Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 138169 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138169 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 691(@200wpm)___ 553(@250wpm)___ 461(@300wpm)
I realize then she’s not having an asthma attack.
She’s just that excited.
“Yes, I’m fine. Yes, I’ll marry you!”
“Jesus Christ, don’t scare me like that.” I’m grinning from ear to ear, though, and I hug her tight, clutching the ring against her back. “You just made me a very happy man, Miss Grey.”
“Talia,” she insists playfully before bumping her nose to mine. Her eyes glisten. “And it won’t be ‘Miss Grey’ for much longer, will it?”
“Mrs. Ainsley,” I say.
Heavy words.
She goes crimson, blushing so prettily.
“Soon,” she whispers. “But kiss me like it’s already true.”
“Gladly,” I growl, claiming her mouth.
My Talia.
My fiancée, who brought me out of the darkness and into the light.
My salvation, my everything, and soon to be my forever.
27
DARK DELIGHT (TALIA)
Months Later
Awinter wedding.
It’s everything I never knew I wanted, and everything I’ve always dreamed of.
I don’t even feel the cold as I stare at my reflection in the mirror in the small boathouse on Still Lake’s shore.
It’s been converted into a makeshift dressing room for tonight. It’s so busy, and I’m surrounded by people.
Janelle Bowden, adjusting her lavender off-the-shoulder matron of honor dress. Delilah Graves and Ophelia Faircross, both fussing with the sash of my dress. I’ve only known them for a few months but they’ve treated me like a bestie from day one.
I almost don’t even know what to do with this crowd.
I’ve never had actual friends.
Not counting Grandpa, of course.
He’s easily been my best friend my whole life.
But the last few weeks, getting my wedding together after Micah told me the guys at Redhaven PD would be his groomsmen…
I never expected their wives to step up and throw themselves into being my bridesmaids.
And I wasn’t expecting how much fun I’d have with Delilah, Ophelia, and Janelle, even if Janelle’s been a little subdued. Who can blame her?
The poor woman still looks at me like she wants to apologize. The best way I could tell her that I don’t blame her for what her husband did was to invite her to stand in for my deceased mother in my wedding.
I can tell she’s felt alive again, and it makes me crazy happy that I could do something to help ease her pain and the nagging mystery of what happened to Chief Bowden.
I know all too well how being part of something can take the edge off old wounds.
And it feels like I’m catching up on a lifetime of being the weird, unpopular kid in just a span of a couple months as the four of us gossiped over fabrics, flowers, and the ceremony.
Micah has been pretty hands off the entire time, claiming he didn’t know the first thing about weddings and he’d just screw it up. Though he gave me a look when I told him what I had planned—and what the girls were wholeheartedly on board with.
Micah indulgently accepted it, but I could tell what he was thinking.
You’re the only reason I’ll ever embarrass myself like this.
I mean, if your man doesn’t love you enough to wear breeches and riding boots to your wedding, is it really love?
Besides, even if I’ve let go of my girlish fantasies about vampires, loving my soon-to-be husband for who he really is, I do have strong opinions.
Like the fact that every girl should get to live out her fairy tale just once.
And I feel like a fairy-tale princess now as I take a final spin in the mirror.
My dress looks like it was spun from pure silk, all gorgeous gossamer layers with a high empress waist and a trailing skirt. The small puffed-up sleeves leave my arms bare, save for the spirals of white gossamer wrapped around them, streaming from my wrists to the floor.
My hair is piled up in ringlets and dotted with white flowers. The same flowers circle my wrists and throat in a fragile collar and delicately woven bracelets.
For my makeup, I went with a subtle and dewy look.
I feel like I’m just waiting for my prince to sweep me away into the meadows.
The subtle shimmer of silver and white dusted against my skin fits the winter wedding theme. A snow bride, surrounded by sparkling frost on the shores of this frozen lake.
How fitting.
It’s like everything started here, camping that night.
So I guess it’s the place where our lives should turn over a new chapter, too.
A fresh beginning as husband and wife.
Breathlessly, I try to smile at my nervous reflection.
“Don’t look so scared,” Delilah teases. “He’s not going to run away, girl. And if he does, we’ll send the whole Redhaven crew after him.”
She clasps my arms, looking at me over my shoulder in the mirror with a warm smile. Her dark hair tumbles down over us both, her lilac bridesmaid dress swirling gently against her.
“He might eat her,” Ophelia teases from my other side. “The big bad wolf coming for Little Red.”