Page 69 of Honeyed

“It makes sense,” Evan hedges, holding his hands up as if surrendering before Alana and I attack him. “The elopement was so quick, and Arthur had just died. Not that I don’t think you two are real, but … hell, you have to realize it does make some sense when we think about it.”

“No one is questioning how much you love each other.” Cass gives the entire family a death stare in our defense.

“We just worry about you.” Leona’s eyes switch back and forth to focus on both of us, almost like she doesn’t want to believe this is how I got her daughter to marry me.

Thomas continues his rant as if he’ll convince Alana I’m bad news. “He used you as some piece in a game, a term to fulfill a contract. All I, all we, have ever wanted for you is a husband who loves you the way you deserve to be loved. That’s why I told him to stay away all those years ago. Because I knew something like this would happen, and it did!”

That’s when I snap. Because no way in fucking hell is he taking those verbal swings at me without a fight.

“You don’t think I know what a rare gem, a diamond, I have?” My voice is deadly as all eyes in the room swing to me. “You don’t think I’ve loved this woman since I was eleven years old? You think that just because I had some fucking deal set down in front of me, that was the only reason I married her?”

At my side, Alana gasps. Because I’ve barely made these sentiments out loud, and here I am, confessing it in front of everyone.

“I’ve been in love with her every minute of every day since I can remember. I’ve sacrificed my own heart because I thought that was best for her. That’s not putting her above everything? The push may have come from Arthur’s last wishes, but make no mistake; I asked your daughter to marry me because I have been in love with her for a very long time. Whatever her desire, I plan to fulfill that. If, at some point, she doesn’t love me the same way, I’ll sign whatever papers she serves me with. If she wants to open a hundred storefronts, I’ll buy them just to see her smile. If she wants to run away to an island and live in a hut on the beach, I’m going too. Whatever she wants because that’s what I want. Because she deserves to be the happiest version of herself. And if she ever decides that isn’t with me, then I’ll break my own heart again so that she can be that.”

The entire Ashton family is looking at me, some with tears in their eyes, one with a scowl on his face, and another with pure wonder and shock on hers. But I’m not done.

“That is my wife. No one on earth gets to speak to her this way. I have respected the hell out of you for years, Thomas. But if you ever talk to her like that again, you’ll regret it.”

Beating my chest would probably be too dramatic, but that’s what I feel like doing now. Never in my life have I had something to claim as my own. I’ve always been an afterthought or a hanger-on. But Alana and me? We’re our own little family now—a unit. And I’ll defend that with everything I have.

All of a sudden, I’m nearly bowled over by the impact of a body slamming into me. I catch Alana before we topple over, and she buries her face in my neck as her legs wrap around my hips. I crush her to me, feeling the all-consuming love of her so close to me in front of everyone who matters to us.

There is no question whether this is real, not to me for a while now and definitely not to them after my words and her actions. I walk us out of the restaurant, leaving them all standing there in our wake. Sure, we have things to settle. Right now, though, I need to tell my wife something I should have told her years ago.

Of course, though, she beats me to it.

The minute I get us into the alley beside Hope Pizza and press her back to the brick wall, she’s on me.

“I love you.” She breathes, peppering my face with kisses.

My heart flies. Not only have I been waiting for years to hear those words from her, but I’ve been waiting for that sentiment to mean everything it’s supposed to. I’ve heard others say they loved me throughout my life, but none of it meant anything until it came from Alana.

“I love you so much, it’s hard to breathe at times when you’re in the room. I remember the first time it slapped me upside the head, that you were the only person on the planet for me; we were sitting at your kitchen table after having a snowball fight and a marshmallow got stuck to your upper lip. I swiped it away and you held my gaze for a minute, then giggled at the way the marshmallow had melted into my fingertip. I knew, right then, that I would be in love with you for the rest of my life.”

She holds my face in her delicate hands, our noses brushing as we basically breathe for each other. Air in through my mouth and exhaled into hers, then back again.

“It was never fake, do you hear me? I’ve loved you from the start.” She needs to know I’m serious about this.

“I’ve wanted to say those words to you for weeks. Months, since we stood at the courthouse altar. Years, since I first saw you help my mother bring in groceries in the eighth grade. You volunteered while the rest of my family sat on the couch. Hearing you defend me in there took away the last shreds of doubt. All I’ve ever wanted was to come first, be your top priority, like you’ve always been to me.”

“Alana, I love you more than anything on this earth. I’ll keep trying to show you that every day that we are together.”

“I love you,” she whispers.

“I love you,” I say back again.

I want to kiss her, to take her home to our bed, but part of me doesn’t want to break this moment. It figures I’d tell her here, for the first time, outside of the pizzeria that saw us through so much of our lives.

“I love you,” she says again.

“I love you.” I laugh because we can’t stop.

“Are we doomed to stay in this loop, repeating it forever?” She giggles.

“Fine with me.”

Only when my arms get tired do I let her down, grab her hand, then drive her home so we can spend the night tangled in each other, using those three little words over and over again.

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