“Mom, guess what?” Tina came bounding across the living room to where Quinn and Elena stood sipping white wine spritzers and arranging the last of the canapés on a tray. Wedding canapés, Quinn had called them, which meant there were towering pieces of shrimp and several different meat products reduced to a baby-food-like texture. Elena had tried one of the latter and decided to stick to the booze for the rest of the party. “Daddy and Samar said I can go up in the helicopter with Carrie tomorrow. Can you believe it? A helicopter!”

Quinn and Elena shared a look of mutual horror, which they quickly quashed down before Tina noticed. Elena had seen the helicopter piloted by the fearless Carrie Richardson. It was very small and very full of hazards. If you asked her, anything that required over a hundred buttons and levers to fly should probably stay on the ground where it belonged.

But “Oh, did they?” was all Elena offered.

“How accommodating of them” was Quinn’s contribution.

“And I only had to ask thirty-three times!” Tina said, happily oblivious to anything but the proffered treat. “When I grow up, I’m going to be a helicopter pilot, too.”

“I thought you were going to be a skydiver,” Elena said.

“Oh, I’m sure I’ll have to jump out of the helicopter sometimes. Before it crashes, you know.” Tina looked down at the tray of food with a grimace. “Do I have to eat any of those? They look disgusting.”

“It’s your father and Elena’s wedding, Tina. Of course you have to eat some. Otherwise you’ll hurt their feelings.”

“Will it still hurt their feelings if I promise to eat two pieces of cake instead?”

Elena smothered a laugh and let Quinn handle the situation. There were lots of nice things about this co-parenting thing, but her favorite had to be handing over the tricky etiquette questions to Quinn.

It had taken about a year to get all the kinks worked out, but they had a pretty good system overall. Quinn preferred to be in charge of manners. Samar was excellent at homework help. Max indulged Tina in all exploits that had the potential to end in broken bones. And Elena…?

Well, she mostly just gave hugs when they were needed. And always had a cup of hot cocoa waiting.

Quinn clucked her tongue as Tina scampered back to the circle surrounding Max, composed mostly of Elena’s sisters and Max’s search and rescue friends. Between the ceremony at the courthouse that morning and the well-wishers crowding the small house she and Max shared, they’d barely had any time to themselves yet.

Elena didn’t mind. A house full of people who loved them was exactly how she wanted to spend her wedding day. Besides, they had the whole rest of their lives to spend alone together.

“I swear, Samar is growing as reckless as Max these days,” Quinn said. “Not—” she added quickly “—to say that’s a bad thing. I just mean that Tina has him absolutely wrapped around her little finger. He’d probably go up in the helicopter himself if she asked.”

Elena heaved a mock sigh. “Weak, that’s what they are. A pout and a sniffle, and they’re done for.”

“Yes, well.” Quinn squared her stance and hefted the tray of snacks. “It’s a good thing Tina has us to impose some order. Go on, then. Don’t stand around chatting with me. I’m sure you’d much rather be at your husband’s side.”

“But don’t you want me to help…?” Elena looked over the massive amounts of food Quinn had insisted she wanted to make for the party.

I want you to consider the food a gift, Quinn had said. For making our little family complete.

A year ago, the idea of Quinn calling Elena and Max family might have seemed outrageous, but they’d all come a long way since then. Mostly because Elena had forced everyone to sit down and actually talk about their feelings…and their fears. It was amazing how therapeutic a few hours of honest conversation could be.

“No, I do not.” Quinn gave her a nudge. “And under no circumstances are you to wash a single dish tonight. Samar, Tina, and I will come over in the morning and take care of it. You two are under strict orders to enjoy your honeymoon.”

“Did someone say honeymoon?” Max asked, drawing up behind Elena and wrapping his arms around her waist. The gesture had become a familiar one, comforting in ways that scared the crap out of her. At any moment she could lose this man, so strong and wonderful, as much a part of her as her own limbs.

It was scary, this love stuff. But then, most of life was. That didn’t make it any less worth living.

“Are you sure you don’t mind that we aren’t going anywhere exciting?” Elena asked. Air travel would never be an option for her, and there had been too many train de-railings lately to make a more sedate method of travel palatable, so they’d settled on a five-star hotel right in the middle of town. All of the luxury, none of the fear.

“I’ll gladly go anywhere—and nowhere—with you,” Max said, the words whispered into the side of her neck. It was a good thing Quinn had hurried off in the direction of their guests, because he lingered at the nape of her neck much longer than was seemly in such a public place. “We’ve got six days and nights of just you, me, a king-sized bed, and endless reruns of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”

She would have jumped and whirled on him in protest, but he anticipated her with a squeeze. “Life with you will always be an adventure, Elena. And it’s one I’m looking forward to with all my heart.”

“You’re just saying that because you have that Matterhorn trip lined up for next month,” she teased.

“No.” He turned her so they were face to face. He kissed her with slow, careful deliberation, heedless of the catcalls Ace sounded in the distance. “I’m saying it because it’s true. You taught me what it means to be generous and brave. You taught me what it means to love. The only problem is that I have no idea what you get from me in return.”

“You mean other than the most gorgeous silver fox to walk on two legs?” She laughed and twined her arms around his neck, kissing him right back. “You accept me, Max. You see me for who I am. You make me strong.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Elena. You’ve always been strong.” He pressed his forehead against hers and held her tight. “And now we get to be even stronger together.”