Luca looked at the floor, a bit overwhelmed. “Can you, uh…hold on to it until it’s time?” He reached out and hugged both of them. What happened last week had changed him as well. “Thanks for being here. And I’d really like you to stand up with me.”
Mason’s hand landed on my shoulder. He was here for twelve hours to stand by my side before flying home to San Diego. “Ready to get married, big brother?”
I hugged my brother. “I am.”
“So, I did something,” Mason said. “Please don’t be mad.”
I tilted my head. “What have you done?”
He handed me an iPad. I looked down at the screen, where our stepfather, Perry, and our mother peered back at me. “She wasn’t able to travel from London, but she’s here this way,” Mason said. “I thought you might want to introduce Luca to them.”
Tears filled my eyes as Luca slipped his arm around my waist and leaned into the camera. “Hi,” he said, waving at them. “I’m Luca. And I’m going to be your son-in-law.”
I was amazed at how easily those words came from him. “Hello, Luca,” she said. “I’m happy to meet you.”
His hand rubbed up and down my back. “We’re going to have someone hold the iPad so you can see the ceremony.”
John reached for the tablet. “I’ll be happy to do that.”
“We’ll talk more later, Mum,” I said.
Mason wrapped his arm over my shoulders. “You okay, big brother?”
I wiped my hand over my jaw. “I feel guilty that I didn’t think about them.”
He bumped my shoulder. “That’s what brothers are for.”
The officiant approached and held out a hand. “Mr. Hughes, are we ready to begin?”
I reached for Luca’s hand, making him turn toward me. When his brown eyes met my green ones, the parts of me that I thought were irrevocably broken now felt as if they might be revived because of him. “Ready, love?”
He took a deep breath and grinned. “Yes, let’s do it.”
I held out my hand, and together we followed the officiant to an archway decorated with a million flowers.
With Mason by my side, and Caden by Luca, we stared at one another as the officiant spoke. “Dearly beloved, we are here today to…”
As he spoke, I looked into the eyes of my future, lost in the thought of what we would be together. We repeated our vows with a promise to love and cherish one another until death do us part. After exchanging the platinum rings I’d purchased for us, I never imagined Luca would have more to say, but when he spoke, the world dropped away. “I never thought I would find someone to love me as you do. The day we met on the sidewalk, I didn’t fathom that being fired would turn out to be the third-best day. I still don’t understand why you came after me. You wouldn’t accept that I didn’t need you, and you were right. Ididneed you. Idoneed you. Every day. The only reason I survived that day was that you refused to let me go. I heard you begging me not to leave you. Your strength and determination kept me alive.”
Unshed tears slipped down his face, and I didn’t realize I was doing the same until he reached over and wiped mine away.
“And in case you haven’t figured it out, today is the best day, Axel, because I get to keep you forever. I might not have been looking for you, but I’m so happy you found me. I intend to spend the rest of my life showing you how much I love you.”
I dropped my head to my chest as tears ran down my face. Wiping them away, I tried to come up with something to say to him. Clutching his hands in mine, I gained my composure. “Ithink I fell in love with you that day on the sidewalk. I didn’t know what it was about you that drew me to you that day, but now I do. It was your heart. You have survived the worst life could throw at you, and you’ve bloomed rather than wilted from the pressure. You saved me from a life of misery and anger. And it will be my utmost honor to spend the rest of my life loving you.” Lifting our joined hands to my mouth, I kissed the ring on his left hand. The ring that officially made him mine.
“With the powers vested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you husband and husband. Mr. Hughes, you may kiss your husband.”
Taking his face in my hands, Luca reached for me as I kissed him for the first time all over again. The room erupted in applause and catcalls, making us smile. When he pulled back, I looked into his eyes. “I love you, Mr. Hughes.” If he wanted to hyphenate his name, I’d be okay with that.
Luca grinned. “And I love you, Mr. Hughes.”
Chapter 45
Luca
We spent two hours at our reception, eating and drinking with our friends and family, before the team had to get home to rest before the game. To my surprise, Axel wasn’t returning to the team until Monday, so we had two nights to enjoy our wedded bliss. But we didn’t go home. He drove us to the Covington in Manhattan, where he’d booked the Presidential Suite.
“Say it again,” Axel whispered as he pushed into me so slowly I might die. “Say it again. And I’ll give you all of me.”
