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She rolls her eyes and throws her hair back. "That's a dumb idea, Xander."
"I know. I was dumb. I was the biggest idiot on the planet, and if I have to spend the rest of my life making it up to you, I will. I gave you the rubies. I did all of those things. And my only hope right now is that you’ll give me the opportunity to do just that.”
She sniffles. “To do what?”
“To start over. I know I gave you rubies in the beginning, but things changed. You changed me, Mel,” I whisper. “I started this marriage in bad faith. But I had this ring, one that I knew you would love, made. I was going to ask you in Cabo." I lift my shoulder and drop it back. "Things got out of hand, and I didn't have the time."
She snorts. “You can say that again.”
“I’m so damn sorry, Mel. So sorry that we didn’t have this sooner. That I didn’t ask you then.”
She watches me for a moment as if she's making up her mind about something. "So ask me now "
I put my heart out there. "Will you marry me, Melissa Sedric?"
"You know what?" She asks, tilting her head back and sending dread and love keening through me. How is it possible that she is able to elicit a thousand different emotions, all counter to each other at the same time within me? "I think I will."
She holds out her hand and I slip the large ruby off, throwing it behind me so it pings off a surface and rolls away. I slip the ring out of the box and slide it on her finger, loving the way she bends her hand immediately to watch the light glint off it. "I like it. It's lovely."
I blow out a relieved breath and hug her tight, squishing our son between us. "I love you Melissa. I hope I'm able to protect you as much."
She presses a kiss to my cheeks. "I hope you don't have to."
EPILOGUE
MELISSA AMORY
"I pronounce you husband and wife!"
As soon as the preacher says them, I kiss Xander with everything I’ve got.
He kisses me back, and the church erupts into hoots around us.
The moment is a blur. The ring on my finger feels solid, a diamond band that has absolutely no hint of a ruby in it.
We’re on the way from the church to our reception before I know it, and I change into a smaller, less cumbersome dress. When I open the door to the hallway that will lead to the reception hall, Xander is there.
I smile at him. I was hoping that Xander and I steal a quick moment together, since we waited so long for this.
I want to really savor the moment.
I've waited five months now to hear those words. Five months of long days and nights planning our wedding, five months of hiding the wedding dress from Xander's eyes; I'm wearing my mother's dress, which I thought that would be a perfect way to have her here with me.
Xander smiles down at me, a wide open smile with nothing to hide and I know I've seen him smile before, but this feels different.
"You're my wife now." He whispers into my ears, his fingers rubbing at my waist.
Finally.
The words have been something we’ve thrown around a lot. But finally, now, we have them. We mean them.
It’s true, it’s real.
Forever.
I place my hand against his chest and nod. "And you're my husband, to have and to hold as long as we both breathe."
He returns my smile. “Which I plan on making a very, very long time.”
