Page 89 of The Player in New Zealand
I crossed the room, leaning against the small counter between Tane’s living room and kitchen, resting on my elbows. He mirrored me on the other side.
“I like the way you propose, Tane Taumata.” I pressed a kiss to his lips.
“I like the way you accept, Claire Bailey, or maybe Claire Taumata.”
I smiled up at him. “You, sir, are looking very confident.”
His eyes twinkled. “I am pretty confident that I can convince you to stay in New Zealand. You’ve still got a lot to explore, and I’m going to make sure you love it.”
And I was pretty confident too. Between Tane and New Zealand itself, somehow I was finding my place.
EPILOGUE
“Your sister is goingto kill me. My sister is going to kill me,” Tane said, tugging at the sleeves of his suit.
“Don’t worry,” I said cheerfully. “They’ll probably coordinate it.”
We walked toward the front of the courthouse in Wellington, ready to see a judge and get officially married. It all seemed a little surreal even though we had talked about it months ago. For the last few months, my ability to call Tane my boyfriend had an expiration date—either I left the country or we got married.
So we were getting married.
Granted that wasn’t going to solve everything. Turns out, partnership visas are pretty hard to get in New Zealand. But this was a start, and Tane and I were committed to staying together.
I had always thought that Iris would get married first, to Chris. But now that my sister had gone full-on vagabond, I had no idea what her thoughts were on marriage.
Man, I really missed her. I needed to see her soon, remind myself in person that even if she’d made huge changes in her life, she was still the same sister, my best friend and my staunch supporter.
Tane and I reached the stairs leading up to the courthouse and I threaded my fingers through his. Dry & Draught had opened two weeks ago here in Wellington, but I had only a month left on my visa. We had stuck to our proposal—no party, no guests.
We hadn’t told anyone that we were getting married today. Just a government official and a witness.
I had stressed over the decision, but Tane assured me that his family would understand—Emily had already done the mother-of-the-bride thing, and Tane felt like he was free and clear.
He also assured me that we would, indeed, have a honeymoon. It would just be a bit delayed. We were too busy with the bar to take time off now, but six months from today we would fly out for a week of honeymooning in Fiji.
We had not stuck to our agreement about attire, though, and I had surprised Tane with my dress. No, it wasn’t sequined, but it was mid-thigh, off-white, and lacy. The crew neck fit me perfectly and it wasn’t often that I’d fallen in love with clothes. But somehow the idea of a dress sat in the back of my mind and when I saw it shopping one day, I had to have it.
Tane’s suit was crisp and gray pin-striped, reminding me of the pictures of him online at special events during his career. He confessed that it wasn’t one of those suits—they didn’t fit him anymore—and he’d gotten a new one.
While the temperature in spring was fairly mild, the damn winds were still constant and they had extra bite. I had a black wrap draped over my shoulders to try to fight the chill from the car to the building.
Tane opened the door for me and I stepped inside, immediately feeling relief from the wind. We talked to the person working the security desk and followed the signs to find the right office. We turned a corner and Tane and I both froze in place.
Our sisters were waiting outside the door.
Iriswas waiting outside the door.
“Surprise!” she whisper-shouted in the marble hallway.
I glanced up at Tane, who was just as shocked as I was, and back to our sisters. “How did you know?”
“Oh please,” Nina said. “You both marked today off, and Claire went all gooey-eyed when she saw that dress.”
Okay, Ihadbeen shopping with Nina when I saw the dress in a thrift store, but I thought I’d hid my interest well enough. I’d left it on the rack, but circled back to the store hours later and bought it.
And insisting that we get married one month before the expiration of my visa meant that Tane and I had both taken off on a Saturday—unheard of. So maybe we weren’t very discreet.
We finally unfroze as our sisters walked toward us with arms outstretched for hugs.
