Page 87 of Yours, Now and Always
They both giggle and swing our hands between us as we walk the flower-lined path. Their dresses whisper against their ankles, curls bouncing, cheeks pink with excitement. They’ll never remember this moment the way I will. But god, I hope they feel it forever. The joy. The magic. The safety.The love that built all of this.
And then we reach the edge of the path where the glass doors of the greenhouse stand open. Luna gasps loudly. Sarah grips my hand tighter. “Is this real?” she whispers.
I feel everything they’re feeling, because inside, it looks like a love spell exploded. My brain tries to process it all at once but just can’t. There’s too much beauty. Too much light. Everything is shimmering and I don’t know if that’s the crystals or my eyes or both.
The aisle is lined with candles in gold and glass. Flowers spill from every corner—roses in soft blush and ivory, tangled with greenery. Pale petals are scattered like confetti down the sides of the aisle. The chandeliers above are strung with crystal garlands that catch the last light of the sun and throw it across the glass walls in flashes of gold and rose.
It’s wild. It’s alive. It’s so far beyond anything I imagined.
I knew Gage was having the glasshouse decorated for the ceremony. But this? This isn’t just decoration. This is my husband’s heart on display.
I try to memorize every detail, but my brain keeps getting stuck on individual candles. There are so many. An unreasonable number of candles. And oh my god, who counts candles at their own wedding? Me, apparently.
“It’s a fairy castle,” Luna breathes.
Tim lets out a quiet sound. “Okay. Nope. I’m emotionally unprepared for this kind of romance.”
You and me both. Except I’m also chemically unprepared.
“He built all of this for you,” Colin says quietly from beside me.
I nod, but I can’t speak. Becausefeelings. So. Many. Feelings.
Our families are sitting inside, waiting. Beyond them, strings swell, the first notes of the new song I wrote for Gage. The one he doesn’t know I’m walking down the aisle to.
I forget every chaotic second that came before this. The nerves, the smudged mascara, the cookie incident. All of it fades.
Well, notallof it. I still feel like I’m gliding through the world. Still thinking about asking the flowers questions. Still wondering if my skin reallyisas glittery as I think. But that doesn’t matter. Because Gage is at the end of that aisle.
My forever.
Marin exhales beside me, her eyes glimmering. “Alright,” she murmurs. “Let’s walk this love into the world.”
Then she’s gone, the first to step through the glass doors and into the glow. Her copper dress catches the candlelight, turning her into some kind of fire spirit moving down the aisle, soft petals scattering at her feet.
Luna and Sarah smile up at me, and then they step in front to walk down the aisle first. Tim adjusts his cuff dramatically on my left, muttering something about “holding emotional space and a bouquet at the same time,” while Colin stands steady on my right, a grounding presence.
And then we move.
The doors close behind us, and the world narrows to glass and light and the sound of the wedding song I composed for Gage. Our families rise in a shimmer of movement, and for the first few steps, I have to remind myself to breathe.
Gage is a whole-ass situation in that black tux I definitely didn’t stare at for long enough earlier. Hands clasped in front of him. Shoulders tight.
The second I take my first step, everything in him stills. As if the air stopped existing for him too. His chest rises, deep. Controlled. Then, his throat works once, and knowing him like I do, I know he’s fighting to keep it together. To force his emotions down.
He keeps his eyes firmly on mine and I see the depth of his feelings there. It hits me all at once. That look in his eyes.That love. The weight of what we’ve survived to stand here. And my knees almost give out.
Colin feels it. I know he does, because his hand tightens on mine and he says quietly, “You’ve got this.”
Tim swallows a sound that’s somewhere between a sob and a squeak. “Okay, I didn’t budget for this level of emotional damage.”
I laugh, just barely, and it steadies me.
The girls twirl ahead, scattering petals like tiny angels who have no idea they’re walking me into the rest of my life.
My brothers take every step with me. Two constants who never stopped showing up, even when I didn’t know how to ask. And now they’re giving me away, because they know I’m exactly where I’m meant to be.
Halfway down the aisle, my gaze catches on two faces near the front.
