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I searched his hazel gaze, and the only thing that was staring back at me was a man, a beautiful man, with his heart on his sleeve and the promise of forever in his eyes. Slowly, softly, and without restraint, I felt myself, my heart, my soul, be consumed by an infinite amount of love. And I knew there was only one answer to his question.
No doubts.
No fears.
Just… “Yes.” I nodded as tears started to stream down my cheeks.
He took my left hand in his and brought it up to his lips, kissing my ring gently all the while his eyes smiled into mine. I felt my heart grow two sizes bigger inside of my chest.
“I love you so much,” I whispered through the tears clogging my throat. This man, this amazing, perfectly imperfect man, had just asked me to marry him. He had been so desperate to be my husband and couldn’t wait another day, another hour, another minute, that he had put the engagement ring on my finger while I was asleep.
It was a little presumptive, but fuck, he wanted to be mine for the rest of his life.
I couldn’t really complain about that.
And it was a certainty that I wanted to be his for the rest of mine.
“I love you too, Win.” His lips melded themselves to mine, and my soon-to-be husband kissed with me all of the tenderness and passion and love I had ever felt in my entire life.
We stayed like that for what felt like a blissful eternity, simply holding one another and kissing. Good God, there was so much kissing. Not rushed, not hurried to lead to other things like we harried adults so often did—just pure and sweet and tender kisses. I closed my eyes and fell into his lips’ loving embrace. Heavenly.
“Let’s get married today,” he whispered against my mouth.
My eyes popped open, and I leaned back to look into his still smiling gaze.
“What? Today?”
He nodded. “Yes. Today. Let’s get married, Win. Right now.”
I giggled. “It’s like five in the morning, Wes. I’m not sure that we can get married right now.”
“Oh, it’s possible,” he said with a giant grin. Ah, right. I guess when you were a freaking billionaire, all sorts of things were possible. “Let’s get married right now, on the beach, with just you, Lex, and me.”
I was awed. “You’re serious?”
“One hundred percent serious.”
I cut a nervous laugh short and asked again—just for confirmation. “You want to get married on the beach? Right now? Just the three of us?”
He nodded, smiling bigger than I had ever seen him. “That is exactly what I want.”
“I don’t have a dress…or shoes…or—”
Wes’s smile grew bigger, breaking his all-time record immediately, and he placed his fingers over my lips. “Baby, if you want it, I’ll make sure you get it. But I promise, you don’t need any of it. You’re literally the most beautiful thing I have ever seen right here, right now, and that’s all I need—you and Lex for forever. The rest is inconsequential.”
God, this man… I was so in love with him it should have been illegal. Heck, maybe it was. I’d just be sure to get moving, get fucking up, and get married—quickly enough that the cops wouldn’t catch me.
Because he was the one who was perfect. For me.
I grinned against his fingertips. “Okay.”
His hazel eyes lit up, and he lifted his hand off of my mouth. “Okay?”
“Let’s do it. Let’s get married right now, on the beach.”
He pressed a smacking and playful kiss to my lips. “I love you so much.”
I smiled. “I love you too.”
A second later he was hopping off the bed and tossing on a pair of boxer briefs. “Get up, get dressed,” he demanded impatiently.
I giggled, watching him scramble around the room for clothes. “In a hurry much?”
“Fuck yes, I’m in a hurry.” He flashed a wink in my direction. “The most beautiful and amazing woman on the planet has just agreed to marry me. You can bet your sweet little ass I’m not letting her change her mind, and if it’s going to happen in time for sunrise, I’ve got to get a fucking move on.”
A little over an hour later, as the sun started to crest above the water line, we stood on the beach, barefoot and dressed in pajamas, ready to get married.
Lex stood between us with messy pigtails in her hair and the biggest smile I had ever seen on her cute little face.
“Do you mind if we say our own vows?” Wes asked the minister who stood before us. Somehow, my very, very soon-to-be husband had managed to find a minister who was staying at the resort and more than willing to come out to the beach at six thirty in the morning so two crazy and in love people could get married.
My eyes went wide for a beat. “Vows? You wrote vows?” I asked Wes on a whisper. I have no fucking vows.
He chuckled softly. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ve got all three of us covered.”
I had no idea what he meant by that, but before I could question further, the minister chimed in and said, “Of course,” with a genuine smile on his lips.
Wes picked Lexi up and turned toward me. “Do you have the rings?” he whispered into her ear.
She giggled and nodded her little head before slipping her fingers into the shirt pocket of her Minions pajamas and pulling out two simple and classic gold wedding bands.
Wes’s eyes met mine, and I couldn’t look at anything or anyone else. He held my left hand in his while my daughter stayed on his hip, hands wrapped around his neck like a monkey.
“Winifred Winslow, as I stand here before you, my eyes looking so deeply into your big blue ones, I see all of the things I fell in love with. Wild hair, sassy spirit, and so much intelligence it hurts.”
I shook my head but said nothing as he went on.
“As I stand here before you, my heart beating so loudly in my ears that it echoes like it’s actually mixing with yours, I find myself lost for the right words to say.”
My heart sped up, and I gulped down a swallow, my hand spasming in his.
“As I stand here before you, this endless ring in my hand, it makes me remember how infinitely complete you make my life.
“With every smile, every embrace.”
I smiled, longing for his embrace.
“It makes me remember how blessed and lucky I really am. It makes me remember every laugh we’ve ever shared, every hard time we made it through together, and every beautiful moment there is to come.”
For the first time in a long time, the future looked blindingly bright.
“Do you, Winnie, take me as your husband?” Wes asked.
My vision blurred slightly as tears coated my eyes. “Yes. I do.”
He looked at Lex. “Can I have Mommy’s ring?”
She nodded, placing the smaller of the two gold bands into his palm.
Wes slowly slid the gold ring onto my finger while his eyes gazed into mine. “Winnie, I give you this ring, my heart, my soul. I give you everything I am today and the more I hope to be tomorrow. I promise to love you, protect you, be with you forever, and cherish every moment with you as if it was the last moment on earth.” He smiled down at me and then kissed the ring on my finger.
“Okay, Lexi, now hand Mommy my ring.”
She reached out her hand and placed the remaining gold band into my hand.
“Will you let me be your husband, Winnie?” Wes asked and held out his left hand for me. “Will you let me love you forever?”
I felt decidedly less impressive as I answered with a simple, “Yes.”
I took his hand in mine and gently slid the band onto his finger. “I love you,” I whispered and kissed the ring on his finger like he had done with mine.
He smiled with tears coating his eyes. “I love you too.”
“And, ditto. To all the other stuff you said,” I said with a bite of my lip. “I’ll do all that too.”
Even the minister laughed.
Wes set Lexi on her feet and kneeled before my little girl. He slipped a small little gold band from his pocket and took her right hand in his. He smiled up into her big brown eyes with so much love and affection I felt my heart migrate into my throat.
“My pretty little Lexi, will you let me be your daddy forever and ever and ever?”
She giggled and nodded her head.
He slid a tiny gold band onto her right ring finger and pulled her into a tight hug, kissing her forehead with love etched all the way to the corners of his face.
I knew for a fact I bore the same marks on my heart.
Pulling Georgie closer to me in the elevator, I buried my face in her throat and sighed. I didn’t even notice that both of my hands had gone to her stomach and settled there until she tentatively placed her hands on top of mine. It was still fairly early, but there was no pin in the world sharp enough to pop my hot air balloon of fucking rapture.
I knew Georgia was happy but nervous, but I felt like that was finally something I could handle. All this time spent unable to do anything for her heartbreak, with absolutely nothing reassuring to tell her, made this obstacle seem far less formidable.
Her fear was real and founded, but so was the pregnancy and everything it meant for the two of us. She was pregnant—with our baby.
We’d spent nothing less than a metaphorical eternity imagining it, and still, I’d never quite pinpointed the actual sensation of this feeling. Probably because it wasn’t possible, just like you can’t understand the connection with your child until you hold him or her.
