I followed the pattern up to his bicep, his shoulder. “It’s so pretty. You should get more of these shirts.”
He closed his hand around my fingers before I tracked the pattern down his chest. “I will.”
A deep, booming laugh rang out from the other side of the condo and we both shifted to stare at Jakobi and Ines in the entryway. He leaned against the door, his long legs crossed at the ankles, and beamed down at her like his entire reason for being was to shower her in light. He listened—truly listened—as she told a story. Her eyes sparkled as she spoke and I couldn’t remember ever seeing her so animated before.
“What’s happening over there?” I asked, still captivated. As far as I knew, Ines was interested only in Bruce Lee, and she split that interest evenly between the kung fu and the frequency with which he was shirtless in his films. There’d been a boyfriend one summer at space camp and then someone in her first year or two of college but the details were hazy. She responded to most of my questions about dating with “It just seems like a waste of time.”
You’re not wrong, honey.
“That’s gonna need to simmer for a little while before anyone knows what it is.” Ryan trailed his knuckles over the line of myjaw, turning my attention back to him. “You didn’t answer me before. When I asked if you still wanted to do this.”
I twisted on the balls of my feet, sending the dress swirling around me. “I want to do this,” I said, still shimmying. I knew I didn’t feel like a bride but I did feel happy, and maybe it was better that way. “Do you?”
He dragged his bottom lip between his teeth as he stared at me. A storm cloud passed over his features but it was gone within a blink. After a steady moment of watching me sway, he said, “As long as we’re still on for the big party too.”
“I mean, yeah, we kind of promised Ines the coveted spot of headlining harpist. Backing out now would be poor form.”
“You’re right.” He shrugged into his suit coat and then plucked something off a nearby table. My eyes almost popped out of my head when he pushed the bouquet into my hands. “I hope you like this.”
“Oh my god. You put an artichoke in a bouquet.” I blinked between Ryan and the weird, wonderful bouquet. There were plum peonies, purply-gray sea holly, long, trailing veronica, and one huge flowering artichoke. I never would’ve come up with this and somehow it was the only thing I’d ever wanted. I clutched it to my chest. “I love it.”
“Yeah? I have a backup if you don’t.”
“This is the most perfect bouquet ever created. This is the start of us as an artichoke family.” I grabbed his hand, tugged him toward the open doors of the deck. “Come on. Let’s do this thing. We’ve waited long enough.”
Ryan squeezed my hand as we stepped outside. Jakobi and Ines were right behind us, still talking softly about robots andStar Trekand an ice cream shop that’d opened in the Seaport.
The sunset blazed through the evening sky and warm spring air mixed with the heady florals all around us. I smiled down at my dress and how the prickly sea holly fit right in with theraw lace, and the shades in the artichoke complemented the pale yellow. All these pieces, they fit together just so.
I gripped the flowers as the officiant got right down to business welcoming us to this ceremony of marriage. “Ryan, do you take Emmeline to be your?—”
“I do.” He brought his free hand to the bouquet, lacing his fingers with mine as I laughed. A grin started at the corner of his mouth and it unfurled into a wide smile that had my heart pounding in my chest and a few overwhelmed tears fogging my eyes. After all these years, I wasmarryingthis sweet, broody boy. “Yes to all of it. Everything. I do.”
“Not wasting any time. I like it.” The officiant chuckled. “Emmeline, do you take Ryan to be your?—”
“I do too,” I said, still laughing.
“Then I won’t make you wait another minute. By the power vested in me by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts?—”
There was more to that sentence but it was lost to me when Ryan brought his hand to the back of my neck and sealed his lips to mine. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and sank into the kiss, holding this moment as tight as possible.
Ines and Jakobi cheered when we came up for air but we couldn’t stop staring at each other. It was as if the words no longer mattered because we had something better, something deeper.
“Cake,” Ryan whispered, his lips barely a breath from mine. “I promised you cake.”
I ran a hand down the back of his neck. His eyes fluttered shut and the growly noise in his chest made me think about the way my fingers felt as they tripped over velvet. “It’s a requirement. We’re not legally married without sharing some cake.”
“Yes, a wise woman told me all about that.” He laughed as he straightened the ribbons at my shoulders. “Let me show you what we came up with.”
Ryan led me to the other end of the deck and I gasped when I saw the small cake, sculpted and decorated to look like a tower of tangerines. “I can’t believe you did this,” I cried, leaning in close to see the dimpled skin, the woody stems, the green leaves. “This is art. I can’t eat this!”
Ryan ran a hand down my back and settled on my hip, his fingers stretching across my belly. Heat radiated out from each fingertip and spiraled through me. “I’d like to make this official so you’re going to have to.”
“And I really want a piece too,” Ines called.
I relented and Ryan and I sliced the cake together, sharing a chunk of tangerine that was actually chocolate cake with coffee buttercream frosting. It bent my brain. I loved everything about it.
Ryan ducked his head to mine, saying, “You have a little something here.”
