Chapter 7 - The New Beginning
Three years later.
The Valente Estate in Long Island was no longer a guarded fortress with red floodlights and high-security checkpoints.
The heavy iron gates stood open to the sunshine. The dark perimeter walls had been replaced by blooming white rose bushes and rolling green lawns where children played.
Today was a special day.
Under a grand white canopy set up on the ocean-facing lawn, two hundred guests gathered for the wedding of Ezra Valente and Lena Carver.
Lena walked down the aisle looking breathtaking in an elegant ivory gown, her short hair styled with small white orchids. Walking beside her as her maid of honor was thirteen-year-old Rosie, beaming with pure happiness.
Serving as the official ring bearer was fourteen-year-old Brutus, wearing a silk black bowtie around his thick neck, trotting proudly down the aisle with two silver bands attached to a velvet pouch on his collar.
When Lena reached the altar, Ezra took her hands in his.
"Three years ago," Ezra said, his voice deep and thick with emotion, "a brave woman stood in the middle of a marble lobby and declared that she would not let a child stand alone. She saved my daughter. She saved my soul. She brought light back into a house that had been dark for far too long."
Lena wiped a tear from her cheek, smiling radiantly. "And three years ago, a little girl and her dog showed me that I didn't have to be alone anymore either. I found my family."
The pastor smiled, looking at the couple. "By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife."
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The crowd erupted into joyous applause!
Ezra pulled Lena into a passionate, tender kiss, while Rosie threw rose petals into the air and Brutus let out a loud, happy bark that carried over the sound of the ocean waves!
