KARMA

28. FOREVER

One Month Later

LISA

Maxim and I wait, side by side, on the grounds of the seaside resort for the exact moment the sun turns the colour of sleep. It is a drowsy pink, the kind of whimsical shade that clings with delicate wings before dissipating into the foggy darkness of night. Waves lap at the shore, the mist rising around the craggy bluffs.

I hear a rather loud sniffle and fight a grin. My mum is sobbing into her handkerchief; I meet my sister Jenny's eyes, and see joy shining in them. Her husband, Charlie, gives me a thumbs up and a wide grin. Laura, my former boss, and now my partner in our publishing company, sits with her two sons, smiling at me. Her silver dress sparkles like magic dust in the setting sun. Next come Maxim's mum and dad; Maxim's mum is dabbing at her eyes, his dad is smiling. And the rest of the guests: my family and Maxim's --- aunts, uncles and cousins --- and Maxim's close friends, old university mates.

Maxim and I are surrounded by the people we cherish the most, our wedding ceremony is small and focussed solely on love.

Maxim catches sight of me and stills, his face filled with awe.

He swallows.

"You look" --- he draws in a long, shaky breath --- "absolutely beautiful."

"You, too," I say, and take a long, deep breath.

"Ready, my love?" he asks, smiling. "It's time."

I inhale the salty scent of the sea.

"Yes," I breathe, and smile up at him.

I take his warm hand in mine, my heart fluttering like gossamer wings as he smiles back at me. Every shared memory flashes through my mind. The first moment our eyes met across a silent hallway in his mansion. His arms enfolding me in a warm, strong embrace, holding me up, as my body buckled under the weight of betrayal, as my heart shattered to pieces, in a strange hotel room. The first time we kissed. The first time our bodies came together, and my heart juddered into new, startling life.

I gaze at him, this man who had woken me from the dead, who had stretched out his hand to me, and told me, his eyes very steady, very serious, There's a beautiful world out there. What are you waiting for? The world awaits.

Maxim steals my breath away now. Just like he had stolen it the first time I set eyes on him that long-gone summer, all those years ago.

His suit is midnight black, drapped over a snowy white shirt. My capped sleeves flutter in the light ocean breeze and I flush as he slowly sweeps his gaze over me, his eyes ardent and shining with love. My gown is a sheer white that borders on a frosty blue, reminding me of sunshine illuminating a glacier. The bodice is laced with a sprinkling of tiny silvery stars, and delicate embroidered flower buds in dusky pink cascade down my waist in thin tendrils before fading into the ice-blue frothy clouds of my skirts. It is exquisite and ethereal; a magical faery confection, shimmering with promises and dreams and endless possibilities on this glorious, this most wonderful day of my life.

We stand facing each other, our faces flushed, filled with light, our eyes drawn towards each other, exchanging looks that belie so much more than spoken words, as the sun slowly descends toward the horizon, turning my filmy gown into misty hues of gold sprinkles and silver stardust.

The hour has finally arrived.

The officiant we have requested is more than happy for us to say our own words.

"You may begin exchanging your vows now," he smiles, standing between us.

Maxim takes a deep breath and steps closer. He is glowing today, he radiates joy and he cannot stop smiling and looking at me. "He is besotted with you," my mother murmured into my ear a while ago, and sighed, and I laughed. Maxim looks so splendidly, gorgeously dashing, and so blissfully, beamingly in love. From this day on, we will be soulmates, lovers, companions for life, our pasts have led us to this moment, and our fates are entwined; we are two stars in the same constellation, destined to meet, to fit, to glow, to shine, to grow together forever, every day and night henceforth till the end of time, and beyond.