Page 23 of Moonlight & Matrimony
“I get it. I fell in love with them as soon as we met, too,” Paige says, a warm smile replacing her previously pinched expression. Although her support means the world to me, I’m not entirely convinced she’s buying it. Luca’s pinky grazes mine, and I take it as an invitation to link our fingers. He raises our joined hands to his lips and the tenderness almost has my knees buckling.
“Nana, I was hoping I could talk to you,” he says.
“Yes, I bet you were. I suppose you’ll be needing this?” She raises her left hand, showing off an oval cluster ring with a large garnet in the center on a dainty gold band. It's clearly a family heirloom, and way too important for this fake marriage.
“I can’t possibly—” I start to speak, but Nana interrupts.
“Come here, beautiful girl. And you, too, Luca.” Her tone leaves no room for argument.
Luca tugs on my arm, leading us around to the head of the table where Nana sits perched like a queen on a throne. She hands him the ring, raising an eyebrow with some kind of unspoken command. Before I have a chance to decipher what’s happening between them, Luca drops down onto one knee right there at the head of the table for everyone to see, the ring pinched between his thumb and forefinger.
“Ivy, ever since I first saw you, I knew there would never be anyone else who could unravel me so completely. So, I’ll ask you again, for the third time, mind you, in front of some of the most important people in our lives… will you marry me?”
The room erupts into a mess of noise that I’m too distracted to analyze because Luca is looking up at me with an expression I can’t even begin to describe. “Sweetheart… this is the part where you say yes.”
I nod, still unable to form words as Luca's impromptu speech replays in my mind. It felt real —too real. But all of the tension leaves my body the moment Luca stands and slides his grandmother’s ring onto my left hand. “It’s a perfect fit,” I whisper.
“I knew it would be,” Luca says, intertwining our fingers.
“Third time, huh?” Paige asks. I’m not sure how to respond, so I just laugh it off. But Luca plays into the farce, giving Paige exactly what she wants.
“I practically had to beg her to marry me,” he says, pulling me into him with a hand on my hip. Our bodies collide, the air becoming thick with tension as I let him wrap his arms around me in a gentle embrace. It’s just a hug, but it feels like so much more as my cheek rests on his chest, his heartbeat pounding in sync with mine.
The room grows quiet as Luca leads me to the long bench seat where Rylin is sitting. We take a spot on either side, caging her between us. I don’t know if Luca anticipated the need to sit beside Rylin instead of me, or if he’s just smitten with my girl, but it melts another piece of my frigid heart.
“So, do we have a dress? Flowers? Plans for a reception?” Paige asks.
“Let me bring you back down to earth, hun. You are about to birth a whole human being. Despite your compulsion to micromanage everything, you need to take it easy.” It’s not thatI don’twantall of those things. But I’ve already done the big wedding, and when I think back on it, the only thing left is regret. It’s best if we get this done with minimal fanfare.
“You at least need a dress.” The pleading look in her eyes is almost unbearable. “I can go with you —”
“Absolutely not. The closest boutique is one town over, and I will not be responsible for the little nugget’s early entrance into the world.”
“You can drive and I’ll park myself in a chair near the mirrors, I promise.” She gives me her best puppy dog eyes and I feel my resolve crumbling.
I shift to look at her husband. “Cade, a little help here.”
“You’re seriously fucked if you think I’m going to get between my woman and the chance to plan a wedding.” He tugs open a roll, smearing butter in the middle before popping it into his mouth. Speaking around the bite, he continues, “In her defense, she didn’t get to help plan her own wedding.”
She smiles at her husband affectionately, no doubt recalling her gorgeous surprise backyard ceremony. “It was perfect, babe. But you make a good point,” she says, plastering on a fake pout. “Pleeeeease?”
“Ugh. Fine. You win.”
“Liam is ordained,” Cade chimes in again, adding yet another lingering question about the ever mysterious Liam.
“What? Why? And why are you telling me this?”
“Well, if you wanted to get married somewhere other than city hall, Liam can officiate and it would be basically the same thing. You’d have to apply for the license and we could plan some kind of ceremony at… oh, I don’t know… the ranch?”
My heart skips a beat at the mention of my favorite place in the world. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to get married out there someday, but this is too much for a fake marriage.
“The ranch?” Sofia asks, taking in the very conflicted emotions flitting across my face.
“Whispering Oaks. It belongs to Russell and Evelyn Hayes,” I explain. “They’re basically my surrogate parents. It’s beautiful out there, all lush green hills and a pasture with the most beautiful horses I’ve ever seen. It’s peaceful.”
The ranch is where I found solace after my mom died, and again when I left Austin. It’s my sanctuary, and it would feel like a betrayal to make this into something it’s not — something profound and permanent.
“It sounds perfect,” Luca says. “If that’s what you want.” His arm reaches over Rylin’s head to tuck a stray hair behind my ear and, for a moment, the entire room fades away — the graze of his fingertips causing goosebumps to scatter along my body.
