I lower my head for a moment and breathe deeply through my nose and out my mouth to collect my composure when Roman takes a curved finger and raises my chin to meet his gaze.
“Elizabeth.”
His baritone voice ripples right through me and goes straight to my tear ducts.
I think I’m the one who’s going to lose it first.
25
ELIZABETH
“The fact that a guy like me is standing in this room with a woman like you on our wedding day astounds me. You are intelligent, brave, sexy, gracious, and a warrior. You see the best in everyone because you are truly the most genuinely real and kind-hearted person I have ever met. I promise to love you, respect you, cherish you, honor you, protect you, and make love to you all the days we have left on this earth.”
The crowd giggles at his last part of the vow.
“You may now exchange rings.”
Joseph hands Roman a box I didn’t know about. I already have a beautiful diamond engagement ring that I love, but this is something different. It’s a delicate gold ring made of gorgeous yellow and chocolate diamonds in the shape of a sunflower, and it matches the other beautiful jewelry he’s given me to remind me of our beginnings. A bully and a naïve kid who were destined by familial ties and circumstances to meet again. More tears swell as I consider how much thought he put into this wedding gift.
I will not ruin my mascara.
God, this man is perfect.
Sloan steps forward and hands me my box for Roman. Although we are getting tattoos around our ring fingers to symbolize our forever bond, I wanted to make sure he had a traditional wedding band that he can wear whenever he chooses. There are three diamonds set deep in the band to represent the unification of him, me, and Knox as a family and there is a simple inscription inside memorializing today’s date.
“Will you Roman Masterson take Elizabeth Hill to be your lawful wedded wife for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?”
“I do.”
“And will you Elizabeth Hill take Roman Masterson to be your lawful wedded husband for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do you part?”
“I do.”
“By the power vested in me by the state of Pennsylvania, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Roman, you may kiss your bride.”
Roman slides his arms around my waist and firmly pulls me into his embrace.
“Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Masterson.”
His deep voice rumbles through my entire my body and lands at my core with passion and promise.
“Hi.” I can’t stop smiling.
The kiss to salute our union is chaste by our usual standards, but I still think it’s wildly romantic. I taste a mixture of mint, whiskey, and chocolate on his tongue, which is uniquely him and tastes like home.
Our evening flies by in a flurry of hugging, dancing, and food in no particular order. Juliette warned me it would indeed fly by, and that I’d want to take a moment to pause and soak in everything around me: the atmosphere, the people, and the love around me because in a blink of an eye the night would be over. That’s hard to do when you’re in the middle of it, but I have no doubts that I will remember this night forever. It was perfect.
I wouldn’t have changed a thing.
Juliette arranged for the deejay to play a set of nineties radio hits, which turned out to be the highlight of the evening. Everyone including many of the older guests from my old neighborhood in Penn-Washington jumped up on the dance floor and were jamming to old TLC and Britney Spears songs. I even think I saw old Miss Dorothy breaking a sweat.
“Do you see Miss Dorothy over there trying to do the running man right now?” I say while dancing next to my mom.
“I didn’t know her knees could move like that.”
“Me either. I thought her knees were why she never pulls any weeds out front?”
“Yeah, I guess that’s been her excuse for fifteen years.”
