They were together despite who her family was and the world they lived in. Thinking about it brought back another of their conversations over why he’d left all those years ago. She’d told him she’d fallen in love with him back thenbecausehe didn’t fit in that world. Because she’d never really fit in either. She’d been pretending her whole life until she met him.
When I’m with you, I don’t have to pretend.
Her words still staggered him. He’d known she was more herself with him but hearing her verbalize it had washed away the last of his fears on the subject. He was enough. And together, they weremorethan enough.
Imogen appeared at the end of the aisle, and Mat’s breath stuttered in his chest. She looked amazing in her dress, but the thing he found the most alluring was her smile. It lit her whole face, making her shine brighter than the jewels sewn onto her skirt.
Their eyes locked, and his next fifty years played out in her gaze. This might not be how they would’ve chosen to get married, but what mattered were the vows they were about to take.
Emotion clogged his throat, watching Imogen glide down the aisle on her father’s arm. Then and there, Mat promised to love and cherish her, for better or worse, for all the days of their life.
When her father placed her hand in his, everyone else ceased to exist for Mat. The hundreds of eyes staring at them faded away until it was only Imogen. She’d saved him before he’d known he needed it. Made him whole before he’d known he wasbroken. She was his everything. The light in his world. The love in his heart. It beat because of her.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
The priest’s words woke Mat up. With a grin, he pulled Imogen in and kissed her like no one was watching.
My wife.
Imogen was his wife—his family—and he couldn’t ask for anything more.