Page 67 of Tarek

Sarah looked at Doran. He looked nervous, which made her smile. They were already mated, after all. This ceremony was for their family.

Johree nodded toward him.

“Doran? Please give your vows to Sarah.”

Doran swallowed before beginning, visibly overcome with emotion as he took both of Sarah's hands in his much bigger ones.

“Sarah, when I first learned that you were coming to New Haven, I did not know what to expect other than you’d be perfect for me, as you had been chosen for me by the stars themselves. It was a gift I’d long stopped expecting to ever happen to me.”

His smile softened.

“But then you came and brought laughter into my life, and light. You brought three wonderful children into my life. And you made this place feel like home in a way no other place ever had before, because without you, I have no home.”

Sarah's eyes shone with tears.

“I promise to love you,” Doran continued. “To stand beside you. To protect what we build together. And when life is difficult, I promise I will not walk away.”

Johree turned to Sarah.

“Sarah?”

She took a breath before speaking.

“Doran, I came here not knowing what my future would look like. I was frightened, and I wasn't sure I was brave enough to start over, but I knew we needed a change, and creating Dragon’s Rest should be it, though I really hadn’t expected to get matched.” She smiled through the tears gathering in her eyes. “Then I met you.”

Doran's golden eyes softened.

“You gave me a home when I thought I was leaving mine behind. You gave me back my confidence so I could realize my childhood dream. You gave my children a place where they could belong, and made them yours as well as mine. And you gave me a reason to believe that sometimes the most unexpected things can turn into the most wonderful ones.”

She squeezed his hands.

“I promise to love you. To choose you. To stand beside you, even when things are difficult. And I promise that wherever we go, as long as we're together, that will be home.”

Johree's smile widened. “The rings.”

Doran took Sarah's ring from the small box Jesse held out and slipped it onto her finger. “With this ring, I choose you.”

Sarah took his ring and slid it onto his finger, eating the words. “With this ring, I choose you.”

Johree looked at them both. “Then, by the authority given to me as a prince of the Dragonii Empire and governor of this colony, I pronounce you husband and wife.”

A cheer went up from the children and Kaelor, while Sarah's father wiped at his eyes and her mother blew her nose, her eyes red-rimmed. I sniffled and glanced away, while Tarek gave my hand a gentle squeeze.

Johree laughed. “You may kiss your bride.”

Doran didn't need telling twice. He pulled Sarah gently into his arms and kissed her, warm and sweet and completely unhurried. The children started cheering even louder.

Then something streaked across the grass. We all noticed it, along with the hubbub that accompanied its sudden appearance. A tiny brown-and-white blur shot straight between the couple and the chairs.

“What was that?” Sarah's mother asked.

“Hop-a-long!” Evan shouted.

Before anyone else could move, Caleb took off after it.

The little stray marsupial zigzagged wildly across the yard, Caleb laughing as he chased it. Somehow, against all odds, he managed to scoop it up.

“I got him!” he crowed triumphantly as it went still in his arm, probably in shock that he'd been captured.