"There is no backing out!"
"There will be if I say there is!"
"My son is getting married today!"
"Not to my daughter!"
Daisy and I look at each other, and we do the only thing we can do in this moment. We laugh.
"I guess we don't have to make an announcement now," Daisy says, wiping under her eyes. She removes her engagement ring and hands it to me.
I place it in my pocket. "As much as I would like to escape out the other door and hightail it out of here, I'll go out there and deal with them." My gaze flickers to the exit that leads outside. "Take this as your chance to get away."
Daisy tips her head, listening to the voices of our fathers who are still yelling at each other. "Normally, I'd say we should present a united front, but I might take you up on your offer."
I reach for the door handle, but Daisy stops me. "Duke, you know how much you mean to me. How much you've always meant to me. It's not lost on me what you're doing for me right now, and for Penn. I hope you know that I will return the favor for you, whenever you decide to man up and go after the woman you love."
"I appreciate that, Daze." I open the door, and what I hear next has me hustling down the small hallway, careening aroundthe corner into the large room set up for a wedding ceremony. Though I'm here for a reason, I allow myself the briefest glance in the direction of the woman I can't have, but that's all I get. The tiniest morsel before I turn my attention to the irate man at the top of the aisle.
"You," my father growls in Penn's face. "I told you to leave town."
Penn glances at my dad like he's nothing more than an annoying fly. Daisy's dad steps between Penn and my dad. "Go somewhere else with your red-faced blustering."
My dad reaches for Penn, but Penn shakes him off. His eyes are on me, hurrying across the room. I don't know what's going to happen next, but I need to diffuse it.
"She loves me," Penn shouts, coming to life as I get closer. His gaze is fierce, his lips a hard line. I stop in front of him, and his chest puffs out. He's ready to take me on, fight his way to Daisy, slay any dragon.
Just like she deserves.
Chapter 56
Penn
Storm the castle.
I told Daisy I wouldn't, but here I am. Staring Duke in the face, and his dumb ass father, and the rest of the town who are all standing up from their chairs, watching the scene unfold.
I don't give Duke the chance to say a word. Pushing a stiff finger into his chest, I say, "She's not marrying you."
Duke opens his mouth to respond, but then from behind him comes the sweetest voice. Literal music to my ears.
"Penn?" Daisy steps around Duke. Behind me, there is shuffling, but I pay it no mind. Daisy's dad won't let that son of a bitch Hampton near me. He told me as much when I saw him outside the entrance. I was frenzied when I parked my truck, running so fast across the lot that I almost missed him. He said my name and got my attention, and when I told him I was here for Daisy, he asked for five minutes to break the news to Duke's dad. I paced out front, waiting, until I could take it no more.
Daisy tucks an escaped lock of hair behind her ear. My heart swells at the sight of her, her white silk robe draped over her creamy skin. She's wearing her bow earrings, the ones that aremade up of tiny diamonds. "I thought you said you weren't going to interrupt the ceremony."
"I was wrong." I grab Daisy's hands, hold them in my own. "You can't marry him." Murmurs from the crowd, gasps andohhs.
"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Glenn yells. Duke says something to his dad that I don't hear before walking away quickly. Glenn follows, but because he's a massive asshole with an ego to match, he turns back to Charles and sneers, "I won't forget this, St. James."
I ignore it all, blocking out the familiar faces and focusing only on the woman I love with my whole heart. "I'm not great with words, and I don't know how to say beautiful things. But I love you, Daisy. I loved you when I was a kid, and I love you now as a man. I know things have been messed up, and life hasn't been very kind, and if we're a fairy tale, we are fractured. And maybe that's ok. Maybe some people need broken roads. If all this struggle and strife means I get to have you at the end of the day I would do it over and over again and again and again. You might be the princess of this town, but you are my queen, Daisy." Big round tears roll down her face. I let go of one of her hands, only so I can dash away her tears with my thumb. "If you loved him, I would leave you alone. But you don't, and I know you're trying to do something nice for your mom, but Sunshine, if all you're wanting to do is show your mom the vision of you walking down an aisle in her dress, I'll put myself into that picture. I will marry you right now."
Collectively, the gathered guests draw in a breath.
"Penn, I love you," Daisy says, throwing her arms around my neck. "You definitely know how to say beautiful things." She pulls back, holds my face in her hands. "I'm not marrying Duke. We talked about it. We worked it out. I told my mom the truth."The short sentences trip from her mouth in her haste. "I was going to change and come to find you when I heard your voice."
"I came for you. I couldn't let it happen. No matter the repercussions, I had to lay it all out there."
She beams. Her eyes glimmer. "You crashed my wedding."
