“Returning to our home after everything that happened… it’s something, isn’t it?” I asked Blade as I lay down beside him on our bed.

“Yeah,” he laughed heartily, a few happy tears glistening in his eyes. “Today was really something.”

I laughed with him. Then our eyes met—lingering, locked—like nothing else existed in the room, in the world.

He gently rubbed his palm against my cheek, and with his touch, I felt everything slowly coming back to life. Our laughter ...