I let go of Grace to pull a small box from my tuxedo jacket. As I open the box, I get down on one knee.
“Grace Hamel, I won’t spend another day pretending you’re not the woman I live, breathe and would die for.”
Her eyes shine and her body shakes as she takes the steadying hand I offer.
“You saw my scars and you wouldn’t pretend they didn’t exist. You healed me with your touch and you’re the reason I can look myself in the mirror again.” I fight a smirk when I add, “And now I can’t look in the mirror without seeing you too.” My smirk widens. So do her eyes. She knows exactly what I mean. “In short, you’re a damn legend and I love you so fucking much. Will you marry me, Angel?”
When Grace nods, my heart explodes and the entire marquee erupts. She’s dropping to her knees to reach me, but I’m already rising. I lift Grace into my arms and kiss her so hard I taste blood as my lip tears again. I only pull back because I don’t want to do the same to her injured mouth.
“Well, that was easy,” I say.
She laughs. We both do. And we’re swept away in a wave of love that follows us around the tent as people gather to congratulate us. There are questions from a nosey few, but we ignore them. If their take away from tonight is my scandalous love life, so be it.
A wall of broad shoulders surrounds us and I’m hoisted up onto Fitz and Calder’s shoulders, which is fine, let them parade me around the dance floor if they must. But then I see Mace and Hunter make a beeline for Grace. “No. Fucking. Way.”
“No one likes a possessive freak,” Mace says, to which Reid snorts loudly.
“Duke, you know we’re already taken,” the younger brother says. “We’re only lifting her.”
I leap off my brothers’ shoulders, but as I’m about to square up to the Griffins, the brother who’d just landed the helicopter plants a hand on each of their shoulders. “Don’t worry, I’ll deal with them, Duke,” Ash says.
The mood turns somber quickly. It’s Grace that asks the question we all want an answer to. “Did Killian make it?”
Ash shakes his head. “But he would hate to disrupt your celebrations any more than he already has,” he says. “I’m taking these asswipes home.”
“It’s been fun,” Reid says following Ash who’s already walking away, expecting the others to follow.
“We expect proper invitations to the wedding this time,” Hunter warns before he leaves.
Mace is the last to go. “Don’t forget my griffin, Grace.”
Finally, we’re surrounded only by family, but I don’t lower my guard as I settle on one face.
“Nice of you to join us,” I say to Meri.
She swallows loudly, revealing the nerves we both feel. Twin fears. Twin grief. “I hear I missed all the fun.”
“I hope you’re sticking around for part two when Dad gets home tomorrow.”
“What do you think he’ll be more pissed about?” she asks dryly. “The priceless antiques your ex’s family destroyed, Fitz’s kidnapping or…” Her gaze slips to Grace. “Planning another wedding before you’ve even cancelled the first.”
Grace winces. She can’t read Meri, but I can and I want to smile. I want to tackle my sister into the biggest bear hug. The pain and anger are still there, and we’ll need to work through the loss of Ewan together like we should have done at the start, but this is where it begins. My sister is happy forme. I can see it in her eyes. She’s relieved I’m free of Katarina and thankful that we all made it through unscathed.
“I’ve just had a thought,” Fitz says. “We don’t have to cancel the wedding tomorrow. Just make sure the pastor doesn’t say the wrong name for the bride.”
“Yeah,” says Calder, like it’s a great idea. “Katarina didn’t have time to pack, so we have a wedding dress. You might need to take it up a bit, Grace but you made your party dress so I’m guessing you know how to do all that stuff.”
“And this is why I spend so little time with my brothers,” Meri mutters, shaking her head. “A bride deserves her own wedding, you bunch of morons.” She elbows me out of the way to hug her future sister-in-law. “I need to hear more about this dress you made.”
“It’s covered in blood right now. I doubt I’ll want to wear it again.”
“Oh, you have to wear that dress again,” Fitz says a little too eagerly for my liking. I’m not going to like whatever comes out of my brother’s mouth next and he doesn’t disappoint. “Were you completely naked underneath it? I looked hard but–”
“You were checking Grace out while the Bratva held a gun to her head?” asks Calder, and it’s telling that even he’s shocked.
Fitz is oblivious to my hard stare. “How do you expect me to react to the first woman I’ve seen in weeks?” He offers a vague look of apology to Grace. “And you are hot as–”
Meri clamps a hand over Fitz’s mouth and puts herself between our brother and a collision course with my fist. “That’s our sister-in-law you’re talking about. Show some respect.”
