Chapter 65
Tilda
Heat flares across my skin as I keep staring up at Ethan.
I can’t believe he just said that.
“Alrighty.” Dolly steps back into the room. “If everyone is ready.”
Standing at the back of the room, we face forward. And “I Will Always Love You” starts to play through the speakers in the ceiling.
The whole situation is borderline insane. Add in Ethan making comments about my mouth and a honeymoon. Then finish it off with a classic song about love… My nervous system doesn’t know what to do with itself.
Ethan gently grips my elbow and lifts my arm out to my side, with my hands still clutching the roses before me, and he hooks his arm through mine. Then we start down the short aisle.
I know it’s all fake.
I know that even if the license is real, the marriage isn’t.
I know all that.
But I still feel a slight thrill of excitement over the fact that I’m marrying this man.
This rugged, handsome, stern Good Boy.
And even if it’s all for show… There’s nothing stopping us from having a little staycation bedroom honeymoon when we get home.
Maybe it’s romance.
Maybe it’s trauma bonding.
We stop before Dolly, a flower-covered podium between us.
I glance down, expecting to see a bible on the surface, but it’s a Dolly Parton cookbook.
I bite my lip, a grin of absurdity fighting to break through.
The volume lowers, but the song keeps playing.
Dolly smiles at us, her hands extended toward us, palms up. “Did you come with your own vows?”
“No.” Ethan’s tone is serious. “We prefer a traditional ceremony.”
I bite my lip harder as laughter vibrates through my body.
Dolly dips her chin and lowers her arms. “Completely understandable.” Then she opens the cookbook.