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." My wife's beautiful voice was right in my ear and I turned around, beaming. To hear her like this in the morning, right beside me, was something special. Beyond my wildest dreams. I wrapped my arms around her, the covers still pulled over us.

"Morning, beautiful." I brought my lips to hers and we kissed again and again, her hands pressed tight to my cheeks. Then she pulled away with a sigh, her fingers continually stroking the top of my chest and feeling the beat of my steady heart, made stronger with her beside me in every sense of the word.

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

"Oh, Beau." She looked away like she was embarrassed but then smiled again, resting a hand on my cheek. Remembering, perhaps, last night the same as I. It still made my face go red enough for the both of us.

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

She pulled the covers off my shoulders. No bruises. I chuckled triumphantly on behalf of both me and her then blushed again as the memory hit more fully. She and I, so intrinsically connected body, mind, and soul. That's what last night felt like to me. And it made me ridiculously happy.

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

"What's up?" I asked, stroking her arm.

"Perhaps I am kind of crazy." She showed me a small smile of self-derision, but it slowly morphed into a deeper and deeper frown. "For wanting you like that. I feel selfish for it." Pressing her cool cheek into my bare chest again, she hugged me tight and I put my hand on the back of her head, kissing her twice.

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

"The feeling's mutual." she whispered, nestling deeper into my chest. But she sounded almost... I don't know, guilty when she said it. I kissed her forehead and pulled her even tighter 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, and I held her there for the rest of the morning.

…

My phone rang, vibrating right off the kitchen counter and faceplanting into the floor while 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, relieved to see it hadn't cracked.

"Hey, Arch." I greeted.

"Hey, little bro-in-law! How are things?"

"They're super great, actually." I couldn't hide the grin 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, since last night was still kind of at the forefront of my mind.

"Oh, I bet." I could tell he was biting back a smile as he said it, so I guess he already knew. And then I cringed when I thought about all the things he possibly could've... um, seen.

"Yeah. Edythe said you'd be checking up on us more. I hope everything's alright." I changed the subject, trying to push past the awkwardness of my prior thought and put my focus on the more serious side of things - what he'd seen earlier to make Edythe so concerned.

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

"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 chuckled, trying to disarm me no doubt. I didn't want to push him, though.

"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 then, and I knew immediately that he was referring to Edythe. "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." I put down my phone and took up the bowl of eggs again, still wondering all the while though what it was he could have possibly seen.

"Arch?" Edythe came into the dining room, crossing over the rubber threshold into the tiled kitchen.

"Yep. He just wanted me to tell you he says hi and that he'll be waiting to kick, and I quote, your "sorry butt" at chess when we get back home." I reported, making sure the "I quote" part was made very clear.

"Ha! Oh, he wishes." she shot back with a gleaming smile. Thinking back to our marathon of chess rounds and my depressingly impressive losing streak, I'd say Arch was the only one who could actually stand a chance against her at all. 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 a little 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. The thought made me smile as I trained my eyes back on the eggs I was whisking.

Edythe caught me. "What are you smiling about over there, Beau?" She laughed.

"Nothing." I shook my head, that easy smile still on my lips. "Nothing at all."

…

"Let me get this straight – you, Beau Swan, want to go water-skiing?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest in disbelief. I nodded eagerly, putting my empty breakfast plate down in the kitchen sink. Ha, there's no way she could possibly think that I was still boring now, can she?

I shrugged. "Well, yeah. It sounds like a lot of fun." And it did, theoretically. She let out a low, silvery chuckle at my response.

"I suppose I can arrange that." she answered, a smile playing up at the corners of her lips.

Then the ringing of the landline sounded.

Edythe froze. With hesitating steps she started down the hall towards the phone in our bedroom at human speed, almost as if she didn't want to pick up. Her outstretched hand 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?" A growing sense of panic rose up in her voice. Didn't Arch 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 body tensed and I concentrated on all the expressions flashing across Edythe's face to keep up with the conversation through her – first, one brow flicked up, and her lips pursed in confusion. Then her eyes flew wide open, her mouth falling agape. Not good. She pulled the receiver away from her ear and didn't even say goodbye, slamming it back down on its cradle and grinding the whole thing up into bits of plastic and metal. Before I knew it, she was nothing but a pink and white blur flying around the place, throwing things into our bags left and right as she went through each room in the little beach house. When she was finally still enough for me to see, she pushed her hair out of her face with one hand and zipped up one final suitcase with the other. 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. 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, throwing our luggage into the backseat and hurriedly helping me into the passenger seat, my seatbelt clicking loudly into place as she slid in beside me and started 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, 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 put a 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." She called someone on the phone – the airline company to buy tickets, I'm guessing – then slid it back into the cupholder. I bit my lip. The thing is, I know Arch 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 so early? Edythe 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 our airplane gate and found our seats.

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