Page 84 of A Royal Arrangement
After a few steps, he realized Wes wasn’t beside him anymore. Colin turned around to ask him what was wrongto find his friend’s face as white as freshly fallen snow and his brows furrowed.
“What’s wrong?” Colin crossed back to him, shaking his friend’s shoulder. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Wes shook his head and blinked his eyes in rapid succession before aiming his gaze at Colin. “Sorry about that.” He put back on a smile, but it looked forced. “Everything’s fine. Let’s go get you married…again.” Wes winked and walked past him, careful to walk far away from the ceremony set up where everyone was already seated.
There was definitely something his friend wasn’t telling him. But Colin knew better than anyone that you couldn’t drag information out of someone before they were ready to share it.
He straightened his suit coat and ran his hands through his hair. It was time for him to go ask his wife to marry him again. Colin made his way back to where the runner started and wrung his hands together in nervous excitement as he waited for her.
Colin had Addie give Rosalie a note this morning, letting her know she would be getting pampered all day and there would be a surprise for her at the beach that evening. Owners from a local salon and spa had come to the palace and given her a manicure and pedicure before the royal hairstylist worked on her hair and makeup for the big occasion. He had arranged for the royal stylist to drop off her wedding dress about thirty minutes ago, and he couldn’t wait to see her in it.
Everything was going perfectly so far. Now he just needed Rosalie and Addie to finally arrive at the beach. When he spotted Rosalie walking down the rose-petal-strewn runner, her eyes covered with one hand and Addie clasping onto theother, it brought tears to his eyes. They were his family, and he couldn’t wait to see Rosalie’s reaction to not only the wedding but also to Addie’s surprise for her later.
His daughter pulled his wife forward, giggling with an exuberant smile on her face. She looked absolutely adorable in her lavender flower girl dress. But Rosalie…she took his breath away. Her hair was down and curled loosely, fitting in well with the beach setting and making him want to run his fingers through it.
Rosalie’s long white dress flowed behind her as she walked toward him. It was off the shoulder and covered in delicate lace like the one she had worn in their chapel wedding, but everything else about the dress was different. This one wasn’t fitted—it was light and fluttered in the breeze coming off the ocean. Charlotte had selected it, and she’d promised him it would be exactly what Rosalie wanted. She called it boho—whatever that was. All he knew was that his wife looked radiant in it.
When they finally reached him, Addie ran over to her grandparents, and Colin took Rosalie’s hands in his. A smile instantly covered her face, though her eyes remained pinched shut.
“Can I look now?” Rosalie asked, rocking a little bit on her heels.
“You can open your eyes.”
She opened her eyes and blinked rapidly, probably trying to acclimate her sight to the bright sun. He watched as she took in everything around them. Her attention moved from him to the chairs filled with all their friends and family. When she looked up at him again, she wore a wide grin, and tears brimmed in her eyes.
“Colin…” Rosalie started to talk, but her words cut off as she held a hand to her mouth.
“I wanted to give you the wedding of your dreams. The wedding you deserve.” Colin reached into his inner suit coat pocket, pulling out a black velvet ring box before getting down on one knee. “Will you marry meagain, sunshine?”
She leaned down and grabbed his face, giving him a quick kiss before wrapping her arms around his neck and whispering, “Yes! I’ll marry you today, tomorrow, and every day for the rest of forever.”
He smiled up at her. This right here was one of the moments he would save away for the hard days. A new core memory of the woman he loved smiling at him as if he’d hung the moon for her. Colin pulled out the ring he’d bought for her, a beautiful cushion-cut solitaire diamond set in a thin white-gold band. He slid it onto her finger, and she gazed at it with her always-present smile.
“It’s so beautiful. You didn’t have to get me another ring.”
Colin wrapped his hand around hers. “I wanted to—for the woman I love.”
“Okay, good, because I don’t want to give it back.” Rosalie laughed, wrapping her arms around him again. “I really don’t want to let go, but we should probably give these people the wedding they came here for.”
Colin chuckled as he released her. “I’ll see you at the end of the aisle.” With a wink, he walked to the altar. When he reached the front row, Rosalie’s father stood and extended his hand. Colin shook it and gave him a nod, a silent acknowledgment that he would always take care of his daughter.
Before he knew it, a string quartet was playing her favorite love song, and Rosalie was strolling down the aisletoward him, holding the bouquet of white roses and eucalyptus leaves Charlotte had handed her.
She looked around, smiling at everyone in attendance and even waving excitedly at a few people she likely hadn’t expected to see there. Meanwhile, Colin was only looking at her.
It was a stark contrast to their original wedding day about ten months ago when he had done everything he could to avoid eye contact. Colin reached his hand into his pocket, but he didn’t need Isabella’s wedding band to calm him anymore, because having Rosalie here in the flesh with him now was all he needed to feel at peace. Isabella would always have a place in his heart, but Rosalie was the person who now held it.
Rosalie handed off her bouquet to her mother and then came to join him by the altar where the pastor walked them through their vows again. Because this was a private ceremony just for them to celebrate with their family and friends, Colin held Rosalie’s hands the entire time. The renewal of their vows felt so special as they both knew they truly meant each and every word they were saying this time around.
“By the power vested in me, I proclaim youstillmarried,” the pastor said, causing the crowd to laugh. “You may now kiss your bride.”
Colin took Rosalie into his arms and dipped her before kissing her with all the emotion he’d held bottled up throughout the ceremony. The crowd erupted with clapping and cheers and a wolf whistle that could only have come from Wes.
When he set Rosalie squarely back on her feet, she wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tight.
“Esteemed guests, it’s my pleasure to now present their Royal Majesties, Colin and Rosalie, King and Queen of Edgemont.”
Colin interlocked his fingers with his wife and lifted their joined hands into the air before walking back down the aisle.
