Tears well up in my eyes, I can barely contain myself. I have so much that I need to say now but he’s stripped the wind from me. Those words might be almost the traditional vows but hearing them from his mouth is lovely.
“I should have gone first,” I joke thickly through the emotion. “I don’t know if I can get through this now.” Zane squeezes my hands, reassuring me that I can do anything. “Okay, Zane, I hope to be the best wife that I can be for you, be there for you through everything as well. Everything that we’ve been through up until this point has been an adventure, and I can’t wait to start on the next part of it. Not just the two of us…”
I slide my hand away from him and rub my belly, looking at him expectantly. This seemed like the best way to do this at the time, but as he gives me a blank look back I’m not so sure. He doesn’t seem to get it like I thought he would.
“Zane, I’m pregnant,” I spell it out. “We’re going to have a baby.”
“We are?” His eyes widen with a happy shock. “Are you serious?”
&n
bsp; “I am. We’re going to be parents.”
He grabs me and kisses me, way before he’s been told that he can, and I join in gleefully. I’m so happy about the news and I knew that he’d be thrilled too, but to see him this joyful is awesome. I cannot wait for our family to grow even bigger.
“We’re going to have a baby.” He rubs my belly softly with me. “I can’t believe it.”
“Okay, well now it’s time for the exchanging of rings,” the officiant announces, trying to regain control of this ceremony. “Who has them?”
Clara pulls out the boxes of rings and hands them to me and Zane. This time, the ring isn’t a surprise, we picked them out together, but I’m still just as excited as I was at the top of the Eifel Tower. Wow, that was something else!
“The ring is an unbroken circle of love, it has no beginning and no end, just like your feelings for one another.” He waits as we slide the rings onto each other’s hands. “Use these rings as a reminder of your commitment to one another, to keep the pair of you together.”
Then Clara hands each of us a box of sand. This is a traditional Hawaiian thing that we wanted to include in our own ceremony. The officiant guides us as we pour both of our boxes into one, mingling the sand together, mixing our love together. It’s sweet and fun, I love it. I hope they let us take the box of sand home, so I can always keep it.
“Today, you have pledged your aloha to one another, you have exchanged rings and blended the sand. Now it is up to you to take care of each other and your marriage. You have to be the ones with your eye on the ball, making sure that one another is okay. Treat your marriage like it’s something precious between your fingers that you cannot let go of no matter what.”
I know that I’ll take care of Zane forever and I’m very confident that he will as well. He’s always been there for me, he’s been the only person to make me feel safe.
“I love you, Zane,” I half whisper. “You have no idea so much.”
“I love you too.”
“I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Zane dips me down low and kisses me, causing everyone around us to whoop with joy. This little ceremony on some remote beach in Hawaii with only the most important people in our lives beside us is the best thing I could have asked for. I don’t need a big show with everyone around us, strangers staring at me as I make the biggest mistake of my life, this is everything I want and more.
Zane told me that he once saw me as a damsel in distress but then I grew into his princess. I absolutely love that because with him I’ve grown into something much more powerful and I know that I will continue to do so. Every day I will only get better, with his support.
This, right here, is the happy ending I never thought I would find, that I didn’t think I deserved, that I know I’m lucky to have. I love everything about this life that my new family has created for me, they are all incredible.
Clara rushes towards us first, followed by the rest of the guests. They wrap their arms around us and mutter their congratulations into our ears, for the baby as well as the marriage which I kept as a surprise from everyone. I’m sure I’ll get it in the neck from Clara for that at some point, but I hope she eventually understands why I had to do it this way. I soak in their happiness and add it to my own, building on what I already have. It really is going to be a wonderful future, and I can’t wait for it.
* * *
I hope you enjoyed the story. In case you missed reading Book 1 (Burning with Lust) and Book 2 (City of Sin) in “The Vegas Men Series”, then you can enjoy their Sneak Peaks on the following pages!
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25
Sneak Peak: City of Sin
Commitment - I hate the damn word,
That’s since my ex walked out on me.
Not even looking back at our son,