“Yes!” I shouted. “Oh my God, yes!”
“So I can get up now?” He winked. “Because it’s freaking cold out here. Remember, I’m from Texas.”
I tugged him up and into my arms. “I love you.”
“I’m glad to hear it, because I love you, too.”
Then he’d slipped on the ring, and there hadn’t been a day since that I’d wanted to take it off.
The wedding party tonight was small and intimate. Too late for the children, so Levi and I had left Grace with the new babysitter—a wonderful woman who lived down the street and only watched Grace and her own grandchildren.
The wedding march began, and Rachel, the matron of honor, then Molly and Sarah, Emily’s bridesmaids, started down the aisle. When it was Emily’s turn to walk down with her father, there was a stillness in the night air that felt almost sacred. The vows were exchanged exactly as the midnight hour began the first day of a new year. Beginnings. Emily said she would always make Stone observe two wedding anniversaries. The thirty-first and the first. Then he’d never forget.
I caught Levi’s gaze, and as the vows were spoken, neither broke away from the other’s gaze.To love, honor and cherish. As long as we both shall live. For better or for worse.
Later, when it was time to dance until the wee hours of the morning, Levi grabbed me and pulled me on to the floor. “Are you ready to say those words to me?”
“More than any other words I’ve ever said. How about you?”
“Never more ready.”
He’d proved that to me in the past two months we’d been apart. There had never been a single day without a phone call, usually twice a day. While apart, we’d talk far into the night about their hopes and dreams and plans for the future. A future together.
In New York City, I had reconnected with Jenny and produced a portfolio that had impressed both her and her director. At the moment, the Cutting Edge and I were negotiating terms for an offer. I would work from Fortune, with two trips a year to the city.
Someday, I might even have my own label. RockYourBaby had a nice ring to it, and I thought Mom would like it, too.
“We have a lot of planning to do,” I said.
“Bring it on.”
Oh, I would. I had a surprise for him. He didn’t know it, but I’d be coming home sooner than planned. I’d done what I had to do. Finished school. I’d worked hard, and had more credits than even I’d realized. And even though Levi had been more than patient, and as loyal to me as I’d been to him, I was ready to come home to Fortune. By spring, my father would be home from Maine, and soon after that there would be a wedding.
I’d done the tough work. Worked out my fears, and gained all my confidence back and then some. Now I wanted easy again, just for a little while.
Easy and perfect, like the rest of my life with Levi and Grace.
* * *
