Paper Roses (Confetti Hitched #3)

Epilogue

Six Months Later

artie

“Those are crooked, Raff.”

Jed scales the stepladder nimbly, grabbing the offending strand of fairy lights and winding it correctly around the old beam. I rush to grab the ladder’s base and stand admiring the sight of his tall body clad in faded jeans, a white T-shirt, and old Vans. His hair is longer than ever, and summer has woven golden threads in the silky strands like secret treasure.

Raff huffs. “You are the bossiest groom I’ve ever met.”

I roll my eyes. “I don’t know how you can say that. Didn’t Martin demand a meeting with you at two in the morning to discuss the font on his wedding invitations?”

“He may have demanded it, but I didn’t give in,” he corrects me, giving a haughty sniff. “I’m no one’s bitch.”

“What time did you meet him?” Jed asks wryly as he comes down the ladder.

“At three a.m., but that’s not the point,” Raff insists as we all break into laughter.

Jed slings his arm over my shoulder as I look around with appreciation.

We’re back in Mal and Cadan’s barn, but that’s the only similarity from last year. Now it’s decorated with beautiful mismatched painted tables and chairs with bright seat cushions. Bunting in bright colours swings merrily in the breeze and the sunlight catches the glassware, making rainbow patterns on the wood floor. It’s quirky and warm and there are no hay bales in sight.

The most important difference is that the man I’m marrying, loves me back.

As if sensing my thoughts, he drops a kiss on my head. “Happy?” he asks.

“How can I be otherwise? Especially when you’ve gone to so much effort for me.”

He’d insisted that we renew our vows, and ever since that day he proposed to me outside the Berlin photo booth, he’s been planning our wedding. He booked Mal’s barn, bought new rings, and we’re going on a honeymoon to Positano tomorrow, because we’ve been reading a thriller set there, and I’d been raving about the descriptions. I know he’s trying to make things special for me, but as I’ve told him before many times, they’re already that. This is just some lovely marital icing.

“Yes, I don’t know how I ever managed to ignore your charming suggestion that we just exchange our vows while eating beans on toast,” he says wryly.

I snort. “I admit it’s not everyone’s idea of romance.”

“I wish it had been Martin’s,” Raff grumbles. “I swear I have grey hairs from his constant demands. He would make King Charles seem humble.”

“The grey will hide the ginger,” Jed observes.

Raff growls. “Strawberry blond.”

“And I’m Sly Stallone.”

Footsteps sound, and Joe appears. “Everything’s ready,” he announces. “The guests will get here in an hour.”

“My family?” Jed asks.

“On their way. They had to stop twice because your mum was convinced she’d left the oven on.”

Jed groans. “She did that once. We had to return home all the way back from Devon. The only bright side to having a fire in the extension was that we got to play on the fireman’s pole.”

He stops, realising what he just said, and Rafferty snorts. “You saucy little strumpet.”

“I was five.”

“Well, your arsonist parent is about twenty minutes away.” Joe grins at me. “Daisy and Paige are getting ready, and then they’ll help with the finishing touches.”

The woman who Daisy was keeping secret was actually her ex. They’d met at a party and reconnected, and they live together now. Daisy says they still have things they need to work on, but she’s happy and loved. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for her.

Raff offers us a rather salacious wink. “So, all you’ve got to do is go to the hotel and do your thang.”

“Please, no,” Jed says faintly as I laugh.

Raff sniffs. “I still think it’s weird that this is a vow-renewal ceremony, and your many guests are here to party but not hear your actual vows.”

Jed rolls his eyes. “I have no wish to express the innermost secrets of my heart with you gurning at me over Artie’s shoulder.”

“ Gurning ?” Raff says, outraged. “I do not gurn . My special empathetic smile lets my brides and grooms know I’m with them in the special bosom of their love.”

Jed grimaces. “I don’t want to be anywhere near your bosom, thank you very much.”

“Stan, tell them I don’t gurn,” Raff calls.

His husband stirs at the table next to us, where he’s sitting with his guide dog Hump at his knee. “I can’t see it, babe, but I know it’ll be a bit creepy. It’s in your voice.”

“ Et tu brute?” Raff says crossly.

Stan shrugs, unconcerned. “I was just glad you didn’t do the voice at our wedding. It would have been like plighting my troth to the child snatcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang .”

“Come on,” Jed says and tugs me out of the barn, leaving them all taking the piss out of Raff.

The sun is hot in the sky, and as far as I can see, there are green fields and the sparkle of the sea. Seagulls call as they rise on the wind, and the trees rustle in the breeze.

“God, it’s lovely,” I say. Jed puts his arm around me and we look out at the sea. “It was an inspired choice to have it here.”

“I am full of them. Please put that on the agenda for the team meeting.”

“I don’t want to encourage you.”

He kisses my forehead. “I never get away with anything with you around anyway.”

“And you like that.”

“You know I do.” The humour in his voice makes me smile.

“I can’t believe we’re here,” I say quietly. “The last time we were here for that wedding, I didn’t think you loved me. It all felt helpless.”

He hugs me a little tighter. “I may have been a little slow on the uptake, but I can promise you that you will always be the love of my life.”

I kiss him, feeling the words of his love sweet on his tongue. Maybe that’s love. Perhaps it’s the honey from the farm. Whatever it is, I love it.

Then, arm in arm, we stroll down the dusty path. We have plans and friends to celebrate with, but at the heart of this day, it’s just him and me. And that’s a special kind of magic to me and always will be.

jed

Carrying our bags, I turn to watch Artie as we walk along the corridor to our suite.

The delight on his face is the reward for my secret plans.

“ No ,” he says. “The same suite?”

“The very same.” I lean closer and kiss him, taking his familiar scent into me. “And I have to warn you that I intend our night to end in exactly the same way.” The door opens, and I pause. “Should I carry you over the threshold?”

He rolls his eyes, the sassy side of him that I seem to have brought out making me want to kiss him. I do so, and when I pull back, his colour is high, but the sass is still there.

He says, “I have plans that require your back to be in working order, so no carrying me.”

I gesture for him to go in and then pause, holding my breath. There’s silence for a second, and then he says, “Oh, Jed .”

In his voice is a world of love, and I feel the same emotion rise in me to join his.

I follow him in and he gazes at me with tears in his pretty eyes. “Oh, they’re so beautiful ,” he whispers. “Did you do this?”

He’s standing in a sea of paper flowers. They cover every surface and hang in garlands around the room and over the window in an explosion of bright colours.

“I did.” I drop the bags as he reaches me in two quick steps, flinging himself into my arms. “It’s a good job I’ve been planning this for a while because it’s taken that long to make them. Joe came over and arranged them while we were in the barn.”

My words fade as he kisses me fiercely, winding his arms around me. When he pulls back, I chase his mouth, but he puts his hand over my lips.

His eyes are shiny and filled with love and humour. “You must be very popular with the English origami industry.”

“I might try for chairman,” I say modestly, and he starts to laugh.

“I doubt you’re as popular with the trees.”

I snort, and then we both break into gales of laughter. I tuck his smaller body against mine, loving the feel of him. He may be a quiet man to everyone else, but to me, he’s larger than life. He seems the stronger of us, because he holds our relationship so easily in the palms of his hands. He’s intuitive, passionate, kind, and clever, and I respect him immensely. I also love him more than I have ever loved anyone, and my love gets stronger every day I spend with him.

My wedding vows are nothing compared to the quiet resolution I have inside to keep cherishing him. It’s thanks to him that I have all this—life, love, and my best friend.

“Let’s say our vows now,” he says.

I go still. “Not in our suits?”

He pulls a funny face. “That’s not us. Let’s do it on the hop. We make our best decisions like that.”

“Really?”

He winks. “I seem to remember a wedding proposal happening like that.”

“I seem to recall you spitting your drink in my face.”

He laughs, and the light in his expression makes me catch my breath because of how beautiful he is.

“Okay, I’ll go first.”

I grin. “I might have known.” I catch his hand, kissing the long fingers that hold my heart so easily. “That’s because you’re braver than me.”

He looks startled. “I am not.”

“Yes, you are. You have more courage than anyone I know.” I step back. “Like this?” I ask, and he immediately shakes his head and steps back into my arms.

“Like this. I might be brave, but right here is where my courage comes from.”

I kiss his nose. “Go on then.”

He takes in a breath, and the room seems to go still. It’s very quiet, and all I can hear is the wind in the trees, and the sound of my heartbeat.

“Jed, I love you.” He pauses and chuckles. “That’s it really. I love you. I will always love you. I promise to guard your soft spot and keep it safe like I do your heart, because you’re the whole world to me.”

I swallow hard. “I promise to love you until the end of my life. I will look after you, and I will let you look after me, too. I want to keep laughing loudly with you and then talking in whispers in our bed at midnight. I promise to take your advice on wallpaper after the one I picked seared our retinas.”

“It gave me nightmares about it coming alive.”

“Ahem. Are these my vows or a chat about poor decision-making?”

“Can’t it be both?”

“I promise to always laugh at your jokes, and to always take you dancing.”

“Can I add that I want to always have our book club?”

I shake my head. “Nope. You had your chance. Now it’s my turn to be as romantic.”

“I promise you that I will always love going home with you,” he says simply. “Because you are my home.”

“Why do you always have the last word?”

“Because you love it.”

“Not as much as I love you.” I grab his face between my hands. “I will always give you paper roses.”

“Even though they’re not real and take more work?”

“You will always be worth any amount of work.” I look at the sea of colour—at the paper orchids, roses, daffodils, and violets. “I have a sneaking fondness for paper flowers,” I admit. “We started our married life like them—all perfect lines because we were on show, but as time went by, we grew comfortable and mellow, full of creases and imperfections that only we can see.”

“And what happens when our colours get pale?”

I kiss him again before answering. “Well, that won’t matter because the love and devotion will never fade.”