Page 72 of Loving You Always

“Mom said I came from a long line of romantics, and she knew that I would find a way to love. That’s why she left me this when she died. It’s the ring Asher gave my great-grandma Maddie.”

Walsh stooped several inches until they were almost eye level. He searched her eyes and saw the answer before he asked the question. His heart banged against his chest like it wanted out so it could fall at her feet.

“Kerris, will you please, please marry me?” He plowed on, almost afraid to give her the chance to refuse. “I know you just got divorced today, and it might look bad, but I can’t live another day without this promise. I want to wake up yours every day for the rest of my life. And I have to know you’re mine. It doesn’t have to be this ring. Good grief, I could go to Harry Winston or—”

“Don’t you dare.”

Kerris reached for the hand holding the simple gold band. She looked at him, and he’d never seen her eyes so sure. So confident. So certain. He didn’t know if his love had done that for her, or if she had done it for herself, but it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever witnessed.

“I don’t actually care how it looks.” She watched him through her lashes, coquettish for once. “If you’re sure you want me…”

“Kerris, I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.” He hated the tears he had to blink away. He wanted to get through this without wussing out. “You are the soul mate I thought I’d never get to live my life with. I’m pinching myself that we get a second chance. Please don’t make me wait any longer, baby.”

“I…well, if you want…yes, I’ll marry you.”

Walsh scooped her up, his forearms under her bottom, pulled her off the ground, and rested his forehead against hers, not even ashamed that the tears rebelled and charged down his face. He was holding every dream that mattered right here in his arms. His greatest ambition was to love her, to spoil her, to give her the family she’d always wanted.

Even though it had been a hard road, a messy road, littered with the potholes of their mistakes, Walsh embraced that journey. He wasn’t sure he would have fully appreciated how much it meant to have Kerris had he not lost her. He gripped her like she might disappear, easing up when she laughed and said she couldn’t breathe. Now that they finally had each other, he promised himself he’d never let go.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Ithink you’re even more beautiful the second time around, Kerris.”

Kerris met Meredith’s eyes in the mirror before studying her own reflection. Her dark hair spilled around her shoulders, free and waving. She wore no veil, which she thought was fitting because this time, she had nothing to hide. Her mouth was tinted pale rose and stretched into a smile she couldn’t hold back no matter how hard she tried. The glints of gold in her amber-colored eyes reflected the gold embroidery piping the startling white of her dress.

“I can’t get over this.” Jo ran reverent fingers over the material skimming Kerris’s slim shape. “I couldn’t have chosen better. Vera Wang couldn’t have done better. No designer could have.”

“I couldn’t have either.” Kerris touched the orchid charm dangling at her neck. “I love that Walsh chose it for me.”

Cam may not be attending their wedding, but he had given her the best wedding present possible. After he’d gone, she’d found what he left for her in the office—the dress Walsh had brought back from Kenya so long ago. Cam had hidden it from her then. He had hidden a lot from her before, and she had hidden so much from herself and those she loved. But not today.

The African gown fell to her feet, pristine and shot with gold threads. She couldn’t wait for Walsh to see it. It would be the only surprise, since they had chosen each detail of this day together. Her first wedding had been to the wrong man with two hundred wedding guests looking on. She’d carried calla lilies she didn’t like, and a lump of dread and anxiety had sat like coal in her belly all day. Today, there was such peace, and as much as the tabloids would love to intrude, they had no idea. This simple ceremony would take place at a covered bridge suspended over the river with only a few sworn-to-secrecy family and friends present. She was a mere month removed from her divorce. They might still cause a scandal once word got out, but Kerris had reached that place of complete indifference to any opinion except Walsh’s.

“Okay, so you have something new.” Meredith gestured to the diamond earrings designed to look like feathers, a gift from Walsh that Kerris liked to think of as bohemian luxury. “And you have something borrowed.”

Kerris had been shocked when Martin Bennett offered a trio of gorgeous pearl-studded bangles as her something borrowed. Kristeene had admired them once and Martin had gotten them for her, but they had divorced before he had the chance to give them to her. Kerris was humbled by his thoughtfulness. He and Walsh had come so far in the last few years, and his excitement about the wedding had been the greatest proof of that.

“I wanted to cover something blue, if you don’t have anything.” Jo extended a satin bag with a silky ribbon tied around its neck.

Kerris opened the bag and pulled out a powder blue garter of lace and satin, light as a cobweb in her hand.

“The women in our family have worn this on their wedding day for generations.” Jo swallowed and blinked a few times before controlling the emotion her face almost expressed. “Aunt Kris eloped and never got to, but I know she’d want you to have it today.”

Jo knelt on the floor and carefully pulled the soft material of Kerris’s dress up from the hem. Kerris slid the garter up her thigh, smiling at the image of Jo, so regal even on her knees. Jo caught her eyes and offered a smile.

“I don’t have to ask this time if you love him,” Jo said, standing to her feet. “I know you do, and I know you’ll take care of him for me.”

“I can’t wait to give this garter back to you, Jo, on your wedding day.”

Jo’s laugh was a rough bark, so at odds with her refined appearance—hair caught at the back of her neck in an elegant bundle and gorgeous rose-colored silk dress draped around her lean body.

“That might take a miracle at this point.”

Kerris smiled, thinking of the implausible road that had led her to this day. That had led her to the man waiting just beyond the docked houseboat where she was getting dressed. Who even now stood under a covered bridge waiting to start the rest of their lives together. It had taken no less than a series of miracles to unite them.

“Lucky for you,” Kerris said to Jo as she headed toward the door, “I still believe in those.”

What else but a miracle would find her standing in front of Walsh Bennett moments later? His rakish grin deepened when Mama Jess handed her over to him. There was so little that was conventional about this day, so Mama Jess giving her away made complete sense. She gave Walsh one of her stern looks, but the tears in her eyes spoiled the effect. Meredith stood as Kerris’s maid of honor, her hair, pink as cotton candy, bright and glaring in the September sun. Walsh stood alone, no best man, and even as Kerris walked across the scattering of orchid petals to reach him, she wondered about Cam. He wasn’t here today, but she believed in her heart that he would be back in their lives when the time was right for them all.

---