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“I don’t think it’s necessary, but if you want to for your name, that’s fine. The only reason I would do it is to show Amber that I am a Chastain.” She grinned, letting him know she was kidding.

“Justin, I love you. As a matter of fact, I’m madly in love with you. I end up doing whatever you want, all the time, so just let it go. When we need to hyphenate our names, they will probably be hyphenated.”

“Gotcha. And you’re right, I always get my way. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

He couldn’t stand it anymore and put his bare foot up on her chair, between her feet, and inched in close with his big toe.

“Are you doing what I think you’re doing?” she asked, grinning.

“I am. I keep picturing you sitting like that, naked. The fantasy is making me crazy.”

She put her feet down, reaching out for his hand. “Come, husband. Let me make your dreams come true.”

He popped up out of the chair. “Allow me to carry my wife across the threshold.”

“Don’t hurt your back,” she cried when he swooped her up.

“Eat your heart out, Cypress Cove,” Justin called out. “We’re going to have married sex for the first time tonight.”

She held on to his shoulders, her head hanging back, laughing as he tried to carry her up the stairs.

“I don’t want to drop you.”

“Don’t make too much noise or you’ll wake your daughter, and that will be the end of married sex for now.”

“Okay,” he whispered. “I love you, Maggie Chastain.”

With arms wrapped around his shoulders, she whispered back, “And I love you, Justin Angel.”

Bayou Cottage overflowed with Christmas. There were multiple trees—one in the kitchen and others in the living room, on the porch, in the barn (“the horses need a tree”) and in the clinic, a giant tree at the dock, and last but not least, two small trees at either side of the gate. Lights were festooned on every edge of the cottage so you could see its outline from Bonnet Island in the middle of the cove. Christmas was in full swing.

Justin and Maggie had worked tirelessly side by side before the wedding, using every decoration they had. She’d found boxes and boxes of stuff, vintage and antique items, in the cottage's attic, some that were handmade treasures her grandfather, Lonnie Langtry, had created. On the day after the wedding, they could finally enjoy it.

“I’m still high on the wedding,” Maggie admitted to Justin.

“You are? I’m stunned,” he said, truly surprised.

“Why?”

“Because you resisted so much, I thought you’d be relieved it was over.” The ceremony had been exactly what Justin had dreamed of, a full Mass and communion.

“Oh, trust me, I am glad. But I’m also floating on a cloud. I’m married to my best friend, the love of my life, the father of my child. It truly doesn’t get any better than that.”

“Maggie, that makes me so happy. I might cry.”

They hugged, toasting with glasses of orange juice.

“Now on to the next thing in our journey,” she said.

As she’d walked down the aisle on Dave’s arm, Maggie’s focus had been on Justin alone. No bad memories of her first marriage to Russ the adulterer had seeped into her mind, a fact she marveled at and shared with Katrina and Annie on Christmas Day.

“I just had an epiphany! I really thought that jackass still had power over me. And you know what? I haven’t thought of him once. Even the term ‘Russ’s money’ hasn’t come to mind. I might be healed.”

“So! It was the wedding you needed!” Annie said.

“No, I think it was the marriage,” Katrina replied. “She might subconsciously need the piece of paper she resisted to prove Justin really wants to be with her.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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