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“I love you,” I say as I stare into her eyes. “I’ll always love you.”
“I’ll always love you,” she repeats with tenderness in her voice. “That’s not what you wanted to tell me, though, is it? Is there a surprise party tomorrow night? Is that what’s happening? I’ve been wondering if Bella is up to something.”
“It’s tonight,” I correct her. “At eight.”
“Bella is sneaky.” She laughs. “Let me guess. You’re the one who is supposed to get me there, right? I can change and be ready to go in no time flat.”
“We have time,” I say evenly, not wanting to alarm her. “But there’s something else, Gina.”
“Can we tell everyone tonight?” Her gaze falls to her hand. “I want my family to know we’re married. I want all of them to know how much I love you, Daniel.”
“We’ll tell them.” I bring her hands to my lips to kiss her engagement ring. “I want to ask your dad for permission to marry you again.”
That lures soft laughter from her. “He’ll say yes.”
“I know he will.”
Her gaze searches my face. “There’s something else. What is it?”
I tug on her hand to lead her to the edge of the terrace. “I got a call earlier.”
“From who?”
I glance to where the Ella Kara crew is gathered. “A woman who works for the chapel in Vegas. Destiny’s chapel. She said she got my name and number from the paperwork we filled out before the ceremony.”
“Rochelle?” she asks in a calm tone. “Was it Rochelle?”
Shocked that she knows the name of a woman we were never introduced to, I nod. “Yes. How do you know her name, Gina?”
Her fingers trace a soft path over my chin. “She’s popped up in my direct messages on Instagram a few times since our wedding.”
I take a step back. “She has?”
Glancing over her shoulder to where Sophia is now talking to the photographer, she nods. “At first, it was to tell me that she didn’t realize who I was until we’d left the chapel.”
I nod.
“Earlier this week, she reached out again to say that she was surprised to find out it was your generosity that funded the trip that Destiny and Angel took to Maui. One of them must have spilled the beans on that.”
I chuckle. “So much for buying their silence.”
Gina smiles. “When I read that message, I knew she was testing the waters of what I might be willing to give her in exchange for her silence, but I just wanted to bide time.”
“Bide time?” I question. “In what sense?”
“I knew the day of our honeymoon that I was yours,” she confesses. “I felt it in my heart. In my soul. I just knew, Daniel.”
“I knew, too.”
“I planned on telling you tomorrow.” She laughs. “That was my birthday gift to myself. I was going to tell you how much I loved you and ask you to stay married to me.”
“Seriously, Gina?”
“I’m dead serious.” She cradles my face in her hands. “I was bursting at the seams wanting to tell you, but tomorrow felt like the perfect day. I had no idea that you had a ring and…”
“I bought the ring the day after our honeymoon trip,” I tell her. “I wanted to ask you to be mine forever every day since then.”
“I would have said yes.” She smiles. “Yes, forever and always.”
