Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 65116 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65116 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 326(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
I got out of the chair and walked toward her, buttoning my suit jacket as I went. It was the only time I could recall feeling nervous in my adult life. Even when I was gambling with my life in Russian roulette, my stomach didn’t feel quite as unbalanced as this. My nerves didn’t fire off in trepidation and excitement. My eyes stayed on her as I walked to her, appreciating the sight of her in her wedding dress for the first time. I’d stared at her as she’d come down the aisle, but I’d never truly cared what I was looking at. But now it was special to me… Everything was special.
My initial instinct was to bend my neck and kiss her, but I’d have to save that for later.
She smiled when she watched my head dip down toward her. “It’ll have to wait.”
“You know I’m not patient.”
She rose on her tiptoes and used my arms for balance. Then she placed a kiss on my cheek. “Then that will have to do.”
My arm secured around her waist, and I walked her outside into the cold. We were getting married under the same tree where we got married last time, at the edge of the front of my property. “Would you like my jacket?”
“No.” Her happiness seemed to be keeping her warm.
The five of us moved to the tree at the edge of the grass along the stone pathway. The priest who married us last time was there, holding the bible in his hands at his waist. He looked exactly the same, wearing a thick coat with glasses.
The ceremony didn’t happen the same way it had last time. She didn’t walk down the aisle to me. There were no guests except for my family. It was just us two, so we didn’t need any more.
Kent stood beside me while my sister and father filled up the rest of the space. They were quiet as they watched me get married a second time. Lily hadn’t been there the first time, but it didn’t matter. That ceremony wasn’t as important as this one.
I took Arwen’s hands in mine and squeezed her fingertips.
She stared at me with the same look she gave me every day, a look that said she loved me without the use of words. Almost a year ago, she was in tears, knowing her father only had weeks to live and she was marrying a stranger she didn’t even like. But now, everything was different. She was happy to be there, happy to squeeze my fingers in return.
I’d never imagined a day like this, a moment when I would face a woman and want to spend my life with her. My moodiness had dissolved, and now I felt optimistic about the future. This woman put my family back together…put me back together.
The priest began the ceremony, reading a section of the bible then proceeding forward. We didn’t say our own vows last time, just made it cut-and-dried, but now we wanted to share our hearts.
“Maverick,” the priest said. “You first.”
I’d scribbled a few notes in my bedroom but didn’t bring the paper with me. “I never cared about being a good husband or making you happy. I didn’t appreciate you when every other man in the world would kill to make you his wife. That was how depressed I was, unable to feel anything going on around me. But you fixed me when I didn’t realize I was broken. You made me whole when I realized I was incomplete. I never thought I’d actually want to be married to someone for the rest of my life, to have one woman in my life every single day. But you’ve made me fall so deeply in love with you, I can’t imagine my life any other way. I wasn’t good to you before, but now I promise to be the husband you deserve, to be faithful to you every day until my heart stops beating. I promise to protect you with my life. I promise to be a good father to our children. I promise to be whatever you want me to be…because I never want to lose you.”
She blinked her eyes a few times to stop the tears, but then she couldn’t hold them back. Her eyes grew wet, and a few tears streaked through her makeup and formed tiny rivers down her cheeks. Even with slightly smeared makeup and wet eyes, she was still the most desirable woman in the world. Anytime her tears appeared, I thought of the way she came when we were in bed together…and then my thoughts ran rampant. She controlled her emotions well enough to speak, and then she said her vows to me. “Maverick, I despised you when I became your wife…”
Kent, Lily, and my father all laughed.