Page 116 of Pretend for Me

“You look beautiful, by the way.”

I smile. “Thank you. I’m sorry you’re missing a game for me today, baby brother.”

He shakes his head, whispering softly to ensure my father-in-law doesn’t hear, “You think I give two shits about a game when my sister is getting married to a man not named after a sausage? I’ve never been more proud.”

I giggle, but even as I do, my emotions get the best of me and I take in another shuddering breath, looking from him to the guests outside.

They’re all here.

The most important people in our lives. Here for us.

My eyes immediately fly to Claire, quietly taking everything in from her wheelchair in the front row. Thankfully, she’d been taken to her room to rest for a few minutes during the chaos so she’s unaware of what went down. The smile on her face and the tears in her eyes are proof that today is one of the happiest moments in her life.

Her wish came true.

My wish—one I hadn’t even made until very recently—came true.

My gaze finds Dev again, dipping to his dimple before dragging down his tux. Has anyone ever in the history of time had a more handsome groom?

I highly doubt it.

His smile broadens as the guests coo and giggle, and I notice someone else has stolen everyone’s attention. Someone with four legs and a tail held up, right along with her chin, while wearing a custom-made Indian bridal skirt that matches mine.

Hey? Why shouldn’t she get to marry her first love today, too? Neither of us imagined this for ourselves and now that it’s happening, we’re going to bask in the joy of it.

Our guests laugh while Vajayjay does what I’d helped her practice all week—walking down the aisle to push her button.More laughter erupts when the electronic sound emits, speaking her words,“I love you, Dev!”

She pushes it a few more times—definitely not what we’d practiced, but apparently, she wants to set the record straight—making everyone laugh some more, including my groom. Then, she steps on the button she was supposed to push much later, making everyone erupt in applause.

“I do.”

“I do.”

“I do.”

I shake my head, giggling as Dev drops down to pick her up. He scratches her under her head, letting her lick the side of his face, before he turns to Hudson to ask him for something. Hudson reaches into his pocket, pulling out a very blinged-out collar that Dev affixes around my cat’s neck to the cheers of our guests.

Like I said, we like to keep things unconventional around here.

Once my spotlight-stealing cat is taken away to hang out with her siblings in another room, our pillow bearers, Rome, and my brother’s stepson, Kai, walk down the aisle, carrying my special vows with them.

Deepak, Rowan, and I move forward to the end of the aisle and the moment our guests spot us, a ripple of hushed murmurs sweep through our guests as they take in the sight of me in my bridal attire. I catch Claire’s eyes, her smile beaming as she looks at mylehengaand the jewels she’d passed down to me, her eyes lingering on the head ornament carefully centered in my hair.

My throat constricts, knowing she’s likely recalling herself in similar garb and the same jewels when she got married.

Dev’s eyes shimmer at the sight of me, his jaw visibly clenching with emotion asU2starts our song,“Beautiful Day,”right on cue.

Rome and Kai reach Dev, offering tokens of my love on velvet pillows. I watch as Dev reaches for the envelope on Kai’s pillow, his usually steady hands trembling slightly as he takes out the item I’d placed inside.

Our eyes meet, recognition falling over him, as he silently reads the note I scrawled under the photograph I’d purchased in Disneyland after we exited Space Mountain. While everyone else is captured mid-scream as we hurtled down the final drop, I’m in a trance all on my own, looking directly at Dev with an expression of pure, unadulterated love.

“The moment I knew I’d fallen, impossibly and irrevocably, in love with you.”

Dev stares at me across the aisle, his usually calm pools of brown turbulent with emotion. The photograph trembles in his hand lightly as he tucks it into his jacket pocket, right above his heart, before reaching for the item on Rome’s pillow—a crossword I’d made just for us.

I watch as his eyebrows furrow. A smile erupts across his lips as he scans the clues and answers, each one a snapshot of our journey:

Our favorite post-sex activity.(Answer: crosswords)

---