“Yes,” Erik said, turning to Gael with the warmest smile. “The truest thing I know is that I love you both,and I want to be part of your family, if you’ll both have me.”
When he turned back to Jenny, she felt tears sliding down her cheeks.
“Gael,” she managed, turning to her son.
“Yes,”he whispered again, gesturing toward Erik. “You have to say yes, or nothing will happen.”
“We won’t be just us anymore,” she said.
“I know,” he told her with a smile. “Isn’t it great?”
He’d told her that he wanted her to be happy, but it hit her suddenly that Gael was happy too. If she said yes he’d have a father, he’d even have a crew of honorary uncles and aunts at the Center—so many things that she never thought she’d be able to give him.
It takes a village to raise a child,she thought to herself.And this is our village.
“Yes,” she said to Erik. “Yes, please.”
He was on his feet in a heartbeat, slipping the ring on her finger and pulling her into his arms.
She drank in his warmth and the comforting masculine scent of him for just a moment, and then they each let go with one hand to drag Gael into their big hug, all three of them laughing as their friends applauded and called out their congratulations.
Happiness and wonder filled Jenny’s heart as she embraced her family.
20
ERIK
Later that day, Erik looked around the church with joy in his heart.
Against all odds, they had managed to pull together the ceremony after all, and this time it was real. He couldn’t believe he was standing at the altar, listening to the hum of friends and family as they waited for the bride to enter.
The marriage wouldn’t be official according to the state of Pennsylvania, of course. That part would have to be taken care of in a few days, when the courthouse was open for them to get a license. But at least in the eyes of their friends and the local pastor, the three of them would be a family starting today.
Fallon sat in the front row, holding up an iPad where Jenny’s parents were watching on a video call from the best seat in the house. They planned to fly out next weekfor the official wedding. Erik was hoping he’d have a fun surprise for Jenny that she could show off to them then.
For now, Erik was just so happy he would get to see his rings on her finger and have them both repeat the old-fashioned promises to belong to each other, to have and to hold.
The vibe in the church was lighthearted. He’d been afraid that his friends and supporters would be angry and betrayed when they found out he’d been trying to trick them.
Instead, they all seemed to understand that his heart had been in the right place. When they all agreed to help with his proposal this morning, he’d been truly moved.
You earned the benefit of the doubt,Sam had told him privately.Once. So don’t ever try anything like this again.
Once was more than enough for Erik. He had learned his lesson, and he had no desire to ever mislead his friends again.
After Jenny said yes to him, they’d all sat in the inn’s dining room with mugs of chicken noodle soup.
Both of them had apologized profusely to the veterans, and their apologies had been accepted with such grace. Mostly, everyone just wanted to know how much of their story was true, and how Jenny and Gael had come to arrive in Trinity Falls at just the right moment for everything to fall so magically into place.
“I think it was meant to be,” Gael said at one point, which earned him smiles from everyone gathered at the table. “That’s how it happened.”
In spite of how well things had worked out, Erik fully expected to cancel the wedding. He figured they could still throw a party at the Community Center—an engagement party rather than a reception.
But after Jenny and Gael whispered to each other for a few minutes, she told Erik that they might as well get married today. And even when he asked if she would prefer to plan her own wedding, to set it up for later when she could have friends and family of her own attend, she had simply smiled and said that this wedding had brought them together and it was only right that they took advantage of all the wonderful things he had planned.
So here he was, buttoned up in a tux, standing at the front of the church with his heart thundering, hoping she hadn’t changed her mind.
When the melody of “Canon in D” swelled, the door at the back of the church opened, and Gael walked his mother down the aisle.
