“He swallowed, then looked down at her stomach again. After what seemed like an eternity, he looked back up at her. "Can we name her after my grandma?" Anna started to sob, then nodded and threw her arms around his neck. Griffin smiled, inhaling in a deep breath as he held her back. The rest of the band members glanced at eachother, smiling. Through my own tears and sobs, I heard Matt lean down by Rachel at his side. "One of us should probably tell her that Grandma's name was Myrtle.”

“Abby,” he murmured, lifting a hand to curve around her neck. “I love you.”A sob slipped free and she wrapped her arms around his waist. One of his hands cupped the back of her neck and cuddled her in close.As he bent around her, he whispered, “I’ve loved you so long, I can’t remember what it’s like to not love you. And I’ll go to my grave loving you. You’re my everything.”

“She looked up at him with a smile. The smile broke what was left of his resistance - shattered it. He had let the walls down when he'd thought she was gone, and there was no time to build them back up. Helplessly he pulled her against him. For a moment she clung to him tightly, warm and alive in his arms. Her hair brushed his cheek. The color had come back into the world; he could breathe again, and for that moment he breathed her in - she smelled of salt, blood, tears, and Tessa.”

“Open your eyes.”Julia looked up into a pair of blue orbs that were startlingly clear and very emotional, but she could not decipher the emotions. He smiled and pressed his lips to her forehead again before rolling onto his back and gazing up at the stars.“What are you thinking?” She shifted herself so that she was curled up at his side, close to but not touching him with her body.“I was thinking about how I waited for you. I waited and waited, and you never came.” He smiled at her sadly.“I’m sorry, Gabriel.”“You’re here now. Apparuit iam beatitudo vestra.”“I don’t know what that means.” She sounded shy.“It means now your blessedness appears. But really, it should be now my blessedness appears. Now that you’re here.” He pulled her closer, snaking his arm beneath her neck and down to her waist where he splayed his hand, fingers wide, at the small of her back. “For the rest of my life, I’ll dream of hearing your voice breathe my name.”

“What is your name?' she asked.The youth ignored her, lowering his eyelids against the sun. She repeated her question. Again he ignored her, so she touched his arm, and he turned his head and looked at her, suddenly back from his own world, his eyes wary, half afraid. But he saw no anger in her; only the stains of tears, and an awful despair. His face changed, and a look of profound sorrow and compassion came over him. Very slowly he lifted his hand and wiped the tears from her cheeks. No other man could have touched her that morning; but the mad youth, with his extraordinary tenderness, gave such a depth of consolation that she found herself leaning her cheek against his hand, and sobbing. He wept with her, and there wove between them an understanding, a unity deep and poignant and powerful.”

“She grabbed her clutch bag and circled her arms around his neck. "Caulder McCutchen, I'm really not sure what you are."He lifted his head and looked down at her, squinted. "I'm a man. Enough said?"Velia smiled and looped her arm through his. "Yes, sir. Shall we go?”