The sun playfully tickled the thin skin of Atlantis eyelids. At first she tried to ignore the sun tracks, but eventually gave in and inhaled deeply, her right hand slowly going toward the side of bed where Matthew slept last night…
…Only not to found him there.
In a second, her eyes snapped wide open. She sleepily looked at the empty bed, her fingers rushing through her disheveled hair as she tried to wake up.
But, before her lips could form the sound of his name, she heard Matthew's voice behind her "I'm here."
Quickly, she turned around and saw Matthew sitting at the edge of her side of the bed. She still didn't fully wake up yet, but was aware that he was already up for few hours already as he was fully dressed, even had a coat and his boots on.
Her eyes were so beautiful in the morning while the veil of a dream still shone from them, he mused as he took in her sleepy facial expression mixing with questions in those hazelnut brown eyes.
"I went out while you were sleeping. Had to finish something", as she continued to watch him questioningly, Matthew warmly smiled "I guess that there's no need to keep you in the dark anymore", with those words, he reached into the pocket of his coat produced a small red box, adding with a loving smile "Just so I make sure your finger doesn't go away anywhere."
Atlantis looked down at his fingers and silently gasped, her palm covering her mouth as warm tears rolled down her cheeks at the sight of Matthew opening the box revealing the most beautiful ring she has ever seen in her life. The warmth swirled up her entire body as Matthew took her palm and put a ring on her finger, kissing her knuckles as he did that. Atlantis smiled through her tears and eagerly accepted his lips on her lips as he kissed her with so much love that it made her heart skip a beat. She cupped his face and slowly sneaked her fingertips down to the nape of his neck as a soft moan escaped her lips. As he deepened the kiss, she quickly removed his coat and pulled him closer to herself…
"Mummy?", little voice was heard from the other side of the doors accompanied with a knock. Atlantis felt her smile collided with Matthew's smile before they both broke into laughter.
"Come in, sweetie", Atlantis called out with a wide smile while Matthew sat back at the edge of the bed, turning toward the doors also smiling.
The doorknob turned and both Matthew and Atlantis smiled even more at little Matthew using his whole body to push the heavy doors. Little boy grimaced in doing so, but the next moment he opened his eyes fully and giving them both toothless grin, he ran toward the bed and jumped on it. Atlantis grabbed him and tickled him, not allowing him to run away. But, in next moment, she yelped in surprise as two of them united and started to tickle her "Okay, okay, enough! I surrender! Stop it!", she shrieked from laughter. As they let her go and Matthew scooped little Matthew up in his arms and left the room to get some breakfast, Atlantis sat in the bed and watched the doors closing behind them. Happily, she wiped her tears away, a small diamond glistening on her finger reminded her of the fact that this morning was the image of how is it going to be from now. She finally had everything she always wanted – a family and a home.
xxxxxxx
The room was breathing with the scent of red roses, her favourite flowers. Nicole and Colleen just finished with brushing her hair and applying some make up to her face. Katie and little Matthew were fussing over how to exactly throw petals of red roses; Katie was going for doing it fast while little Matthew suggested they should do it slowly as they walked down the aisle. Katie reminded him that she is his Aunt now...well, she will be soon so he has to listen to her, but little Matthew wasn't giving in and reminded her that he is still older whole three weeks and two days than she is. They got quite loud in their argument, but eventually settled down deciding that Katie should throw the petals and little Matthew will take care of the ring and that nobody steps onto Katie's dress as she walked.
Atlantis had to smile at the two of them fussing over until Dr Mike shooed them out from the room to give Atlantis some space to breath.
She looked down at her bouquet of red and white roses, catching a glow from her engagement ring. Her smile widened and she pushed back the happy tears remembering how Nicole and Colleen scolded her that she should watch out that she doesn't cry otherwise her make up will be ruined. It made her laugh again; those two silly heads already got along so well.
She slowly picked her head up and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her wedding dress was long, sleeveless, with some sparkles and lace covering it fully. Her hair was curled and graced her shoulders in a locks; she knew that Matthew loved her hair like that…
There was a knock on the doors and she looked at it, puzzled. Her Dad was supposed to come in about twenty minutes, but not yet.
"Who is it?", she asked.
"It's Brian. Can I come in?", came the reply.
Atlantis smiled "Come in, Brian."
The doors opened and she smiled at the sight of Matthew's younger brother.
"Hey", he smiled back at her "Can I talk to you for a second?"
"Sure", Atlantis replied, looking carefully at her soon to be brother-in-law. He was nervous, she could tell that and wondered what was the matter.
They sat on the edge of the bed and Atlantis gently asked "Brian…is something wrong?"
"I…", Brian nervously rubbed his palms, looking down. Atlantis could see that something was eating on him. She got really concerned by now. She watched as he took a deep breath in and started to talk in a silent voice "I just wanted to thank you."
Atlantis creased her eyebrows "Thank me? For what?" All this time since she was back in Colorado Springs, she barely spent time with Brian, they talked on few occasions, but she couldn't remember anything significant that happened which would make him say this.
Brian looked up at her, his eyes filling with tears "For bringing Matthew back to life, back to Colleen and me. Ever since…", he swallowed hard and furiously rubbed his eyes to chase the tears away. Atlantis let him be, figuring he needed some time. After few seconds, he continued "Ever since Ingrid died, he wasn't the same. Not even with Emma. And it was…it was my fault. It was my fault that Ingrid died. If I wasn't so stupid and childish", Brian rambled on, but his voice trailed off in tears.
Quickly, Atlantis hugged him, swallowing her own tears. That was such a burden for a young boy Brian Cooper still was!
"Brian", she whispered "It wasn't your fault. It was an accident. Hey, look at me", as he slowly pulled away from her, Atlantis gently wiped his tears away in a motion like she did when her little son was upset over something and was crying "Matthew loves you very much. And he surely isn't blaming you for Ingrid's death. You can't go on blaming yourself. It's not fair to you, it will eat you down, you can't live with that, Brian", in her thoughts Atlantis already decided that she will have to talk to Matthew about this.
"I thought that he will never be happy again", whispered Brian "And what you did is…is just like magic", he silently added.
"Hey, I spent whole my life in the circus, don't you think I still have a trick upon my sleeve?", she winked at Brian and he chuckled. Atlantis smiled, seeing him calming down "Brian…There's only one magic that can heal broken people – and that is a magic of love", she was close to tears now.
"That is true", Brian smiled "And that was what I wanted to thank you for. Thank you for bringing my brother back with your love", he silently whispered. Seeing tears forming in Atlantis' eyes, he quickly said "Hey, don't cry, Colleen and Nicole will choke me like a chicken if you spoil your make up!"
That did the trick; Atlantis chuckled and getting up, she hugged Brian once again before he started to walk away from the room.
At the doors, he stopped and smiling, looked at his soon to be sister-in-law "You look beautiful."
Atlantis smiled and whispered "Thank you", and for a moment just stood there as the doors closed behind Brian.
Turning around, she faced herself in the mirror again…
She quickly wiped few stubborn tears that escaped from her eyes and made sure there were no traces of them on her face because…
Because, today wasn't the day for crying. Today was the happiest day of her life.
Warm smile graced her lips…in few minutes, she will marry the love of her life – Matthew Cooper.