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“Who was the second woman?” I ask suddenly, looking at Max’s shuttered expression. “The one you said you were keeping your distance from?” Based on what I saw when we were all in Russia, I have a glimmer of suspicion that it’s Sasha. Though I know it’s technically none of my business, I’m too curious not to ask.
“It doesn’t matter,” Max says firmly, as I’d thought he might. “She’s unreachable for me, and that’s as it should be.” He glances at Liam. “I’m going to stay in Boston a bit longer to decide what I want to do next while keeping that distance. Who knows,” he says with a faint grin. “Maybe I’ll be here for the wedding once you set a date.”
“The date is now,” Liam says firmly. “Tonight. I want to marry Ana as soon as possible. Can you do it for us?”
Max looks slightly taken aback. “I’m ordained to perform secular marriages as well,” he says slowly. “But I’m defrocked–you know that. If I marry the two of you, it will be technically legal, but not done properly in the Church. It won’t be recognized–”
“That’s fine,” Liam says firmly. “I want Ana and I married, that’s all. We’ll confirm it with Father Donahue later, the next time we’re in New York. Maybe we’ll have a celebration afterward. But it’s us being married, legally, that’s the most important part right now–I don’t want to wait, and neither does Ana,” he adds, looking at me.
I nod. “I want to do it tonight, too,” I tell Max, squeezing Liam’s hand. “I don’t want anyone to be able to separate us.”
Max frowns. “Liam, can we speak for a moment?”
Liam glances at me, but follows Max halfway down the hall. I watch as they speak in low, urgent voices, a concerned look on Max’s face as he says something to Liam, who shakes his head and replies, though I can’t hear anything they’re saying. I feel awkward waiting in the middle of the hall as they talk, but the conversation is brief, and Liam comes back to get me.
“What was that about?” I ask as we walk towards the elevator.
“Nothing,” Liam says quickly. “Max had some worries about the marriage not being confirmed, that’s all. But I told him it’s nothing to worry about. We’ll get Father Donahue to handle it sooner rather than later.” He squeezes my hand as we ride down in the elevator, the driver already waiting for us at the curb. “I want us to be married, Ana. That’s all.”
I feel the same way. The Kings might be angry at him for the snap decision, but they can’t force him to marry Saoirse if we’re already married. And with us legally married, he will have a legal right to claim my child as his.
It solves a great many of our problems. Still, I also know it’s being done out of love between the two of us, an affirmation of our relationship and choosing each other, which means more to me–and to him–than anything else.
Liam calls Niall on the way back to the penthouse, one hand still firmly holding mine, asking him to come to witness it and to bring two gold bands if he can get ahold of them.
“What should I wear?” I ask Liam as we head up, and he grins at me, pulling me close to him for an exuberant kiss.
“Anything you want,” he tells me firmly, and I lean into him, my arms going around his neck as the kiss deepens.
After what happened between us earlier tonight, there’s nothing left to stand in our way. All of our secrets are out in the open, and even now that they are–perhaps especially because of that–I know that there’s no one else for me. Liam is willing to stand beside me no matter what, and I know that he’s the oneIwant beside me, for better or worse, ‘til death do us part. I know that he loves me, and I love him.
Love isn’t everything, but it’s the most important thing to me. And I believe that it is for Liam, too.
He’s willing to risk everything to love me.
While he changes clothes and waits on Niall, I slip into “my” room, which doesn’t feel so much like mine after nights of sleeping in Liam’s bed as a place to store my things. I take a quick shower, washing the tears from my face and the flecks of blood from under my fingernails, blow drying my hair and brushing it until it falls smooth and straight like silk around my face and shoulders.
I put the emerald dress he’d bought me for our date and the matching jewelry, my skin flushing a little at the memory of what he’d done to me the last night that I wore this dress. It’s a far cry from a traditional wedding dress, but it looks beautiful on me, and it’s something that Liam chose for me himself. There’s something fitting about it, too–the Russian girl dressed in Irish green, trading my Ivanova name for McGregor.
I don’t bother with shoes, going barefoot up to meet Liam on the rooftop. It’s a gorgeous night, the last hour before sunrise, the moon still glinting off of the dark water in the pool, and the city still lit up beyond the edge of the building. The air is warm with a faint breeze, and the world is quiet. Everyone else around us is still asleep in their beds, while Liam and I make our promises to each other in the last still hours before dawn.
When I get up to the rooftop, Liam, Max, and Niall are already there waiting for me. All three men are in suits, though Niall looks slightly less comfortable in his than either Max or Liam does. Liam looks as handsome as I’ve ever seen him, his burnished auburn hair ruffling lightly in the wind. When he sees me, the look on his face lights him up, his green eyes glowing with more joy than I’ve ever seen on his face.
I don’t have a wedding dress or an engagement ring, a bridal party, or a bouquet–there’s no wedding march or aisles of guests–but none of that matters. There’s a strange, buoyant sensation filling me as I walk towards Liam, making me feel so light that it’s almost as if I could float away, my heart racing in my chest with an emotion so strong that it brings tears to my eyes. I don’t realize what it is until I’m standing in front of Liam, and he takes my hands, and I feel as if I could burst with the intensity of it.
It’s been so long that I’d forgotten what this feeling was, but in the instant Liam’s fingers slide through mine and I look up at him, I know.
I’mhappy.
“You look beautiful,” Liam whispers.
“So do you,” I tell him, almost giggling as his hands tighten around mine, almost giddy with the joy of the moment.
Max clears his throat, and both Liam and I turn to look at him.
“Liam McGregor and Anastasia Ivanova,” he begins, “have you come here to enter into marriage without coercion, freely and wholeheartedly?”
“Yes,” Liam says firmly.
