“It’s so beautiful,” she whispers. “I love you so much.”
“I love you too, baby. You’re my entire world.”
I pull her into my arms and then we’re kissing again, our hands roaming over each other. I sweep her up once again and carry her through our home. Now that I know she’s going to be my wife, I have one last gift for her. The thing we’ve both been waiting for.
I’m going to give her the best night of her life…
EPILOGUE
A MONTH LATER…
Tara
When Nate told me that he had an idea of where we could get married, I wasn’t expecting him to say in Greece. I just assumed I’d get married on my home turf, but that was before I found my fiancé.
And when Nate suggested Greece, I definitely wasn’t opposed to the idea. I know a lot of people don’t like destination weddings because a lot of their guests aren’t able to make it, but I don’t really have anyone that I care about to show up at my wedding. The only people I need are my dad and Nate himself.
So I guess in the end, getting married in Santorini has turned out to be perfect. I get to be married in the sun, wearing a gorgeous white lace dress, walking barefoot on the beach. My dad is here to walk me down the aisle, which is a trail of beautiful flowers laid out and leading to a flower arch, where Nate will be waiting for me to say our vows.
We don’t need a thousand witnesses. We don’t even need one.
All we need is each other.
It’s not long until the wedding begins. I’m standing in my hotel room, adjusting my veil. My dad is with me, his eyes misty as he watches his daughter prepare for her wedding.
He sniffs a little and says, “I wish your mother could see you now.”
I feel tears spring to my eyes and I take his hand.
“Me too. But I’m glad you’re here. I wasn’t sure you’d want to be here.”
“Of course, I want to be here,” Dad tells me, squeezing my hand back. “I know that I haven’t been overly enthusiastic about this partnership, but I’ve started to see why it’s so important to you. I see how much you love one another. I see how happy you’ve been since you met him. And because of that, it gets easier every day to move past my prior prejudices. I’m sorry that I made you feel like I didn’t support you. I love you, and I love Nate too. I’m glad to be accepting him into our family…I guess I just never thought it would happen.”
“Me neither. But I’m glad this is how things turned out,” I admit.
A few months ago, I wasn’t sure I’d ever find someone to love me just the way I am. I was disheartened by the men I met, the ones who seemed to dismiss me without even a second glance. They couldn’t see past my curves, past the shape of my body. They thought I wasn’t worthy of them because I’m bigger than other women.
But I don’t care about that kind of thing anymore. Not since Nate showed me how to love. My handsome hunk of a man changed everything for me. He proved to me that I’m worthy of a good man’s love. He proved to me that I’m special, that I’m a good person, that I’m beautiful, inside and out.
I guess I would have figured that out for myself eventually, but he sped up the process. He made me feel comfortable in my skin. And that’s a gift that every woman deserves from their love.
“Are you ready?” my dad asks. I give a swift nod without hesitation, ready to head down to the beach and marry the love of my life.
“I’m definitely ready.”
The sun is beaming down on us and the beach looks beautiful, set up for my special day. The waves lap gently at the shore and there are flowers everywhere. But none of that really matters. What matters is that Nate is waiting for me, looking so handsome in his white dress shirt and slacks. I can barely believe that he’s mine, that he’s going to promise to be mine for the rest of our lives.
How did I get so damn lucky?
He smiles at me as I walk toward him and I grin back. Everything is falling into place. I feel like I’m walking through a daydream as I approach him, like I’m walking through clouds. I’m so high on my happiness that I feel like I’m drunk.
This is how it should be. This is how marriage should always be.
Nate takes my hands in his and we watch one another as the ceremony begins. I watch the love in his eyes, seeming to grow with every passing second. It’s still hard to believe that all that love belongs to me now.