Max Evans woke earlier than his wife. He normally did and he liked it that way. His favorite way to start the day was to watch her sleeping. The love and happiness that invariably shone from her brown eyes when she opened them always made his day.
Liz stretched and opened her eyes. "I knew you were there," she teased, "I could feel you."
"Always," he declared, gathering her into his arms and kissing her in that lingering way that connected them with the universe.
Shivering a little, Liz settled closer into his arms.
Ever sensitive to her, he tightened his hold on her and murmured questioningly into her ear, "Hmmm?"
"I was just thinking about the day your mother first told you about your past. The day I thought I had no part in your future..."
Max remembered too.
The look in her dark eyes was one of shock and desolation as she left the chamber where Max's mother told him and Isabel and Michael and Tess exactly who and what they had been. She had told each of them about their history and about the general expectations for their future. It was enough to tell Liz Parker that the destiny of Max Evans, the love of her life, had nothing to do
with her.
She could feel Max following her. He reached out to touch her, to hold her. He said something that she tuned out because she did not want to hear, to hope. Liz shook away from him and headed down the rocky slope. She didn't see Michael hold Max back and she didn't see Max pull away from him.
Her own despair kept her oblivious to his second approach. This time, when he held her, she saw the determination on his face. "Liz. You are the only one for me. I don't care what I have been. The only thing I want, absolutely, is for you to be my girl. Nothing can change my mind. It's made up and it's staying that way!"
All the arguments she had marshaled in her mind against their future together were instantly banished from her memory. Max held her tightly and kissed her.
The others filed silently past them. Tess gave the couple a sidelong look which Max answered with a sharp look of his own as he left his arm protectively around Liz. No one ever said another word. No one needed to. The king had spoken.
Max sat up and shifted Liz to his lap. She ran her fingers through his hair and spoke lightly. "For my part, I still love you. Any regrets on your part, your highness?"
He laughed softly and kissed her again, reveling in the taste of her. His eyes swept her face, not noticing the slight wrinkles and disregarding the fact that the hair he loved was more white than brown. She was his soul mate and had made his life complete. "Regrets? None. In my lifetime I have only loved you."
END