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I couldn’t hate him anymore, and I’d stopped regretting that we’d ever met. I’d loved Colm in the only way I knew how and in his own way, he loved me too.
“Until today, Kat and Terry have lived as separate individuals with their own hopes and dreams. From this moment forward, you become a unit. A team. A partnership. Every decision and choice you make will be made together.” He smiled one final time before he officially pronounced them husband and wife. “You may now seal your union with a kiss. Friends and family, I present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Manning.”
And just like that, my baby girl had become a wife.
Kat was a wife. Calvin was a father. Virgil was a husband.
And I, had I somehow become someone’s girlfriend? I got to my feet along with all the other guests to cheer on the newlyweds, and my gaze landed on Thomas, who stared at me like I was the greatest fucking thing in the world. Ah, Thomas. I was too old, too fucking jaded to think about true love and romance, but I could admit that he was everything I needed in a man.
A protector.
An excellent lover.
A friend.
An advisor.
He was my confidante, the one I turned to when I needed advice, when I needed help or just a good fuck.
Those were the things that mattered most, as far as I was concerned. It meant more than a bouquet of flowers, more than sweetly whispered words of love. It was justmore.
I smiled, and Thomas smiled back before he brought my hand to his lips and brushed a gentle kiss on my palm. “You look beautiful today, Sadie Rose.”
And yeah, it didn’t hurt that when Thomas looked at me, he saw the woman I wanted to be, but he treated me like the woman I was. He didn’t try to change me. He knew me, warts and all, and loved me anyway.
“Thank you, Thomas. You look handsome, as always.”
Kat and Terry practically ran up the aisle to enjoy a few moments alone before the photographer spent an hour taking advantage of all the incredible scenery on the property.
“Congratulations,” Thomas whispered in my ear. “Another one bites the dust.”
I laughed. “Or another added to the family?”
Thomas laughed, the sound deep and rich in my ear. “Terry’s always been family. Now, it’s just legal.”
I turned to face him, and I felt the telltale speeding up of my heart. I knew that whatever else I felt for Thomas, I felt love.
“I could say the same about you.”
“You could, but I don’t want to be yourfamily, Sadie. I want to beyours. It’s only fair since you’remine.”
His smile came dark and a little dangerous, which was sexy as hell. “I know you, Sadie. I know you, and I love you, and I would never presume to change you. But I do want you to be mine. Only mine.”
Thomas took my hand and turned it over, dropping a gorgeous Claddagh ring with an emerald heart surrounded by diamonds into my palm.
My hand shook as I realized what he’d given me, then I handed it back to him.
“No, Thomas. Don’t you know the tradition of Claddagh ring? You have to put it on my finger?”
He reached for my left hand, but I stopped him again.
“But I have to tell you how I want to wear it.”
The ring could symbolize a commitment, a simple friendship, or marriage. Thomas was leaving the choice up to me.
“Beautiful,” I murmured. I knew what Thomas wanted, and I wanted to give it to him. But not yet.
“It belonged to Cillian’s wife,” he said. “He told me to give it to you when I finally got the balls to do it.”
