It’s our third trip to the bridal store when we finally find a gown that I love. It’s a sleek lace column dress, strapless and with just enough looseness through the waist to hide the tiny baby bump that’s started to appear. It has a soft pink grosgrain ribbon around the waist, which makes me laugh, thinking of the ribbon on the waist of the dress my mother had me pick out for the gala, what feels like so long ago. All of it feels like a dream now, like another life, and I’m glad.
This is the life I want, even if I could have never dreamed that it would really come to pass.
The day of our wedding dawns bright and sunny, a gorgeous warm Boston day in mid-June. The gloom of my early days here let up weeks ago, and Niall teases me often about how I’d believed I wouldn’t have another sunny day. Now it’s shining as I stand in the bedroom while Ana helps me with my dress, looking in the full-length mirror at one side of the room.
Liam had offered the grounds of the McGregor estate for our wedding, or any other place we might want to use, but Niall and I had both insisted we wanted to have the wedding here. No matter that it would seem quaint to the Kings’ families who would come, only a few of them close enough to Niall to be present, we wanted our wedding to feel like the beginning that it is, in the same place where Niall asked me to be his wife.
Ana leaves my hair mostly loose the way Niall likes it, pulling back just the front and securing it with a sapphire comb in the back. She hands me the bouquet we picked out, a spray of red roses, daises and anemone flowers, and watches as I touch the gemstone necklace at my throat, thinking of how different this is than the wedding day I might have had, if Niall had never come for me.
Most days, thoughts of Diego and what happened to me would make me feel panicky and shaky, but today it just reminds me of how far I’ve come, of how lucky I am. I’m here, free and safe, and the man I love loves me in return. I hadn’t meant for Niall to be more than a temporary escape in the beginning, but he’d turned out to be my savior in the end.
Max and Niall are waiting under the big tree in the backyard, chairs set up for the less than twenty guests in attendance. Ana leads me to the end of the stone path that will serve as the “aisle,” squeezing my hand and giving me a smile before going to join Liam in the front row where he’s sitting, holding Brigit.
The moment Niall sees me, his face lights up, and my heart soars. We’d gone to the church together on our first wedding evening, and I thought I’d never have this moment, standing at the end of an aisle looking at the man I’m going to marry. Once upon a time I hadn’t looked forward to it, but after I fell in love with Niall it became something I wanted more than anything else in the world.
I barely hear the music as I walk towards him, caught up in the look on his face. I notice as I walk that there’s others here that I hadn’t known would come—Caterina and Viktor and their children, Sasha, and a handsome couple I don’t recognize sitting next to them, a tall dark-haired man and a gorgeous dark-haired woman holding a baby. Saoirse and Connor declined the obligatory invitation, claiming they needed to be at home with the new baby, but Niall and I were both glad. Connor’s presence would have been a nice sign that he’d accepted our relationship, but Saoirse’s presence would have only made things awkward.
But mostly, my eyes are only for Niall. We’d asked Max to do the ceremony, since we’d already been married by an ordained priest, and he’d happily agreed. Now, as I walk towards Niall, all I can see is the man I love standing there in the dark grey suit he’d picked out. He hadn’t let me see what he was wearing with it, and I have to stifle a laugh when I see his red tie.
Red is always going to be our favorite color.
The moment I’m standing in front of Niall, he reaches up, brushing a lock of hair away from my cheek. “You look beautiful,” he murmurs, and I feel tears well up in my eyes all over again—but happy ones, this time.
Max clears his throat, smiling at us both. “Dearly beloved,” he begins, glancing over us to the small gathered crowd, and then back at Niall and I again. “We are here to celebrate the love between Niall and Isabella, a love that was hard-fought for and hard-won, but which I have no doubt will stand the test of time. We ask couples to commit to each other ‘for better or for worse,’ and Niall and Isabella have already endured so much, together and separately, of what can be worse in this world. Today, we celebrate a new future for them, one where they can hope and strive for the better, as they renew their vows to each other.” He glances between us. “I think the two of you have something prepared?”
Niall laughs, reaching down to take my hands in his. “When I met you, Isabella, I knew so little about you—not even your name. What we had was something bright and beautiful, and I thought it would burn out quickly, because nothing as incredible as what I felt with you could last.” He takes a deep breath. “I ran from it for too long, and I will spend my whole life making that up to you. I thought I was a man who could never be afraid of anything, and I was. But here, today, in front of all the people who matter to me and to us, I want to recommit myself to you. I want you to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I will love and honor and cherish you, protect you and desire you, for the rest of our lives—however long or short that may be.”
His hands tighten around mine as I feel a tear drip down my cheek, and I look at the man I love more than anything else in the world, feeling my heart race in my chest.
“I thought what we had was only for a brief, beautiful moment too,” I tell him softly, almost too quietly for anyone but us to hear. “I thought I would have something with you that I would remember for the rest of my life, but I never expected to be so lucky as to haveyoufor the rest of it. I never, in my wildest dreams, believed that I would be standing here with you on a day like today, in a place like this, hearing you tell me that you will love me for the rest of my life. It means more to me than I can possibly tell you, but I promise you today that I will spend the rest of my life trying to find the words to explain how much I love and adore you, how glad I am to have found you, and how incredibly glad I am that you will be the father of our child. I love you, Niall Flanagan—and I always will.”
Niall’s eyes are full of tears too as he looks down at me, his face full of more happiness than I’ve ever seen. Max starts to speak, and for a moment neither of us realize that he’s started to say the rest of the vows, we’re so caught up in each other.
“I do,” Niall says, the moment the last words are out of Max’s mouth. “Forever.”
“I do,” I whisper back, and before I’ve barely finished saying the words, his mouth is on mine.
The kiss goes on for longer than a wedding kiss probably should, Niall’s hand sliding into my hair as his arm goes around my waist, clasping me to him as he kisses me. I hear teasing claps and cheers, but it all fades into the background, because nothing in this moment matters more than Niall’s mouth on mine and the vows that we’ve just made.
When we finally separate, Max is grinning too.
“I pronounce you man and wife—again,” he says, his smile wider than I’ve ever seen it. “I’d say you could kiss the bride, Niall, but it seems like you beat me to it.”
“Well, aye, but it sounds like I should do it again.” Niall reaches for me, kissing me a second time, to the sound of even louder cheers from the guests.
The reception feels like as much of a whirlwind as preparing for it. The expansive backyard is turned into a dream of fairy lights in trees and strung along the pavilion that’s been put up, complete with dancing floor. Niall and I decided on a buffet-style dinner so that everyone can mingle and drink and talk, and we drift together through the crowd, hand in hand so tightly that there’s no chance of the two of us getting separated.
“Today was perfect,” I whisper to him as he spins me around the dance floor, looking down at me with the blue eyes I love so much, feeling as if my heart is going to burst in my chest. “I never imagined I’d have such a perfect wedding day.”
Niall runs his fingers through the locks of hair loose around my face, holding me close to him as the music slows down. “I’m more glad than I can say that I could give that to you, lass.” He leans closer, his lips brushing my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. “And the night is far from being over, my love.”
21
ISABELLA
When everyone is gone, the backyard empty except for what will need to be cleared away tomorrow, Niall and I make our way back to our bedroom, hand in hand and laughing. I haven’t had a drop to drink, of course, but I feel giddy and tipsy with tiredness and happiness all the same, and I wobble a little as Niall scoops me up, a little unsteady on his feet himself, carrying me over the threshold of our bedroom.
“I’m glad I don’t have to wait to get back to a hotel room for this,” he growls as he kisses me, his hands loosening the pins in my hair. “I’ve been mad with desire for you all night.” His fingers tease the buttons at the back of my dress, his lips pulling back a breath from mine as he grins down at me. “Do you need help with these, lass?”