Page 138 of Rapunzel Is Losing It

I swallowed, my throat bobbing against his mouth.

“It’s love because when I touch you like that, neither of us hides who we are.”

“I take it back,” I breathed, “but it only makes me love your hands even more.”

“Good,” he chuckled, his fists flexing, teasing my scalp.

“Now I need you to stop touching me like this, or we won’t actually make it to the wedding.”

Outside,a small aisle was covered in pink flower petals from the winter garden to the pond. I’d somehow ended up adopting four white ducks last week, who were all paddling away in thesun. Meanwhile, Beck waited by the edge of the water with the officiant, standing under an arch of blue flowers. He was clad in a gray coattails and a pale blue cravat, looking exactly like the English lord from one of Del’s historical romance novels.

Four rose gold chairs on either side of the small aisle led towards the pond. The front rows were reserved for Del’s mom and grandma on one side, Brody and Isaac on the other side. Victor and I took our seats behind Del’s family.

“Have you seen Defne?” Tabitha dropped into the chair across the aisle from me. Her pixie cut stood off in all directions and her mascara and lipstick were smudged.

“I think she’s helping Del maneuver her dress in the bathroom. Why?”

“I’m holding onto her phone, and it’s been ringing off the hook.” She pulled a small compact from her purse and started reapplying her mauve lipstick, rubbing at the smudged corners.

“Tabitha,” I narrowed my eyes at her disheveled appearance, “did you just have sex in my house?”

“No,” she scoffed, “what kind of heathen do you take me for? I just had sex in a car parked outside your house.”

I didn’t even get the chance to reply because Defne breezed towards us and plopped into the chair on Tabitha’s other side. “Okay, she’s ready. Here we go,” she huffed.

“I shut this off because some New York number keeps calling.” Tabitha dropped the phone in Defne’s lap.

“Did you pick up?”

“No,” she scoffed, “I was busy.”

My eyes flicked to Brody who was cackling and scratching at a stain on Isaac’s shirt collar that looked an awful lot like mauve lipstick. “Tabitha-” I started, only to immediately turn the other way when the music started spilling from the speakers.

Del stepped out of the winter garden in a beautiful empire waist dress. Thin white lace was layered over opalescent satinand hundreds of small blue pearls shimmered in the sunlight. It wasn’t a traditional wedding dress, more like something out of a regency movie, but it was whimsical and romantic and completelyher.

My eyes skipped from her to Beck, who was watching her every step with the biggest smile I’d ever seen on him. Not one of those perfectly polite smiles, but a big, bright, honest smile. And the second Del was within reach, his hands were around hers, and he pulled her in for a kiss. An impossible kiss because both of them were smiling too much.

The ceremony was short and sweet, and instead of exchanging vows, they exchanged letters that they silently read. Considering how public their relationship had started, this was perfect, and it was all theirs.

The other side of the backyard was set up with a large table, covered in pink and blue flowers and pearls, and when everyone crowded around it after the ceremony, Victor wordlessly took my hand under the table. He soothed my nerves without me even having to glance his way.

I laced my fingers through his and scooted my chair a little closer to him.

“Alright?”

“Yeah,” I breathed and leaned into him, soaking up his warm, grounding scent, and letting my head rest on his shoulder for a moment. It would have been a lie to say that I liked having a large group of people in my space, but Del was beaming, and our friends were laughing, and the huge piece of cake in front of me oozed caramel, and I was sitting next to the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. “More than alright.”

EPILOGUE

“Try this one.”I placed a sparkling pink thermos cup on the side table next to Cordelia. At least I’d learned my lesson not to let her see the green and brown smoothies anymore. The color alone made her throw up.

“No, thank you, I’m good.” She placatingly patted my arm. Despite the bronze tan she’d curated, there was no warmth in her cheeks.

My vision had improved over the past year, but I still needed a lot of light to make out any details. Right now, the bright summer sun just drove home how bad Cordelia had gotten, because I could make out the dark purpling shadows under her eyes, and the ghostly paling of her lips.

“You’re a shitty liar, zhizn’ moya.” I climbed onto the winter garden chaise behind her, legs slotting around her hips.

“I’ll just end up sick again.”

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