Fresh tears coat her thick eyelashes and I fight the urge to drag her into my arms, but instead, I murmur, “I love you.”
Smiling through her tears, she says, “You gave me space when I needed it. You showed me what it means to be cherished. Protected not because I'm fragile, but because I'm precious to you.”
“You are,” I rasp. “So damn precious.”
“I know.” She glances around the room, one by one connecting with the people who are most important to us, before she looks at me again.
“So here, in front of everyone who matters, I'm giving you all of me. My heart. My trust. My future. My forever. I choose you, Spencer. Every day, for the rest of our lives, I choose you.”
Wow. There’s a bruise already forming on my chest from the impact of her words.
Marshall's affected too. His words are thick when he speaks. “Do you have the rings?”
Justice produces them from his pocket. He passes over the platinum bands Liberty and I chose together.
“Spencer,” Marshall says, “repeat after me. With this ring, I thee wed.”
I slip the ring onto Liberty's finger, my hands are steady now with the finish line in sight. “With this ring, I thee wed.”
“My heart to yours.”
“My heart to yours,” I echo.
“For all the days of our lives.”
“For all the days of our lives.” I add my own words because I can't help it. “Through every season, every storm, every Christmas from now until forever.”
Liberty's slides the ring onto my finger, repeating the vows and adding her own ending. “You are my home, Spencer. You always will be.”
Marshall grins dramatically, folding his notes and putting them in his suit coat pocket. “By the power vested in me by the state of Vermont over the internet, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Spencer, for the love of God, kiss your bride before I get too emotional to finish this.”
“Copy that.”
I pull Liberty into my arms and lock our lips together as the fire roars beside us.
The crew cheers loud enough to rattle the roof off the inn.
This is where our future begins. I swear my heart is glowing as bright as the giant star on the Christmas tree.
When we finally break apart, she's laughing and crying and so beautiful I can barely stand it.
“Mrs. McCallister,” I murmur against her lips.
“Mr. McCallister.” She grins back. “How does it feel?”
“Amazing.”
The guitarist transitions into something fast, and suddenly we're surrounded in hugs, noisy congratulations, and backslaps.
Justice pulls me aside while the women cluster around Liberty. “Take care of her, man.”
“With my life.”
He’s watching his sister, more at ease than I’ve seen in a long time. “You're good for Lib. The best thing that could have happened.”
“Thanks for trusting me with her.”
“Thank Rosalie. She threatened to withhold sex if I interfered.” He's trying to joke, but his eyes are serious. “But she was right. Liberty needed to make this choice on her own. And she chose well.”
