Unbreakable (City Lights, #2)(120)

He caught her mid-stride and lifted her up. “I did, honey.”

“And what did you say?” she demanded of me sternly.

“I said, yes,” I laughed. The only answer I could ever give.

“Yay!” Callie clapped her hands together. “That means we get to have a wedding.”

“True,” Cory said, setting her down. “But weddings take time to plan and…”

I closed my eyes and turned my face to the sun. I love you here and now, he’d said. My love for him was so boundless, my own bliss so deep, that I’d never felt so content in my life, here and now. In that moment. Yes, I thought. Here and now.

“Let’s get married here. Today.”

Cory and Callie stared at me, and then Callie burst out, “Yes! Now I say, yes!”

Cory looked at me, marveling. “You want to?”

“I can’t think of anything I want more.”

“But what about your parents? Your mother? Jesus, she’ll murder me in my sleep if we get married without her.”

“We can have a big party when we get back. We’ll probably have to do something official at city hall, anyway.”

“You don’t want a big fancy wedding?”

I laughed. Just saying the words brought a sour expression to his face. “No,” I said, leaning close. “I don’t want a wedding. I want to be your wife.”

Cory shook his head. “You amaze the hell out of me.”

I kissed him, laughing, then knelt to hug Callie. She threw her arms around my neck, and I could feel her tears. Callie cried very easily these days but this time, at least, it was for joy.

“I’m so happy you love my daddy so much,” she whispered.

“I do. I love him so much. And I love you too, baby. So much.”

#

Cory and I were married standing ankle deep in the surf at sunset, with a cruise ship captain serving as our officiate. A young Fijian man, just starting out his wedding photo business, snapped pictures.

Talei served as both witness and maid of honor, while her two little girls and Callie threw plumeria flower petals into the clear blue water. I wore a wreath of the same white, star-shaped flower in my hair, and Cory’s neck was draped with them in a kind of lei. Onlookers strolling the beach gathered to watch and when the captain pronounced us man and wife, a chorus of cheers went up.

I kissed my new husband for the first time, overcome. Cory’s eyes shone but it was my tears that escaped, and he held my face, not brushing them away, but letting them fall.

“You never cry,” he whispered.

I smiled through my tears. “I’ve never been so happy.”



The End