I watched as she pulled a long satin sash out of the dresser drawer and handed it to me. The others had already slipped downstairs, taking Violet with them so we could be alone. If everything went according to plan, our daughter would be playing the music that would lead us out to the garden where the minister waited. I could hear Harry’s rambunctious kids playing in the grass and smiled.

I took the sash from her hands and slipped it around her waist, using it to pull her close. Her breasts spilled over the top of her gown, growing more and more luscious by the day. I buried my face in her scent… the scent I loved so much, her hair… her neck… “I’m using this later, you know,” I warned her, my voice low and thick with desire. I tied it around her waist, looping it into a bow and letting the ends trail down in back.

“I’m counting on it,” she breathed, biting into my lip until I wanted to gather up her skirt and take her right there… “And then I’ll be using it on you,” she said, through her teeth. “You made me beg, sweetheart… And one good turn always deserves another…”

“Now I’m counting on it,” I breathed back as she let me go. “You’ve answered every prayer… given me every dream…,” I said, holding her, touching her, almost unable to believe she was real. “There isn’t anything more I could ever want more than this moment… than having you in my arms, Angel. I’ll spend the rest of my life showing you what you mean to me.” I held her face between my palms and kissed her like the precious gift she was. “If I can make you happy, our children happy… I’ll be the happiest, the luckiest man alive.”

And she smiled at me as the music started. I watched her eyes sparkle… as the song began to register. I could see it on her face that she recognized it. I nodded, and swept her off her feet and into my arms.

“Oh my God… It’s the piece from the hospital,” she said, looking up at me, her arms around my neck. “The one you hummed to her… and she remembers it…

It’s the song that brought her back to us…”

We’d planned for Violet to stand between us. But she’d continued to play throughout the ceremony instead.

It had been short and beautiful. We had said our own vows, spoken straight from the heart. And Violet played very softly while we were speaking. She looked, not at us, but out over the water… as if she was miles away.

I remembered little after the I do’s… except for the color of Angel’s eyes and the love that shined out from them. Every time I realized anew that my child was inside her, growing larger and stronger every day, I loved her more. And I knew, that if every man had the chance to feel this way, even once in his whole life, it would be the end of violence, of hatred, of war. Because man wasn’t made to hurt or to destroy. He was made to love… the way I loved Angel. And he was meant to protect those he loves… the way I would protect my family to the end of my days. I saw… truly saw… beneath the surface for the very first time. And I was both strengthened and humbled by what I found there… In a quiet, private moment, I stood with my wife in my arms, close to our daughter, and looked out over the water, too.

“Why blue,” I asked, turning her to face me, turning the satin of her sash in my fingers. “It was always a pink sash for us…”

Violet stopped playing and came over to where we stood. She raised her arms up to me, and I shot a questioning look at her mother. This had never happened before…

Angel’s eyes were wide with wonder as I leaned down and picked up our little girl. She was light as a feather. Delicate looking, like her mother, but I knew the true strength underneath…

She wrapped her arms around my neck and looked at my face for a long time. She looked to her mother, and back to me. She touched her own dark hair and then put her little fingers to mine, as if she was putting the puzzle together. She pointed to her mother’s lovely eyes, sparkling with unshed tears, and touched her fingertip to her own face.

“Blue eyes,” I said, almost unable to manage the words. “You have dark hair like Daddy… and blue eyes like your mother…” My voice cracked in sweet, sweet pain. “Because you’re part of us, Violet. Because we made you out of love.”

“And my sash is blue… for little boys,” Angel said, wiping her cheek with the back of her hand. “Because Mommy and Daddy have made a baby brother for you, sweetheart.”

And the love I felt, already more than I could contain, spilled out in laughter and gratitude and tears. It was reflected back in Angel’s eyes… the promise of the night ahead of us, and the future that spread wide and far beyond.

Violet watched us both, her wise eyes shifting between us. She could feel, I was sure, the emotion… and in her own way she was struggling to understand… She pointed a finger out toward the ocean, the question showing in her eyes.

“Yes, sweetheart,” Angelina said, “blue is for water, too.”

I smiled, love and pride bursting from my chest. “Blue is for water… and for my son,” I said to her. “He’ll be your little brother, Violet, and you’ll be his big sister. We’ll take care of him, you and I, because it’s our job. The way you take care of Miri, and Mommy takes care of you…”

She stared at the water for a long time and pointed her finger again. I started to give her the word she wanted… but she pursed her lips and took in a breath… I held mine…

“Boo,” she said softly.

I looked from her to her mother’s streaming face. Violet shifted her eyes to her mother’s face and pointed again…

She smiled in the gentlest way, as if she was still very far away and inhaled softly, almost like the sound of a sigh, or a wave breaking the surface… Her finger turned away from the ocean,

and reached out for her mother’s wet cheek and luminous blue eyes…

“... Mah… mma…”