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“He just needs to cool down,” I said, hoping it was true. Wes’s father had always had a quick temper, but generally he was also quick to calm down once he’d said his piece. He wasn’t an unreasonable man. He’d talk this problem out with us and realize that while we may have made a mistake, we were willing to own up to it and figure out a solution.
I had to believe that even if he didn’t accept our relationship, he was a smart enough man to do that much.
Wes pulled his phone from his pocket. “Colt texted. He’s freaking out that this was his fault. Apparently he thinks he should have realized why some neighbor was yelling at him and prevented this whole mess.”
I snorted. “You two can start a Blame Club.”
“Yeah.” His fingers flew in response, then he frowned as he read the reply. Before I could ask anything else about the conversation, Dad re-entered the room.
“All right, that was Paul, and it sounds like there was an oversight between the city and the neighborhood. You two are off the hook for missing something.”
Wes exhaled noisily. “Really?”
“Yeah, that’s the good news,” he said, “but it doesn’t mean we’re off the hook on finding a solution.” He ran a hand through his dark hair peppered with white strands and sighed. “Shit happens when you run a business. That’s the reality. And it doesn’t really matter if it was our fault or not. We all looked like idiots tonight.”
I noticed he was including himself by saying we, seeming to accept some accountability too. It was a relief to feel like we were on the same team instead of opposing sides.
“We’ll break out the park plans and figure it out,” I promised, sitting forward. “You don’t have to worry.”
“Well, yes, I do,” he said. “Maybe not about that, but I do worry because you may not have kept me in the dark about this project, but you sure as hell didn’t tell me about this.”
Dad held up an envelope, and Wes and I exchanged a confused look, before he came closer and I read the type on the sender line: Clark County, Nevada.
The pieces clicked together in an instant. Clark County was the office that issued marriage licenses. Like the marriage license that hadn’t shown up and we’d assumed was lost in the mail. Apparently, it hadn’t gotten lost so much as taken a small detour to our father.
“I found this at the office and opened it by mistake. Imagine my surprise. You told me you played a prank,” Dad said. “Not that you’d taken it so far as to get legally married.”
“It’s not what you think,” Wes said.
My heart dropped, and I swallowed hard. Shit. Was he going to backpedal now?
No. No way. Wes had said time and again that he’d stand by me no matter what, and even faced with his dad’s disapproval, I didn’t believe he’d let me down.
Wes took my hand in his, proving me right.
“I love Beckett. It’s not a prank. We’re married, and it’s real.”
I choked on my breath, squeezing his hand so hard it would have made a lesser man complain. Wes just smiled at me and murmured softly, “We got this. We’re in this together, remember?”
I should never have doubted him. Not even for half a second. Wes would never leave me hanging. He was a man of his word, always.
I nodded, my eyes burning as all that fight-or-flight adrenaline turned into a surge of emotion that threatened to spill out. My voice was barely a whisper when it came out.
“I love you.”
Wes grinned, his voice strong and clear as he replied.
“I love you too.”
* * *
WES
There wasa ringing silence in my father’s den after Beckett and I exchanged I-love-you’s. I had no idea how Dad would react, but saying those three words felt incredible anyway. Not because we’d never said them before, but because we got to say them without the burden of secrecy.
I couldn’t stop the smile pulling at my lips as I gazed into Beckett’s shiny eyes. He looked shaken, his hand trembling a bit in mine, but I could sense the relief pouring off him too.
“No more secrets,” I whispered.
