"Dance with me," she heard him say.
Elizabeth was seated at their table in the now empty saloon, her head resting her on her hand. Weddings were long days. From early morning preparations to the afternoon ceremony and then an evening of celebration surrounded by friends. It had been what Rosemary would no doubt refer to for years to come as a glorious day.
Lee, not wanting to rush them, instead wanting to give them some time alone, had asked that they lock up behind him. Nathan was walking back to their table from doing just that, both hands in his pockets, a grin like a Cheshire Cat on his face as he looked at his bride. His one and only. A vision sparkling like the stars in white, her veil trailing to the floor beside her.
Elizabeth, with a dreamy look on her face, watched him return. Her husband. Her great love. Taking one hand out of his pocket, he pulled at his bow tie, letting the ends fall loose from his collar, and then opened the first couple buttons of his shirt. Elizabeth smirked. She knew he'd been wanting to do just that since the moment Rosemary tied it for him before the ceremony.
She took in his new look, untied and unbuttoned. She had told him not that long ago just how distractingly handsome he was in serge or suspenders. She would have to add this look to the list.
Making his way through the tables, he finally got to the one they had shared with Allie and Jack as their head table for their wedding reception. They hadn't just joined their lives and hearts today. They had joined families creating one beautiful, blended family together. Dreams of all that that would mean for the future were never far from any of their minds the past few weeks but now, with their children safely staying with trusted friends, Nathan and Elizabeth were only considering the romance of the moment.
Extending his hand, Elizabeth wordlessly accepted his offer to dance by placing her hand in his. Stepping into the open dance floor together, Nathan twirled her around and then held her close.
And they danced. Music crooned from the radio across the room singing of love and timeless things. Swaying to the rhythm, their thoughts drifted back over the momentous and special day they had shared.
In a way, Nathan felt their wedding day was the destination on a long journey. A journey of timing and trust and love. But in far greater ways, it was a beginning.
The beginning of the life they would share and stories yet to be told together. The beginning of honoring the vows they had made through the seasons of life. The beginning of the kind of romance, connection, and vulnerability only enjoyed in marriage. The beginning of their lifetime commitment to one another for better or worse. The beginning of life as a family of four and hopefully, someday soon, more. He couldn't keep a grin from his face imagining a sweet baby with brown curls and blue eyes.
This day was the first chapter in their lifetime love story with every previous, precious moment only the introduction, the preamble, the prologue. The literary comparison brought a smile to Elizabeth's face.
The song on the radio came to an end. Nathan dipped Elizabeth back, leaving her breathless, and then pulled her to him and kissed her with a lingering kiss filled with the most exquisite mixture of smouldering longing and tender love.
"Why don't we go home, darling?" Elizabeth murmured in his ear.
"Lead the way, Mrs Grant," Nathan replied with a tilt to his head and a small smile, the way he always did when her words affected him.
Elizabeth picked up her simple bouquet of wildflowers in one hand and slipped her other hand into Nathan's much larger hand, interlacing their fingers. Making their way along the dark street under a blanket of stars, they began their walk home. A walk they'd been on for years and yet a walk that was only just beginning. The best was still yet to come.