“You’ve gone soft.” She’s looking up at me with that expression I never get tired of.
“Your fault.” I kiss her forehead.
“Guilty.” She rests her head on my shoulder, fitting against me perfectly. “Hey Dean?”
“Mm?” I’m half-lost in the moment, the music, the feel of her.
“We did it.”
“The wedding?” I pull back slightly to see her face.
“All of it. The whole thing. Built a life. Got married. Didn’t kill each other.”
“Yet.” I can’t resist.
She pinches me, right at my waist. “I’m being sentimental.”
“Sorry. Continue.” I rub the spot she pinched, grinning.
“I’m just…” She looks up at me, eyes shining in the fairy lights. “I’m really happy.”
Something cracks open in my chest. The last piece of armor I didn’t know I was still wearing.
“Me too,” I admit, voice rougher than I intend. “Terrifyingly happy.”
“Good scared or bad scared?” Her hand comes up to touch my face, gentle.
“Good. Definitely good.” I spin her again, just to see her smile, to watch her dress twirl. “Best thing that ever happened to me scared.”
She laughs. Bright and real and mine.
“I love you,” she says, squeezing my hand. “My disaster. My husband. My home.”
“I love you too,” I tell her, meaning every word. “My chaos. My wife. My everything.”
The music swells. Our people dance. George bleats somewhere in the distance, probably destroying something expensive.
And for the first time in my extremely controlled life, everything’s exactly as it should be.
Messy. Loud. Complicated. Real.
Perfect.
Absolutely freaking perfect.
Later, much later, when the guests have gone and we’re sitting on the porch of our venue, watching the sun set over the Hudson Valley, Poppy leans into me.
“No regrets?” she asks.
I think about the boy who had it all figured out. The plan. The trajectory. The carefully controlled life that made sense.
Then I look at what I have instead.
This woman who sees through my bullshit. This family we’ve built from scratch. This life that’s nothing like I imagined and everything I never knew I needed.
“No regrets,” I confirm. “You?”
“One.” Her eyes meet mine.
