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“Whatever you need,” he said.
“We can just put them on now,” she said, starting to rummage through the bags that were in the truck.
And suddenly, he pulled over to the side of the dirt road they were still on, and took out the boxes with the rings. Then he took her left hand in his, and opened up the velvet box. Inside was the most stunning diamond she’d ever seen. “Kit...”
“I hope you like it. I got a carefree buffalo.”
“It’s beautiful.”
His eyes met hers, there in the truck. And suddenly... Her stomach dropped. Because she thought that maybe if they put them on now it wouldn’t feel the same. It wouldn’t feel like marriage. It wouldn’t feel like a promise. But as he slipped that band on her finger, she knew that she was an idiot. Because this felt so real. She had gotten a marriage license, and he was putting a ring on her finger, and it was real. “Shelby...” She went to pull away, but he put his hand on her cheek and held her fast, and then he was kissing her. Deep and hard.
“Kit...”
And then she couldn’t speak, because it was them. Him. And she just always wanted him. No matter what.
And when they parted, he was breathing heavily. Then he opened up the next box. And inside it was a gold band. For him.
And she looked up at him, fear and regret coiling through her. “I can’t.”
And there was a grim sort of determined look on his face. “Well, I won’t wear it until you can.”
Then he steered the truck back onto the road, and they kept on going into town. It was a pretty short drive, and they got there and were able to park out front.
They went inside, and waited to be called into the judge’s chambers.
“Good to see you,” the judge said to Shelby.
“You too,” she said.
Rose was their witness. And Shelby held the bouquet that Kit had brought in sweaty hands.
“None of your family come?” Rose asked.
“Well, I... No,” Shelby said. “We didn’t exactly tell them.”
“You’re eloping,” said Rose. “So romantic.”
Her hands trembled as Kit took them in his.
“We won’t be exchanging rings,” Kit said.
“All right,” the judge said, clearly not put off by it at all. But she imagined that in the world of courthouse weddings, that wasn’t all that uncommon. But then it came to vows. And she could feel tears pushing against her eyes. Feel herself breathing far too hard. “Do you, Shelby Sohappy, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband? In sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, as long as you both shall live?”
As long as they lived. That was it. As long as you lived. That was all.
It ended after that. Her first marriage had ended. And here she was, on the verge of another life.
She was terrified.
“I do,” she said before she could lose her nerve.
“And do you, Kittredge Carson, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”
And it was like the world stopped. The whole world. “I do,” said Kit.
“And now, by the authority given to me by the state of Oregon, I pronounce you husband and wife.”
And without being told that they could kiss, Kit pulled her into his arms, and kissed her. And she clung to him, kissing him back, because he was the lifeline in the moment, even as he was the thing that made her tremble.
