She was watching the colors as they revealed the beauty of the world around them. The forest. The water. The greens and browns all waking up, all saluting the new day. There would never be one just like this. This day was unique and special, as were the days before and the ones that would come after. Her future spread before her filled with light and love, struggle and triumph, and most of all this amazing family built from both blood and those she’d chosen. “Because it’s so beautiful?”

“Nothing is more beautiful than you, ma crevette. And we’re going to work on your French. Say good morning, Lisa. Or as we say it, bonjour.”

She gasped as she realized what he was talking about. They weren’t alone. Not even close. They came from out of the ground, from the branches of trees where they’d hidden for the night, from under logs and rocks. They rose with the dawn, their wings spreading as though joy had suffused each small creature.

Butterflies.

Her world filled with wonder as thousands of the things took flight, ready for the day. They took off, circling for a moment as though saying hello or dancing to greet the sun before they swept up and scattered, taking their beauty to the world.

“Papillon means butterfly,” Remy said, wonder in his voice. “I wanted to share this with you. I’ve been here with my brother and sister, but never a woman. The next woman I bring out here will be our daughter. This is their migration time. Every year they come back here. They always know their way home.”

His arms were around her and there was only one more thing that could make this perfect, that could bring them closer. “Tell me what’s going through your head right now, Remy.”

“Here,” he said, whispering the words in her ear because they were meant for her alone. She’d figured that out. Those glorious poems that ran through his head were for the two of them. “It is here we rise. Here on this spongy earth, where water and land mingle. Here, where the trees rise from the bayou and not flat dirt. Here we are born. Oh, our story might begin somewhere else, the once upon a time happening in a kingdom of concrete and neon. But happily ever after starts here. This is where two decide to become one. Where that odd one will multiply to three and four. Where the whisper of soulmates starts a new generation. Here on this soil, this soul we share, here where the butterflies live—we begin.”

Tears blurred her vision, but she didn’t need sight. She rested her head against his chest and let those words of his fill her soul as the butterflies danced around her. She could feel their beauty as they welcomed her home.

Butterfly Bayou was a magical place.

Epilogue

Broken Bend, TX

18 months later