Chapter 39
Chapter thirty-nine
Everett
After a little excitement, where the girls squeal over Amie’s ring and the guys congratulate Cam, I hand Maisy back to her parents and the party breaks up pretty quickly.
Katy, Ruth, and I put away the last of our leftover food and tidy up the porch.
Paloma takes Maisy to her room for the night to let Amie and Cam celebrate their engagement.
Eventually, I follow the girls out of the kitchen and stand to the side while they say their goodnights. Katy retreats to one side of the house, following the path Jay took with Pup a few minutes earlier, and Ruth and I take a slow walk to our bedroom on the other side.
I don’t know that I’ll ever get enough of this woman. We take turns to brush our teeth and get ready for bed, and by the time I return from washing my face, Ruth is already waiting for me.
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to just… go home without you.” She’s lying on the bed, head at the foot end, with her feet propped up against the headboard. She swears it’s good for you, but it just looks a little weird.
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that just yet,” I say, climbing onto the bed and lying beside her. I reach for her hand and lace our fingers together. “We still have six more days here. Don’t go borrowing trouble where it’s not needed, Ruth.”
“But—”
“No buts, honey. Not unless it’s your butt.” I nudge her lightly, and the frown on her face flickers as she fights a smile. “We’re not thinking about that. We have a whole week stretched out ahead of us right now.”
“And then?”
“And then, forever.”
I exhale slowly. Truth be told, it’s not something I want to think about, either.
The more time I spend with Ruth Bevan, the more determined I am to spend all my time with her, to devote my life to making her smile that beautiful smile.
I don’t want her to go home without me any more than I want to go home without her.
So I say the wildest thing I can think of, the thing I know will keep us together in spite of the distance forcing us apart.
“Let’s get married. We’ll figure the rest out later.”
She’s silent for a long moment. I don’t take it back, and she doesn’t respond, until she turns her face to mine. Her eyes lock with mine, and all the words in my heart reflect back at me.
“Are you insane?” Her words are a whisper in the quiet room.
Am I insane?
The only thing I know is that I want this woman to be mine for the rest of my earthly days, and for whatever lies beyond.
I want her, distance be damned. I want her good days and bad, I want her laughter and her tears.
I want to be her husband, to be the one she comes home to. I want my home to be her.
“Only crazy for you, baby girl. You wanna tie yourself to me for life?”
Her laugh is a breathy exhale, and the first hint of a tear sneaks out from beneath closed eyelids. I smudge it away with the pad of my thumb.
“What’d you say, baby girl?”
In a whisper so quiet I almost miss it, she says, “Let’s do it.”
“We’ve got five minutes before the car gets here.” I nuzzle into her neck, sucking at the warm skin between her throat and collarbone. She pushes me away.
“Put some clothes on,” she whispers. “As much as I love it when you’re naked, I don’t share.”
I swallow hard, then roll off the bed and cross the room to my suitcase.
Four minutes later, we’re downstairs, and I pull the door open quietly to see the rideshare car pull up outside.
I’m in dark jeans and a crisp white button-down, sleeves rolled to my elbows, and Ruth is in a pretty cream sundress with wedge heels that bring her closer to my height.
I still have to dip my head to kiss her, and something about that still gives me a little thrill.
I can hardly keep my hands off her as we sit together in the back seat.
I found a twenty-four hour chapel online, and booked us in without a second thought.
Ruth threads her fingers through mine, effectively stilling the hand that was roaming up and down her thigh, and presses our joined hands lightly against my bouncing knee.
“Don’t tell me you’re nervous now,” she whispers with a tiny laugh.
“Not even slightly, baby girl.”
“You’re doing the nervous leg-bounce.”
“Not nervous, Ruth.” I turn my head to face her, and she tilts hers slightly. Even in the dark car, only the dim glow of streetlights outside to illuminate her, she’s so beautiful. My heart skips at the sight of her smile. “Not nervous at all. Just ready.”
“Ready, huh?” Her smile deepens, those little lines around her mouth growing as her lips twitch.
“I’ve been ready to marry you since that airport bar in New York, Ruth,” I say lowly.
I’ve never told her how I talked about her to my mom after I got home.
It never felt worth mentioning. But the pull I felt toward her, the way I knew in my heart and my soul and my very bones that Ruth Bevan was always supposed to be mine, and that I was to be hers—that’s the pull that brought us to this taxi right now.
She blinks hard, eyes filling with a sheen that glistens in the sodium light spilling through the windows.
Her lips press together tightly, and her chin wobbles, and I squeeze my fingers around hers before freeing my hand and using it to pull her closer.
She leans across the middle seat between us, pressing as close to me as she can with our seatbelt restraints.
“I was always supposed to be yours, Ruth Bevan,” I whisper into her hair. “We were always meant to be.”
“Gonna marry the shit out of you, Tanner,” she whispers quietly, and then giggles. “I’m not changing my name, though.”
“You’re not?”
She lifts her head, and her brown eyes slam into mine. In stark contrast to the joy they held a moment ago, they’re now filled with fear.
“I’m—wait, we haven’t—we’ve never even talked about this. Oh, God, Ev, we’ve never even talked about marriage, or anything, or—I don’t want to change my name. I’m a Bevan. It’s who I am. Who I’ve always been. Is that—I mean—is it—”
“Honey, take a breath for me, okay?” I bring a hand to her cheek, cupping her jaw and rubbing a thumb along her cheekbone. She’s almost hyperventilating, rambling quietly. “Change your name, don’t change your name. It’s not a deal-breaker for me. All I care about is that I get to call you my wife.”
And fifteen minutes later, with IDs shown, rings chosen, and papers signed, we stand in front of a janitor and the cashier from the convenience store next door, exchanging vows.
“I do.”
I slip the neon pink plastic ring on Ruth’s left hand, and she sucks in a sharp breath, beaming up at me with glossy eyes before staring at her hand in wonder.
There’s a matching grey silicone band on my left hand already.
The officiant is saying something, but it’s noise, just a buzzing in my ears as my focus locks onto Ruth. My bride. My fucking wife.
“With the power vested in me by the state of Arizona, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Everett, kiss your bride, man.”
Well, fuck, you don’t need to tell me twice.
One hand tangles in Ruth’s hair, tipping her head back to meet mine as I dip to her lips.
She’s warm and sweet and she tastes like home; she licks at the seam of my mouth and pushes her tongue past my lips, rubbing it against mine like it’s the last thing she might ever do.
I swallow her quiet whimper as I tug her to me, pressing our bodies together from head to toe.
Fuck, fuck, she’s the most perfect fucking thing. And she’s my fucking wife.
My wife. I have a wife now. I’m someone’s husband. Ruth’s husband. I kiss her eagerly, desperately; tongues and teeth clashing as I wrap her hair around my fist and tug gently. Fuck, I can’t wait to get her back to bed and show her just what being her husband means.