Page 159 of The Bridges I've Burned

“What the fuck is that?” Marin pointed to the glittering diamond ring on Elena’s hand—and the platinum band beside it. “Did you?—”

I looked over at Elena and broke out into a giant, shit-eating grin.

“We got married.”

“You got married?” Marin practically shouted.

“When?” Macon asked.

The lawn went silent.

Well, I guessed that was one way to tell everyone.

“Last month,” Elena answered.

“You’ve been married for a month, and you didn’t tell me?”

I had to hold back a laugh, noticing the way Marin hadn’t included Macon in that sentence.

“We wanted to tell you in person,” I explained.

And we were kind of enjoying our month-long honeymoon…

But that was clearly irrelevant right now.

“Why didn’t you tell us, you know, when it happened? We could have been there.”

“You know I never really wanted a wedding, Marin,” Elena said, her voice softening as she placed a tender kiss on our niece. “I know it’s not how you would have wanted it, but believe me, it was exactly how I did. It was perfect.”

It was perfect.

I’d been wanting to propose for a while. I just didn’t know how. That fucking ring had been burning a hole in my pocket for weeks. One particularly tame day in LA, we were walking down the street and happened to pass a bridal shop, and it hit me.

I sent her off to go grab us coffee—something I hated doing because I always got recognized—and I darted into the bridal shop.

I pulled out my phone and showed them the photo of Elena in that black dress, and sure enough, they had it.

When she came back, I had the dress and the ring and a proposal.

We had flown to Spain, and I’d married her in the same dress she had worn when we shared our first kiss.

Luckiest man in the damn world.

Marin eyed her friend for a moment, and then, suddenly, tears were falling down her cheeks. “You’re really married?”

Elena nodded, her own eyes glassy. With all the emotions flowing, Macon decided it was time to snatch back the precious cargo and pulled Naomi into his arms.

“So, we’re sisters again?”

“We never stopped being sisters,” Elena pressed. “But, yeah, we even have matching last names again.”

Marin let out another squeal and then launched herself at me, throwing her arms around me. I grunted from the impact, making everyone laugh.

“You’re the best brother-in-law ever!”

“Thanks?”

She let me go and turned back to Elena. “You must tell me everything. Do you have pictures? You didn’t do a courthouse thing, did you?” The questions kept coming as the two of them headed for the house.

Elena flashed a mischievous smile over her shoulder, and I laughed.

Wait until they find out she’s pregnant.