15. EARLY

Wow. That was Heavenly.

I woke up nice and early the next day. The gold of the sun shone so brightly, the sky cleared up, birds were singing and the clouds had gone away. Everything was right in the world.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." I heard her beautiful voice right in my ear and I beamed at her. My arms were already wrapped around her body and the covers were pulled over us.

"Morning, beautiful." I brought my lips to hers and kissed her again and again, her hands pressed tight against my cheeks. She finally pulled away with a sigh, her fingers continually stroking the top of my chest before I brought her in closer to me.

"I think we did good. Like, really good." I smirked, pressing my face into her hair.

"Oh, Beau." Her eyes looked away like she was embarrassed but then she smiled again, resting a hand on my cheek.

"I'm proud of you, you know. For trusting yourself with me."

She flashed me the tiniest hint of a smile at that and pulled the covers off my shoulders. No bruises. I chuckled triumphantly on behalf of both me and her and then blushed remembering it all.

But then I heard her let out another sigh, and a tiny crease formed between her brows. As happy as I was and as happy she seemed a minute ago, there was still something else on her mind.

"What's up?" I asked, running my hands down her arms.

"Perhaps I am kind of crazy." She showed a small smile of self-derision, but it slowly morphed into a deeper and deeper frown and she turned towards me. "For wanting you like that. I feel selfish for it." She sighed, eyebrows furrowing. She pressed her cool cheek into my bare chest again, hugging me.

"Well, I know I'm pretty crazy about you."

"The feeling's mutual." she whispered so only I could hear it. But she sounded almost... I don't know, guilty. I kissed her forehead and pulled her even closer to me in order to reassure her that I was alright - way more than alright, honestly. That she made me whole. We were both quiet again.

I held her there for the rest of the morning.

…

My phone rang and vibrated off the kitchen counter, faceplanting into the kitchen floor as I was beating some eggs. Oops. Putting the small bowl of white and yellow down on the table, I lunged for my phone and swiped at the screen.

"Hello?" I quickly answered. It was Archie.

"Hey little bro-in-law!" He cheerfully greeted. "How are things?"

"They're super great, actually." I couldn't hide the smiling tone in my voice. "Everything's awesome. Edythe and I are having a great time." I tried saying that last sentence as non-suggestively as I could.

"Oh, I bet." I could tell he was biting back a smile as he said that.

"Yeah. Edythe said you'd be checking up on us more. I hope everything's alright."

"Yeah, don't worry about it." He said nonchalantly, but I could tell he was putting a little more effort into it.

"You… saw something? In a vision?"

"It – it was nothing. I haven't had it again." He sounded almost confused. "So – Just a few more weeks in Paradise to go, huh? Enjoy it while it lasts." he changed the subject, chuckling to minimize the blow I could tell, and I didn't want to push him.

"Yeah. Hopefully we'll get to hit some of the other beaches around here before then, they're super nice. Maybe go water skiing, or something."

"Man, I wish I could be there to see you give that a shot!" he was laughing now. "But just be careful, alright?" he added more seriously. "You're in good hands though." His voice softened again and I knew he was referring to his little sister. "Alright. Glad everything's okay. Tell Edy I said hi and that I'll be waiting to kick her sorry butt at chess when you guys get back home."

"Will do." I laughed. "See ya, Arch." We hung up and I put my phone down again, taking up the bowl of eggs once more. I was still wondering though at what he could have possibly seen.

"Archie?" Edythe came into the dining room then and crossed over the rubber threshold into the tiled kitchen.

"Yep. And he wants me to tell you he said hi and that he'll be waiting to kick, and I quote, your "sorry butt" at chess when we get back home." I answered her, making sure the "I quote" part was made very clear.

"Ha! Oh, he wishes." She shot back with a gleaming smile and a bright, almost wicked sort of laughter. Thinking back to our marathon of chess rounds, I'd say Archie was the only one who could actually stand a chance against her at all. I won once, and that's only because she felt bad and let me. Edythe was dressed already – a light pink floral dress that went a little down past her knees – and came up to my side, reaching her cool hand up to my cheek and turning my head slightly to kiss my lips.

"Almost forgot. Morning, honey." There she goes with that word again. Today though, it felt oddly… right, I guess? Kind of official, like we've fully established ourselves as a married couple in the establishment of married couples; the good old-fashioned kind, that is. Though I guess there really wasn't anything old-fashioned about us, if you know what I mean. It felt nice though nonetheless. The thought made me smile as I trained my gaze back on the eggs I was whisking. Edythe caught me.

"What are you smiling about over there, Beau?" she asked in a bright, laughing tone.

"Nothing." I shook my head, that smile still stretched out easily across my lips. "Nothing at all."

…

"Let me get this straight – you, Beau Swan, want to go water-skiing?" she asked, narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest in disbelief. I nodded eagerly, putting my empty breakfast plate down in the kitchen sink.

"Well, yeah. It sounds like a lot of fun." She let out a low, silvery chuckle at my answer.

"I suppose I can arrange that." She finally answered, and then a mischievous smile spread slowly across her lips. But just then, the ringing of the landline sounded. She froze, and with hesitant steps and a confused look on her face, Edythe began walking down the hall; towards the phone in our bedroom at human speed, almost as if she didn't want to pick it up. I followed in after her. Her fingers trembled like she was sensing something, but I didn't think her gift worked that way so it surprised me, too. She dashed the receiver from its cradle with one quick movement and held it to her ear.

"Hello?" She started, blinking. "Arch? Slow down – what is it? What's wrong?" There was a sense of panic rising up in her voice. Didn't Archie just call me while I was making breakfast? It couldn't have been more than an hour ago, forty-five minutes, even. Everything was fine. Why was he calling now? My back tensed up and I concentrated on all the expressions flashing across Edythe's face to keep up with the conversation through her – first, I saw the furrowing of her brow. Then, they flicked upwards and her lashes fluttered, her lips pursing in confusion. Suddenly, her eyes flew wide open and her mouth fell agape. She pulled the receiver away from her ear and didn't even say goodbye, slamming it back down on the cradle before grinding the whole thing up into bits of plastic and metal. Before I knew it, she was nothing but a pink and gold blur flying around the room. She was throwing things into our suitcases going through all the rooms in the little beach house. When she was finally still enough for me to see, I saw her push her hair out of her face, zipping up my suitcase. I waited for her to say something; anything. But she didn't.

"Well?" I took her arm. "Can you at least tell me what's going on here?" My voice was frantic now. Was she in danger, too? Could someone – or something – be after Edythe and I? Why did she look so scared?

"We have to leave right now. Get in the boat. We're taking the next plane out of here." She yanked up two of our suitcases and pushed me out the door. She threw our luggage into the backseat and hurriedly helped me into the passenger seat of the boat, the seatbelt clicking loudly into place as she slid in beside me and began the motor. What about the rest of our things? The food in the fridge? Why was she in such a rush?

"You tell me what's going on right now, Edythe." I demanded in a quiet, forceful voice jabbing my finger in a downwards motion in front of me. I was scared now, and I thought I could really use a dose of Jessamine's mood magic.

"Stop talking." She shushed me, putting her finger to my lips. "Archie saw something – you're in danger, Beau, and I can't shake the feeling that it's all my fault." Her voice broke and her lips were quivering. She called someone on the phone – the airline company to buy tickets, I'm guessing – before sliding her phone back into the cupholder. I bit my lip. The thing is, I know Archie saw something earlier but he didn't think it was a big deal at first. Did he see it again, whatever it was, in a new way? Why is he sending us both home early? She sped off, the little beach house getting smaller and smaller behind us and just like that, our honeymoon was over. When we got to the mainland, she hailed another cab and the second we arrived at the airport, Edythe yanked on my arm, her grip tight on my wrist. It hurt, but I didn't say anything about it. I could feel her hand calibrating like a video game console when your character crashed into something so I could tell it took everything in her not to run through that busy airport at anything above human speed. After ducking into baggage claim, she quickly said something in Portuguese to the person working there and together, we sprinted to the airplane gates and finally found our seats.

The hum of the engine taking off roared in my ears, deafening me.