Anchors

By Laura Schiller

Based on: The Matched Trilogy

Copyright: Ally Condie

Prompt 14: Cuff Links

On the day before their wedding, Lei presents Xander with a pair of cuff links, each featuring a white symbol on a blue background. He smiles softly as she fastens them to his shirt.

"My father gave me something like these once," he says. "For my seventeenth birthday. The Officials took them away a few weeks later."

She touches his arm in sympathy, knowing how much he still misses his family.

"They're anchors," she explains. "Like the weights that sailors used to keep their ships from being blown off course."

"You really love the water, don't you?"

"I really love you." She leans against his shoulder, turning with him to stand by the window of their cottage. "You're my anchor. If it weren't for you, after Vick died, I might have drifted away."

"That's how I feel about you," he murmurs into her soft black hair.

Together in the morning light, they watch the waves caressing the shore.