I looked the same I always did in my dress blues, which were crisp and freshly pressed. Kaelan had offered to go suit shopping with me, much to my surprise. Even though he knew the truth behind our wedding, he’d stated he still took his duties as best man seriously. I was strangely touched, but I told him I was all set for my outfit, proud to wear my uniform on a day like this.
Dax had shown up for Forest, and I’d been relieved that he’d taken the news so well. He’d agreed to be Forest’s best man and had sworn a solemn vow not to tell Dayton. I hated that this was necessary, this cloak-and-dagger wedding, but I had to respect that Forest wasn’t ready to tell people.
Next to me, Forest stumbled, and my grip on him tightened. “You okay?”
He nodded quickly. “Nervous.”
I could assure him there was nothing to be nervous about, but what good would lying do? The truth was that I was tense myself, my stomach swirling with a strange mix of apprehension and excitement. “I know.”
He shot me a sideways look. “You’re not nervous, are you?”
“I am, actually.”
He apparently needed a moment to process that. “I thought you’d be immune to nerves by now, what with your current job and your previous one.”
A low chuckle rumbled in my chest. “You’d think so, right? But no, I still feel the nerves. They just don’t control me anymore.”
“One of the many things I need to learn from you,” Forest mumbled.
How I wanted to mumble that he’d have a lifetime to learn anything he wanted to, but I kept my mouth shut. Forest had agreed to marry me out of necessity, not because he had actual feelings for me. Not like I had for him…but that was something I’d rather not think about.
If taking care of him meant denying what I felt and pretending we were just friends—albeit with some interesting benefits—then that was a price I was willing to pay.
When we reached the entry to the courthouse room or chambers or whatever it was called, I checked my watch. “We’re ten minutes early, so let’s wait until we’re called.”
I slowly signed for Dax, who nodded, then gestured a ‘Thank you’ to me. As if he needed to be grateful for that small accommodation.
“You’re slow,” Kaelan said to me, winking at me and signing at the same time.
My eyes widened. “How did I not know you’re fluent in ASL?”
Even those two words had shown me he was because he’d signed with that quick nonchalance of someone who knew exactly what he was doing.
Kaelan shrugged. “My degree is in Deaf studies. I had a friend whose sister was Deaf, and I was fascinated by ASL. So I learned a bit as a teen, then decided to study it.”
His hands were flying as he spoke, and Dax’s whole face lit up with the joy of someone who had met a kindred spirit. I couldn’t even imagine what it was like to find people who spoke your language when so few did.
‘Why do you not work as an interpreter?’ Dax signed, going slow for my benefit, which I appreciated.
“Because Deaf people deserve to have EMTs who can communicate with them, just like they deserve teachers and librarians and baristas and whatever.”
I was glad he was speaking as well because he used a lot of signs I wasn’t familiar with. Yet.
“Mr. Brockway and Mr. Middleton?” a voice asked, and I spun around.
“Yes?”
“You’re up.”
I swallowed, then held my hand out to Forest. “You ready, sweetheart?”
He nodded, raising his chin ever so slightly as he took my hand. “Ready as can be.”
The ceremony was mercifully short, the judge merely reading some forms before asking us to face each other and hold hands.
“Do you, Nash James Brockway, take Forest Middleton to be your lawful wedded husband? To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish as long as you both shall live?”
To love and to cherish. How had I forgotten that that was part of the marriage vows? I was promising to love him. Well, that would be easy because I already did, though I didn’t want to think too much about in which way that was, exactly.
