Brandy’s mouth parted before she stopped her jaw from falling completely open. “W-w-um… How did you know? I mean, I did come to see you because it’s been a while…”
Serena clasped her hand. “Let’s call it women’s intuition. Now spit it out,” she said after pulling her to a stop.
Brandy’s eyes brightened with excitement, but a flash of nerves crossed her face. “So, I was wondering—wewere wondering… Feel free to say no, but…”
Serena raised a brow when Brandy pressed her lips together. “Hard to say no or yes for that matter when I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
A nervous chuckle burst free, and Brandy’s eyes scanned the store. Serena followed them and saw her customer waiting at the counter.
“Hold that thought,” she said and gave Brandy’s arm a squeeze before hurrying to check her customer out.
The bell chimed behind the woman as Serena returned to Brandy a few minutes later. Serena found her a few feet away from the loose tea leaves.
Brandy’s fingers were caressing a premade handfasting ribbon in pale yellow. Her gaze met Serena’s. “It’s so pretty.”
“It is. Do you regret not having one for your ceremony?” Serena asked.
Brandy and Ryan had been surprised to have Brandy’s deceased grandmother come through and offer to unite them.
“Will you marry us?” she blurted.
Serena’s brows knit in confusion.
“I mean,” Brandy said before Serena could respond. “We would like to invite our close circle and get married in the legal sense. It’s one reason I came in today. We’d be honored if you ordained our ceremony, and if you could do a formal handfasting, that would be great too.”
Serena’s jaw went slack. Ryan and Brandy wanted her to marry them? Of all the things Brandy could have come in to ask for, her request was the furthest from Serena’s mind—or even imagination.
When all she could do was stare, Brandy continued. “I hear becoming an ordained minister is easy and can be done online if you want. Unless of course you would rather not do this at all, and we’d totally respect your choice, but we’d still love for you to be there,” Brandy said, rambling.
Serena cupped Brandy’s shoulder and met her eyes. “Stop.” Serena’s chest bubbled with excitement and she grinned. “I’d be honored to marry you two. I was just not expecting you to ask me that.”
“You would?” Brandy whispered.
Serena nodded, chuckling when Brandy wrapped her in a tight hug.
“Oh my God, thank you!”
She cupped her ear and cried, “Ow!” as she pulled back.
“I’m sorry!” Brandy said and covered her mouth. “My emotions are so damn heightened right now.”
Serena grabbed both of Brandy’s hands. “I’m sure they are. Now, for the sake of your little girl, take a deep breath.”
Once Brandy had calmed, a huge grin brightened her face. She pointed at the ribbons and told Serena which colors she wanted for the handfasting before giving Serena creative reins on the rest of the design. Serena knew the ceremony was more for those who had missed the first, herself included, but she was beyond honored to perform the ceremony.
A ringing sounded from Brandy’s jeans pocket. “Oh! That must be Ryan. He was too nervous to come with me to ask,” she said and rolled her eyes.
Serena chuckled and shook her head. With the structure of their coven, everyone answered to Serena, including Ryan. Technically, Brandy, as Ryan’s wife, should have fallen in line as well, but she and Serena had found a strange equality, as Brandy was by far much stronger than Serena. Brandy had no interest in challenging her and leading the coven, and once they came to that understanding, they found easy ground.
“She said yes!” Brandy yelled into the phone as Serena’s own phone vibrated with a message.
Ethan: It’s really nice of you to do this for them.
Her brows pinched together with confusion before her eyes widened.
Serena: You were just checking in on her?
Ethan: Truth? I wasn’t checking in onher…
