Page 54 of Crazy Love

The justice of the peace clears his throat and begins. “We are gathered here today to unite…uh…Penn Evans and Abeline Hudson in holy?—”

“Penn Hudson and Adeline Evans,” Penn says softly.

“Right. Penn Hud and Abeline Evans,” the man says.

“Adeline,” Penn and I say at the same time.

“And Penn Hudson,” Penn adds.

The justice of the peace gets flustered and chuckles. “Sorry! It’s been a long day. Let’s start over.” He clears his throat again. “We are gathered here today to unite…Perry Hudson and Abeline Evans—oh wait.”

Sam lets out a choked laugh, covering his mouth.

Penn shakes his head in amusement. “You know what? Let’s just roll with it. Perry…Penn…Abeline…Adeline. As long as it’s right on the marriage license, we’re golden, right?”

We repeat the vows, the words taking on new meaning as we say them to each other. I don’t know what the future holds for us, not even a little bit, but my takeaway so far is that we’re going to have each other’s backs, no matter what. And more importantly, we’re going to have Sam’s back together.

I’m in for the surprise of my life when we’re asked if we have rings. I shake my head, feeling bad that I didn’t think of that, and even more when Penn pulls out three…one for him, and two for me. When he slides a slim band with tiny diamonds on my finger and then another more elaborate ring with three large, beautiful diamonds, also surrounded by tiny diamonds, I gasp.

“Penn! This is beautiful!”

Penn grins and tilts his head toward Sam. “He helped me pick it out.”

I look at Sam and reach out to squeeze his hand. “It’s perfect. Reminds me of the three of us.”

Sam’s eyes widen and his mouth drops. He looks at Penn and then back at me. “That’s what I thought too!” he says, pure excitement in his voice. “Right, Penn?”

“That’s exactly what Sam said.” Penn puts his hand on Sam’s shoulder and the two of them look like they could be related with their brown wavy hair, full lips, and hazel eyes.

“I love it,” I tell them both.

Penn hands me his ring and I slide it on his finger. “I’m sorry I didn’t think of this,” I whisper.

“It’s fine,” he whispers back. “Yours is the one meant to shine anyway…”

He glances at his hand with the ring on and takes a deep breath.

“This suddenly feels very real,” he says, gulping.

I nod. “I know what you mean.”

“I’m so glad you’re doing this with me…life. From the night we met in the Bahamas…it’s been an adventure,” he says.

I press my lips together and nod. “It sure has. And I think we’re about to have more.”

His lips lift, his eyes crinkling in the corners. “I think you’re right about that,” he says, kissing my knuckles. “We’re in this together.”

“In this together,” I echo.

We’re pronounced husband and wife. The justice of the peace doesn’t bother trying to say our names again.

“You may kiss the bride!”

Penn and I stare at each other awkwardly for a moment and then we both step forward. Penn smiles and closes the distance between us. His kiss is soft and so sweet. It lingers longer than I’m expecting and when we part, we blink at each other like we’re both in a fog.

“Woohoo! Perry and Abeline!” Sam says quietly, laughing.

Penn and I crack up and turn to hug him before going over to sign the papers.

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