Page 66 of Savage SEAL's Virgin
“Great job, baby. You just keep on saying ‘I do’ and I will too. We’ll be hitched before you know it. Then we can go up to our hotel …”
“For God’s sakes, Troy!” his mother grumbled at him. “I’m right here, son! Now, go back to where you were and I’ll have her there ASAP.”
He let my hand go and mumbled as he walked away, “I wasn’t going to say anything nasty, Mom.”
She opened the bathroom door with the little kit in her hand. “Sure, he wasn’t.”
I nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure he was about to get graphic.”
After I had done a quick brush and done what I could with my face and hair, I shooed her out and gave myself a pep talk. “Okay, Blyss Danner, you’re about to change your life forever. Say goodbye to that young woman who preferred to be alone. Those days are long gone. Prepare to be in a crowd at nearly all times and to love those people who make up that crowd. And prepare to be loved by them too. The lonely times are over for you. You, lucky girl, you have a family, a home, and a man who would walk through fire for you. You have it all, in spades. And you know what, Blyss Danner? You deserve it!”
I stepped out that door. I picked up my bouquet off the little round table that was just outside the door and I smiled. I was doing something I never thought I’d do. I was marrying a man. And not just any man. I was marrying a man who was better than any I’d ever dreamed about.
As I moved into place, the wedding march began and I saw my man standing at the end of the aisle. His smile was every bit as wide as mine was. We were happy, he and I. We would make it work. We had a daughter and a son on the way. We were already a family. The marriage was the icing on top of a fantastic cake.
Every step I took brought me closer to the man I’d prayed would come back to me. And there he was, fifty pounds lighter after going through hell. But he was there and he wanted me. More than he wanted to rest and recuperate, he wanted to make me his wife.
No one was luckier than I was.
As I walked past Tatum, she whispered, “You look beautiful, Mommy.”
I looked at her and blew her a kiss. “Thank you. So do you.”
“I know.”
We all had to laugh at her darling ways. Our little princess was well aware of how adorable she was, and I always wanted her to know that.
I’d grown up trying to be invisible. I’d had no idea that I was even remotely pretty. Not until Troy showed me I was. He made me feel beautiful. I wanted Tatum and all of our children to know they were special and beautiful on the outside as well as the inside.
I gave the bouquet of flowers to Tatum to hold for me, and she beamed at me. “I’ll take good care of them as the best flower girl ever.”
“I trust you, Tatum.”
Then I went to Troy, who was waiting so patiently for me. “Hey, you.” He took my hand. “You ready to become Mrs. Masterson?”
All I could do was nod. A lump had decided to move into my throat as tears began to sting my eyes.
A day ago, the man who was holding my hand, saying things a strange man told him to, was near death. He was living in a prison, being fed insects, and given filthy water. It’s safe to say that most men who’d gone through that wouldn’t be standing at an altar in Las Vegas at almost midnight, getting married. But my man was.
Emotions overwhelmed me, but I was thankful the lump in my throat allowed me to say those all-important words, ‘I do,’ whenever I was asked about devoting myself to the man whose blue-green eyes looked at me like I was a goddess. Would I ever be able to live up to being the wife Troy Masterson deserved? Maybe not. But God knew I’d try my best to be the woman who’d make him the best man he could be.
He brought things out of me. I didn’t know from where they came. I didn’t know I had the capacity to love someone else’s child like she was my own. I didn’t know I had the courage to stay strong when I had no idea if the man I loved was alive or dead. That was something I’d certainly never want to find out about myself again.Never again!
But I had done it, and it was Troy Masterson who had showed me I could. He took me to the brink of pain so bad, some would think it couldn’t be withstood. But I took it. I made pain work to heal me. My poor broken soul was getting better all the time. I was no longer the little girl who no one wanted. I was a woman, and a very special man wanted me.
The one thing I remembered, the thing I’d never forget, was when the preacher asked me, “Blyss, do you take this man to be your lawfully-wedded husband, until death do you part?”
I smiled as I looked at Troy. He seemed to be holding his breath, waiting to see if I’d welch on him right at the finish line. “Breathe, Troy. I do take you to be my lawfully-wedded husband, until death do us part.”
He let the air expel from his lungs. “I wasn’t scared.”
We both laughed, then he finished his vows, slid the wedding rings we’d used for our fake marriage back onto our fingers, and we kissed.
When our mouths met for the first time as a real married couple, fireworks went off in my head, our baby kicked, and Tatum came up, hugging us with happy tears in her little eyes that looked just like her daddy’s.
It was official. We were a family.The Mastersons!
Troy
