I take a deep breath as I walk down the stairs. Addison leads me to the door that signals the entrance to the garden. Last year she got married here, in the exact spot where Devlin and I are about to tie the knot. This place holds good memories for my family. I hope to add more to it.
My sisters drop me off beside my dad.
“Good luck,” Dallas says.
I shoot her a look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She shrugs. “It means good luck. Don’t trip.”
“I wasn’t even thinking about that until you said something,” I hiss.
Chelsea pats my arm. “Ignore her. She’s young. Stupid.”
“I am not.”
Addison ushers them both through the door. “Come on. Let’s get in our seats.”
They shuffle off, Dallas still snipping at Chelsea. Chelsea was only kidding. My younger sister will get over it soon enough.
Devlin and I decided against bridesmaids and groomsmen. We wanted it to be just us, and let our families enjoy the ceremony.
My dad looks great. His hair is combed to one side, and he’s beaming at me. His tie’s crooked, so I fix it and press down his lapel.
“Never thought I’d see the day you married Devlin Ross.” He puffs out his chest with a deep breath. “Though I always liked him.”
“Even when he’d bring two dates to a dance?”
“It just showed me that he wasn’t serious about them. Besides”—insert stern fatherly glance here—“he always asked you to dance, which said even more, I suppose.”
The music begins and Dad leads me outside. It’s a gorgeous day in the fae garden, as it should be. Guests fill every seat. There are witches and wizards, werewolves and vampires. Magicals have come from all over to witness my marriage.
“Psst.”
I glance over at Nana, who’s sitting in a seat. She’s actually sitting in an entire row filled with other ghosts, who are all smiling and giving me thumbs-up.
Once her existence was out in the open, it didn’t take long before other spirits started coming out of their proverbial closets. For all the people that pretended to be so offended and terrified at the ball the night Nana showed herself, almost half of them were being haunted by their own relatives.
Can you believe that?
I suppose it’s no surprise, because folks like to point fingers a lot, even when they’re doing the same thing that they’re pointing the finger for in the first place.
“Knock ’em dead, kid,” Nana says.
“Thanks,” I whisper.
For some reason I don’t think brides are supposed to talk when they’re walking down the aisle. That seems like something that would only happen in a romantic comedy.
Devlin’s been standing with his back to me, but just now he turns around and I’m knocked over by how handsome he looks. He must think the same thing about me because he clutches his heart with both hands and pretends to stagger back.
I grin and press the bouquet to my nose bashfully. He is so beautiful. His hair is raked back from his forehead. It’s thick and wavy. His golden skin is nearly glowing, and he looks like his handsome old self.
After his collapse, my family wouldn’t take any more of his magic for the store unless he limited what he gave us.
So he did.
Me being back helped him make that decision, and I’m more than grateful that he didn’t kill himself trying to save my family.
A life without Devlin is no life at all. Now that I’ve gotten him and I’m swimming in the ocean that is Devlin, able to see him whenever I want, talk to him, cuddle with him, I honestly don’t know how I survived this long without him. He is everything to me, and always has been.
