Tethered Souls | Books 1, 2, and 3

55 | Companion

━━━─── • ───━━━

• Luna •

Luna's stomach dropped. Time stood still. And her body felt like she was running up and down mountains as Amir proposed and suggested five days from now to be married. She couldn't speak. She knew she stared at him for too long when she noticed a single brow rise.

"Moon . . ." He tipped his head, looking at her as she stayed quiet. A few of his strands fell across his forehead, and he brought her hands up, laying soft kisses on the tips of her knuckles. "Is everything alright?"

Was I? She wasn't sure. All she could do was say nothing and stare at him. He couldn't have suggested what she thought he had. What do you say about getting married this Friday? The question she was pretty sure came out of left field made her speechless.

On top of that, he'd spoken to her father, his family back home, definitely Vikram and most likely Liberty, about he proposed to her? He proposed to her differently than he would if we were in his country. Was I dreaming? 

Luna slid off the ring Vikram gave her, and stood up to breathe, laying it down on the dresser so she could relax.

"Okay. Your silence has stretched out further than I thought." 

Luna gulped. "Sorry. I just . . . Do you want to get married this Friday? Five days from now?" 

His lips spread into a thin smile as he reached over, threading his fingers through Luna's. "I care about you. And I care about Sarah, so yeah, we could." 

Sucking in a deep breath, she smiled back and squeezed his hand. "Wouldn't that be too soon for us?"

"No. Not at all."

"Did you speak to our families about this?" 

He barked out a laugh. "Yes. I did. You don't believe me?" 

"I do. It's just that weddings take time to plan. I can't believe you want to marry me now."

"Is it bad that I want to spend the rest of my life with you? With Sarah being her 'papa'?"

He knew what she was thinking.

"Yes, I heard what you were thinking, Moon," Amir said. "It was pleasant, and I'm sorry if this was a surprise. I just assumed that if nothing goes wrong and everything calms down, we might seal the deal soon."

His eyes narrowed when he looked down.

"Using our new names wouldn't be legal, but it would feel real to us. But if we marry using our real names, it could be legal under Islamic law," he explained. "Raul and Mera will help by asking an Islamic official to do a Nikah, and Colin said he wouldn't mind acting as your wali. That's a Christian who can stand up for you."

Amir stopped for a moment and then exhaled.

"If all of this is too much, we can have an old-fashioned American wedding here and then a Pakistani wedding in my homeland. Both are possible. I want to marry you."

"On Friday?" she asked in a raspy voice.

"Yes. Friday. That's a great day for us."

"But wait, there's . . ." Luna realized that they were not ready. She knew that marrying a Muslim man was more than just saying "I do," and that they had to make preparations. Mera talked to her about a few things a while ago, but she didn't want to marry him until the right moment. She had always thought she would marry him in Pakistan.

But they didn't know what would happen next. It wasn't like other couples' daily uncertainty over the future. Nobody knew the next day. They were on the yucky, twisted side of things not working in their favor. How long would it take to prepare a wedding? All they needed to do at the moment was prepare for whatever they wanted to do in life.