“Dahlia, what are you doing? You’re going to get soaked.”

“Taking my shoes off.”

“I can see that. Why?” But I already know why. God, I f**king love her.

“Because, silly, I want to jump in the puddles,” I say, right along with her. I clearly remember the day I watched her do this very same thing and just as I did then, I watch her with amazement and wonder.

And as the raindrops turn into tiny wishing wells gathering all around her, the same overwhelming urge to grant this girl her every wish doesn’t terrify me anymore. I now know the connection we share can never be broken—I know without a doubt that I will be her happily ever after.

After she jumps from puddle to puddle, she closes her eyes and raises her arms out to the side. She tips her head back and spins in circles as I join her. When I hear the band cue up the song I selected for our dance, I draw her in close to me and rest my fingers on her hips. Taking her face in my hands, I kiss her hard. She wraps her arms around my neck and I feel lost in her, lost in her touch, her soul, her love. But it’s not a kind of lost where you want to be found.

Slowing down, I never break our kiss as I concentrate on making sure it conveys how much I truly love her. When she starts to quiver I lean back and just stare at her—she’s everything I have ever wanted, everything I need. Pulling her body close enough to mine so that our h*ps are cradled together, I start swaying to the music and ask, “Beautiful girl, will you dance with me?”

She smiles at me, nodding her head. Looking at her now, I know I will always give her a reason to smile. She deserves that. As the song “Waiting for a Girl Like You” starts to play, we surround each other. We rock back and forth and I sing the lyrics to my wife, the words that are so perfectly fitting for the way I feel about her.

When the song ends, I slide my nose to her ear and whisper, “A long time ago, I wished for you and now I have you. See . . . wishes really do come true even if you tell someone your wish.”

Standing in the pouring rain, I place my hand behind her neck and gather her in close to me. When her lips meet mine, we kiss with a passion that only she has ever made me feel and it’s exhilarating and mind-blowing at the same time. Sliding my hands down her bare back, I look into her eyes and this time I ask, “What did you wish for just now?”

With her hands tangled in my hair she says, “Only for you, always. You’re the only thing I want to wish for. From the day I met you my life changed . . . the way you make me feel can’t be put into words. You make me smile in a special kind of way . . . you brighten my world . . . you make me fall more in love with you every day. I love you forever, I love you more, River Wilde. You turned my life into a fairy tale and I don’t need to wish for anything else as long as I have you.”

Her words sear me; just knowing she feels like that makes me shiver. With my hands pressed against the bare spot on her back I tell her, “That’s one wish I guarantee is granted. I love you, Dahlia Wilde. You turned my life from ordinary to extraordinary. You’re perfect, really.”