Once upon a time, I hadn’t imagined myself getting married. And even with Erin, it hadn’t felt quite right. Now, with Jules, I couldn’t imagine anything better.
His eyes filled with tears as he nodded. “Yes, but—”
“But?” I asked with a huff of laughter. Leave it to Jules to have conditions.
He pulled me up and into his arms, wrapping me up in a tight hold. “But you need to be sure. Because I want it to be you and me forever, but we said that once before, and… things got confused. I’m not going to let you out of it once we’re married. No take backs.”
I shook my head and grinned. “This is what I get for falling in love with a lawyer. Fortunately, I anticipated this.” I withdrew a tiny notebook from my pocket, along with the ballpoint pen Jules had seen earlier, and opened the cover to the first page. “As you can see, I’ve amended our earlier contract,” I said in my best lawyerly voice.
“You and me. In love. Always,” Julian read in a hushed voice. “Oh. My. God. Parker Ellis, you are the cheesiest, sappiest—” He clapped a hand to his mouth to stifle his half sob as that beautiful blush stole over his features, and his hand gripped the notebook tightly.
“No take backs. Not a shred of doubt or hesitation. Nobody else involved, ever. I’m sure.” I brandished the pen and signed the paper right below the words I’d written. Then I offered him the pen.
He shook his head and took it, grinning while tears formed in his eyes.
I pulled back enough to get a hand into my pocket so I could pull out the ring I’d found yesterday when I’d come up with the idea.
Julian’s eyes widened comically. “You got me a ring, too? Parker.”
“It’s a silicone ring that’s meant for sports. It’s all they had in the hotel shops that wasn’t super-cheesy, but we can get something nicer-mpppff!”
His lips crashed against mine even though his mouth was moving. “Yes. Fuck yes, yes.” He pulled back and scribbled his name below mine on the paper with a trembling hand.
I imagined this paper framed, right beside the other, in our house in Aster Valley. A testament to the way our love had changed and grown but had never faltered… and never would.
I laughed and kissed and held him until I realized his hand holding the ring was crushed between us. “Put it on,” I urged. “I want to see my ring on your finger.”
Julian’s shining eyes looked at me with such love and appreciation, I felt like I could have walked to the moon on my own star power.
He put it on and held it out. His hand was shaking, and his other one was covering his mouth in awe.
“I feel like I can finally breathe,” I admitted, staring at my ring on his finger. “I didn’t know how much I needed you to be my husband until this week, and now…” My throat felt tight, and my voice came out wobbly. “And now I can’t help but think about how close I came to ruining everything.”
“Nothing’s ruined. We’re here. Together.” He gripped my hand but managed a teasing smile. “Your life path and my life path? They’re one and the same path.”
I laughed and sent a quick thought into the universe that I hoped Nolan was doing well, wherever he was. The dumbass had helped ruin my wedding… and inadvertently provided the “enlightenment” that enabled me to find the love of my life. I couldn’t help feeling a little grateful, even though I fervently hoped we’d never see him again.
I scraped my bottom teeth over my top lip. “What if something happens to fuck things up again?”
Julian held the front of my shirt in two fists and shook me gently. “We don’t let it. Let’s get married now. Here. Today.”
I bit my lip and offered him a sheepish grin. “I’m glad you said that because I may have already made some arrangements…”
When the resort wedding coordinator led us out to the beach several hours later, after the sensuous couple’s massage I’d booked, a flirtfest in the sauna, and a decadent seafood lunch during which we discussed the logistics of making a permanent move to Aster Valley, we were dressed in board shorts and T-shirts, my favorite casual wear, at Julian’s insistence. The sun was already slanting at an angle from behind the resort, leaving gold sparkles across the water.
Island music played from the nearby palapa restaurant, but it faded as we moved farther down the beach toward a canopy hung with tropical blossoms. Purple, pink, and white flowers lifted and lowered lazily in the breeze.
Julian squeezed my hand. “I feel a little bad that we’re doing this without our friends and family around, but I also don’t want to share you right now.”