Page 85 of The Pakhan's Secret Baby

"Don't let me fall, Batya," I tell him.

"I should be saying that to you," he says, patting my hand again. "My legs aren't what they used to be."

"Your legs are fine. Just keep walking."

"I'm walking, I'm walking." He takes another step and steadies himself. "Your mother would have loved this, Emory. She would've been sitting in the front row crying before you even made it to the altar."

"She'd have been crying since yesterday," I tell him, which makes him chuckle, and me smile.

We walk together down the aisle to camera flashes and eyes staring at me, but the only eyes I care about are at the end of it. Rashid watches us approach with stoic grace and a stern expression.

Halfway down the aisle Lex spots us from Anna's lap and reaches toward me with both arms, cooing loudly over the music.

Anna pulls him back gently and whispers something against his ear and he settles, but his eyes follow me the rest of the way down.

I blow him a kiss as we pass that makes him grin and smack his face, mimicking me before I turn back toward the front.

When we reach the altar Batya stops and turns to face me. He takes both of my hands and holds them, looking at me with thesame expression he had in the hospital when I showed him the ring. He's happy for me, even if he doesn't understand it.

"Be happy, Em," he mutters, fighting back tears. "That's all your mother and I ever wanted for you. Just be happy."

He kisses my forehead and then turns to Rashid and places my hand in his. Rashid takes it and nods at my father, a gesture so small that most people in the room probably miss it, but Batya sees it. He steps back and lowers himself carefully into the chair beside Anna, who reaches over and pats his arm without looking away from the altar.

The hatred between them has simmered too, though Anna still despises Batya's feisty personality. And he still provokes her on purpose.

Part of me wonders if they don't have a spark of chemistry too. It'd be sad to watch her fall in love, only to lose him just like she lost her first husband.

The ceremony moves through its rhythms, and the words wash over me because all of my attention is on the man in front of me.

He says his vows, looking directly into my eyes.

When it's my turn to say mine, I'm afraid my voice trembles so badly no one can understand me.

Anna stands during the ring exchange and carries Lex forward on her hip. My boy holds the pillow out toward Rashid, though he's more interested in the bear tucked under Anna's arm than in the two gold bands tied on the satin.

Rashid takes the rings and Lex immediately takes the bear and throws it.

A quiet ripple of laughter rides over the room as Anna carries our boy back to her seat.

When it's finally over, and the priest announces us husband and wife, I finally see emotion light up my husband’s face.

We went from being perfect strangers, to him controlling me, to this. I love this man and all his bossy and angry ways.

He's my strength and my fortress, and the one I want to come home to every day.

"You may now kiss the bride," the priest announces, giving Rashid a nod.

He cups the back of my neck the way he did the first time he kissed me in that nightclub love shack, and pulls my mouth to his. The room erupts in applause, but I barely hear it because I'm kissing my husband for the first time. Nothing else in this room even registers to me anymore.

When we break apart, Lex shrieks from Anna's lap and throws the stuffed bear onto the floor again in a classic game of pickup.

"That boy has your aim," Rashid says, grinning.

"That boy has your temper," I tell him, elbowing his ribs.

I hold my husband's hand and look out at this strange, broken, beautiful family that I didn't choose, and couldn't have imagined, and wouldn't trade for anything.

My father is alive.

My son is safe.

And the man beside me, who took me against my will and held me until I stopped fighting, then asked me to stay, is holding my hand like he's never going to let go.

And I don't want him to.

Loved Emory and Rashid?