Edge of the Heat 4 Read Online Free Page B

skyward. This was her wedding day and she didn’t want to feel anxious. Why did she ever say she would write her own vows? Emma looked away from the minister, hoping to relax a little. She looked into the audience and saw over 200 people, all of them looking directly at her. She tore her eyes quickly from her audience and looked at Craig.
    He stood tall and strong and slightly smiling, gazing at her like she was a precious flower or a beautiful butterfly. Immediately the invisible hand squeezing her throat lightened its grip, and she smiled back. The minister said something to Craig, then his best man stepped forward and gave him a notecard. Craig looked at it, then began talking, staring into Emma’s eyes.
    “Emma, I wanted to get up here and say something special. Something that would convince you of exactly how I feel about you. I love you seems so inadequate. I do love you of course, but more than that, I adore you. I am in awe of you. I thirst to be near you. When I wake up, you are the first thought my mind flies to, and before I go to sleep all I care about is if you are happy. So I sat down and tried to write you a poem. But I’m not a poet. So then I tried to find a poem that said all of that. But nothing I found seemed true to me. So finally, I just decided I had to try my best to get you to understand how I feel about you. I know that with your sweet strength and your loving energy by my side, nothing will be insurmountable. I thank the stars every day for your love and I promise to do my best to be everything you need from today until the day I die.”
    Craig’s words washed over Emma like a warm ocean wave. The intensity of them seared into her brain. Craig was a solid, strong rock who said I love you easily and freely, but he was not prone to sharing feelings like this. Her heart filled to bursting with love for this man. She’d been so worried about what she was going to say to him that she hadn’t given any thought to what he was going to say to her. And then he said something so ... sweet, and lovely that she was blown away. Emma felt herself tear in two little pieces inside. One balled up and cried at how wonderful her fiance - her almost-husband - was, and at how lucky she was to have him. The other piece stood taller and stronger and basked in his words and tried to be worthy of them.
    She took that second piece of herself and nurtured it, fed it, turned it to the light of his gaze. She could cry later. Right now she was going to be the woman he thought she was.
    He gently grasped her hand and slipped a ring on her finger. With it, she felt the weight of every promise they’d ever made to each other, but it was light and comforting.
    The minister inclined his head towards her, “Emma.”
    She nodded. Jerry stepped closer to her and handed over her notes. She held them in both hands but didn’t look at them. She knew what she wanted to say now.
    “Craig. A lot of people here today don’t know how we got together. They don’t know that you saved my life.” She turned toward her audience. Toward the rows and rows of people looking at them. She felt calm, serene.
    “While I was working one day, I fell off of a roof. Craig was there. He scaled a drainpipe to get down to me. I wasn’t breathing. He moved me gently onto my back and blew his own breath into me until I started breathing again. He was my hero that day, and he’s been a hero to me every day since then.” Emma turned back to Craig, handed her notes to Jerry, and took Craig’s hands in hers.
    “Craig, we are great together. I know exactly what you meant when you said nothing would be insurmountable . That’s how I feel about you too. I love how you take care of me. I love how you are always, always there for me. I love how our love has done nothing but grow since the day you swore to me you would never let me go. You are an amazing man, one who is equally open to the beauty and danger in life. One who sees the good in people more