Page 112 of Mountain Void

“You’re monopolizing your wife’s time,” a voice said behind them. “That’s no way to start a marriage. Charlie, a dance?”

“She doesn’t want to dance with you, Ry,” Lorenz said.

She didn’t want to dance with anyone but Lorenz, and Lorenz wasn’t going to be doing any dancing today.

“You’re a real grump, you know?”

“You’re only just noticing?” Alex asked, laughing.

Across from them, Beau stood. At least his eyes were dry now. “Alright,” he announced. “Before these two disappear … Champagne.”

Everyone reached for their glasses. Hugo reached for two and handed one carefully to Jo.

“To Charlie and Lorenz. Who’ve taken a complicated route up the mountain … and ended up exactly in the right place.”

Charlie locked eyes with Terry and Carmen. The two women who’d always had her back looked like they were fighting tears as they raised their glasses to her.

“I love you,” Terry mouthed.

Charlie lifted her glass. The champagne was cold and dry, because if her adoptive country knew how to do anything, that was champagne. But she barely tasted it. Her attention kept drifting back to Lorenz. To the fact that every time someone called her his wife, he smiled, showing those not-often-seen dimples of his.

“You’re drifting away,” Lorenz said in a low voice. “Does that mean it’s time to go?”

He lifted her hand, pressing a kiss against the inside of her wrist.

A small, intimate touch that made heat rush through her.

Maybe it was time to leave.

Charlie looked around the room once more, trying to hold on to every detail. The soft spring light. The crumbs from pastries on the white tablecloth. Charlie found herself smiling.

“Take me away, Lorenz,” Charlie said, placing her hand in his larger one.

“With great pleasure.”