Page 157 of Every Chance After

“You’re right,” I say, breathless and spinning over his words.He wants to marry me?After Colin and Tamsyn’s Christmas miracle and Luke and Willow’s ‘accident,’ I thought for sure Grady was having baby yearnings. His doting attention upticked significantly, but at the same time, he grew quieter.

Like he felt sorry for me.

Sorry for us.

Sorry for himself.

Sure, I let my curse-minded brain take over at that point. It’s hard not to think everything will fall apart when we’ve had it so, so good. That’s been the story of my life.

But that’s not our story.

The intense way he stares into my eyes—so loving and familiar—his beautiful words, tender touches, and this lovely home we’ve created together shore up my belief in something stronger than any supposed curse. True love.

And that love for him swells so intensely just then that I’d do anything he wants.

He’s right. Maybe my perspective is cursed rather than the day itself. Yes, one year ago, I nearly died, and part of me did. Everything I thought I wanted was wrecked by chance, and it was the worst day for us both.

But it was also the day we found each other. It was the day I finally belonged to a family after all (though not the family I expected), because he became mine. He fought for me. He comforted me. We bonded together.

“I’m right?” he says, eyeing my lips like he wants to give into them again.

“We should celebrate.”

His smile curls up his cheek. “Good.”

“We should get married.”

His face lights up. “Really? You’ll marry me?”

“Yes, darling,” I smirk.

“Today?” he asks.

“Today or any day,” I say with a kiss.

“Today?” he asks again, with a serious, raspy voice.

My brow shoots up my forehead. “Areyousaying that can be arranged?”

“You don’t even have to leave the house,” he grins.

“Eep! You planned it? Arranged it?”

“Just in case.”

I melt into his tender kisses.

“Say yes, Marina. Please be my wife.”

“Yes, Grady. Absolutely, yes.”

The wedding comes to me. Within hours, our cabin fills with our friends and family. Everyone arrives with a contribution—it’s a potluck wedding—and nothing is what one would expect.

But that’s been us from the beginning.

Mack, Christie, Roy, and Wade bring hay bales and blankets, creating picnic-style seating in the backyard. Elena, Carmela, and Mom provide a buffet-style meal on the back porch, featuring smoked meats and all their best desserts. Peter delivers a replica of the G&G’s smoking porch, only with windows overlooking the lake, for our altar. Wren decorates it with gauzy tulle, twinkle lights, and hanging crystals that create prisms in the sunlight. Marigold provides a comic-book-style wedding program that tells the story of Shadow Man and his sunshiny nemesis, Fire-Bright. Luke and Gil team up as deejays. Alice Harvey brings lavender bouquets and arrangements, and my new bestie, Ivy, acts as our official photographer. They set up games as table centerpieces for the reception and put little bowties on the dogs and cats.

Tamsyn and Willow bring a gorgeous a-line, sweetheart, corset dress, off-white and covered in embroidered wildflowers. Mom says it flatters my figure while still making me look like a princess. That’s how I feel, too, like I’ve walked off the page of some fairy tale. But more than that, I stare in the long mirror of our bedroom, surrounded by my favorite women, and I feel confident and empowered.

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