Yes—love.
I didn’t think there would or could be. But there is, and for the next few seconds I want to sit in this.
“Too much?” Stone asks, humor lacing his voice.
I burst into laughter. Always, he’s so funny. “It’s perfectly you,” I reply, meaning it. “Surprising me with this is simply ... you.”
“I’m gonna take that as a compliment.”
“You should.”
Isaac speaks. He doesn’t do the whole “Dearly beloved” thing. It’s more about two souls joining as one and people finding their people.
Hercules bleats a lot as if to corroborate everything Isaac says.
Then he says, “Stone . . .”
Stone looks at me, his jade eyes filled with warmth, his sharp features softening.
“Coco, I don’t really have fancy words for this. I mean, I tried to write some down, but they all sounded like a Hallmark card and not like me.”
Everyone laughs. A tear falls down my cheek.
“So I’m just gonna talk to you the way I always do—straight up.” Love fills me to bursting as he continues. “Ever since I met you, it’s like something in me clicked. Like I didn’t know I was lost until you found me. And I didn’t even know I could feel this settled. This seen. This stupidly happy watching you laugh at everything you laugh at, which is mostly me.”
Chuckles fill the chapel. “You make life feel like a home. Not a house. Not a job. Not a title. But something warm and real and good. With you, I don’t feel like I have to perform or earn my place—I just get to be yours. And that’s the best job I’ve ever had.”
My heart spasms against my rib cage.
“I don’t know what’s coming. We’ll probably fight. I’ll probably say something dumb, multiple times—but I promise this: I’ll keep showing up. I’ll keep choosing you. Every day. Even on the days when we’re tired or grumpy or I track mud in the house after you’ve just mopped.”
His eyes shine and mine blur with tears. “I love you, Coco. All of you. The way you love your job, your life. The way you make me feel like the man I always wanted to be. So here I am. A guy in a tux, totally wrecked in the best way. Ready to spend forever figuring out how to love you better, every single day.”
I knuckle tears from my cheeks. Never has anyone said something so gut wrenching and yet so uplifting to me.
And the thing is, I feel the same way—like he sees me, knows me, and is ready to fight for me.
Isaac looks at me. “Coco, do you have anything you’d like to say?”
I nod. “I do. Sto—” His name breaks off in the back of my throat, and I have to push through to keep going. “Stone, ever since you appeared in my life, nothing has been the same. Life has taken on an entirely new meaning. I can truly be myself and let you see the parts of me I’ve shielded from everyone—except you, that is.”
A sob clogs up my words. Oh, God. This is so stupidly emotional.
“But even with all of that, and how much I feel, and how much I love you, there’s something you have to know, and it can’t wait a second longer. It has to be said.”
Stone’s face twists in worry. “What is it?”
I exhale a shaky breath. “The day that you—”
The door flies open with a bang.
Heads turn and my jaw drops.
Pane Maddox storms in, his face twisted in confusion and worry. His wife, Rowe, follows quickly behind.
He takes one look at the rows of people, at the two of us, and demands, “Stone, what the hell is going on?”
Chapter 43
