Antonio asked again, “Ready?”
She took a deep breath. “Yes.”
He stepped back and said, “Gabe. You can turn around now.”
When her groom took his first look at her in her wedding dress, his jaw dropped. She hoped it was because he liked what he saw and not that he realized what he was about to do. She’d have to wait and see if he took off in a panic.
Luca was taking pictures from different angles, and she hoped he got the huge smile that lit up Gabe’s whole face. She couldn’t believe how handsome he was despite the obvious remnants of his accident.
She was grinning too.
“You look gorgeous,” he said.
“And you look positively dashing.”
His gaze dropped to the sand, but he was still smiling.
She had been so focused on Gabe, she hadn’t even noticed the stranger among all her future in-laws. He carried a folder and stepped out of the crowd.
“Shall we begin?” the officiant asked.
“Wait a minute. We need to loop in the best man,” Gabe said.
“I’ve got him right here,” Noah said, holding up the tablet.
There was her brother’s smiling face. He was wearing his camo uniform.
“Sorry about my appearance. I forgot to pack my good suit,” he joked.
“You look great,” Gabe said. “I’m just glad you’re here. Well, there, but here too.”
Parker chuckled. “Come on, bro. Marry my sister already.”
She couldn’t have been more grateful for his change in attitude.
“Okay, okay. Reverend, we’re ready,” Gabe said.
“Dearly beloved…”
The preacher began with Genesis—and he could have been talking directly to Gabe. “Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.’”
Was she fit for him? She had plenty of faults and a degenerative disease, too. Could she really be all that he needed her to be? Misty couldn’t concentrate on what the preacher was saying.
She refocused her attention when he was reading from Corinthians. At least, that’s where she thought the part about “Love is patient and kind” came from. Had she been patient and kind? She hoped so. Had Gabe? Not always, but then the preacher got to the part about forgiveness. That sort of implied that people would mess up occasionally.Okay, so neither of us are perfect.
But they both nailed the next part the preacher read. “It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.”
He had always been truthful with her. Even when he was in conflict, he was honest about it. Could she believe his declarations of love now?Absolutely.She relaxed enough to enjoy the rest of the sermon and say the appropriate words in the appropriate places.
“Do you, Misty Mary Carlisle, take Gabriel to be your wedded husband? Do you promise to love, comfort, honor, and keep him? For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful only to him so long as you both shall live?”
“I do.”
“And do you, Gabriel Peter Fierro, take Misty to be your wedded wife? Do you promise to love, comfort, honor, and keep her? For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, be faithful only to her so long as you both shall live?”
“I do.”
Misty couldn’t help breathing a sigh of relief. She didn’t know what the future would bring, but at least they were in it together.
