, right?”
Her eyes flooded with tears. “Dad, don’t make me cry right before I walk down in front of all these people.”
He brushed away her tears and kissed her cheek. “It doesn’t matter what they think. They’re all here to witness a miracle anyway.”
Kaylan paused. “What miracle?”
“The miracle of two people coming together in a covenant before God. The picture of Christ and His church.”
The music swelled and Kaylan’s heart jumped to her throat. “Here we go, baby doll,” he said, as he led them behind her guests. As they rounded the last row of chairs and Kaylan got a clear view of the aisle, her breath stopped. She paused as her gaze locked on the one she sought. His eyes were bluer than the sea behind him and more beautiful than the sun sinking low in the sky. And they were only for her.
Her boots found the runner as she took her first step toward her future.
*
She floated towards him and he could only think of one word: pure. Kaylan Lee Richards stood for everything pure and good in his life. In a career torn by war and the need to be strong to accomplish what was hard yet necessary, she made it worth it.
His white lily, shining in the darkness.
His.
Tears filled his eyes and he blinked them away as she drew closer and he tried to say all he wanted to with his eyes locked on hers. She glowed. Light from the setting sun caught her auburn hair and set the red highlights aflame.
He barely heard the minister as Kaylan’s dad passed her hand into his. It felt small and delicate, but he knew the strength it housed, the comfort her grip possessed, and the healing touch she worked to administer. He couldn’t believe she’d chosen him. He only knew he would never let her go.
A gentle breeze brushed his face and sent a lily tumbling from the arbor above his head to land at their feet. He grinned, turning to face her and gripping both of her hands as the minister began to speak. As he told a story, their story, Nick heard the gospel—a Father sending his only Son to die on Nick and Kaylan’s behalf. That’s how he understood love. That’s how he understood sacrifice. That’s where he drew his courage. From the cross and from the love of Kaylan Richards.
Her gentle smile drowned out everything else. Her eyes glowed like emeralds as she mouthed the three words he once thought he might never hear. His lips sent the words back to her: I love you.
As the strains of another song filled the air and a woman from their church sang a love song, Kaylan and Nick walked to a table just beyond the arbor where two jars of sand stood with an empty vase. “Nick, are you okay?”
Nick blinked, realizing he was walking in a daze. No wonder people said they couldn’t remember their wedding day. Everything felt like a surreal blur. Too good to be true. Too fast to catch hold. He squeezed her hand. “Can you believe we’re doing this? Finally.” His voice crested above the song, drawing chuckles from the audience.
Kaylan blushed and grabbed her jar of Alabama brown dirt. But he couldn’t let her go yet. He traced his finger down her cheek, feeling her pulse flicker beneath his touch. An amused smile graced her lips. “Babe, the song is going to be over soon.”
“They can wait.” Keeping his gaze locked on hers he lowered his face near hers and kissed her cheek. “I love you, you know.”
Surrendered (Heart of a Warrior Series Book 3) Page 24
