Book 27 Renewal After Dark #11
“Uh-huh. My future wife is young and has lots of time left to have babies.”
The minute he says the words future wife, her whole body goes rigid, and not in a good way.
“Did I go too far?”
“One step too far. I meant it when I said I don’t want to get married.”
“Even to me?”
“You’re the only one who could make me consider it.”
“When life happens, and things go sideways, I’ll be right there with you through it all.
I’ll go sideways, hell, I’ll go upside down if I have to, if that’s what it takes.
But one thing I’ll never do is leave you to figure it out on your own.
We’d be in this together every step of the way, because we want to be, not because the law says we gotta. ”
He tips up her chin to receive his kiss.
“I’ve waited my whole life for you and Jax.
Every minute of every day and every month and every year were leading me to you and him and this family.
I want us to stand up in front of our people and take vows and make a life together with Jax and that bunch of other kids we’re going to have.
And I want us to be ridiculously happy for the rest of our lives. ”
“Are you, like… um… proposing to me?”
“What if I am?”
“I, uh… Well… Wow.” She huffs out a laugh. “I’ve never been proposed to before.”
He goes down on one knee and reaches for her hand, kissing the back of it.
“McKenzie Martin, love of my life, owner of my heart and soul, would you please do me the massive—and probably undeserved honor—of being my wife, my soul mate, my life partner, my everything? If you say yes, in exchange I’ll give you and Jax everything I have, everything I’ll ever have and do everything in my power to make you happier than you ever thought you could be.
I’ll do that every day for the rest of my life, which will no doubt end long before yours does because I’m so much older than you, and then you can live in sin with some other rando, but you cannot be as happy with him as you were with me. That’s where I draw the line.”
She’s laughing and crying all at once. “You’re out of your mind, planning my widowhood while you’re asking me to marry you.”
“I like to see to all the contingencies, especially since you’d be taking on a senior citizen compared to you.
” He bends his head over her hand, peppering the inside of her wrist with soft kisses.
“I heard you when you said you don’t want to get married, and I completely understand why, after everything you’ve seen and been through with your parents and that jackass Eric and others.
But here’s the thing…” He looks up at her now with tears in his own eyes.
“I want us to be a family. I want you and Jax to be the first real family that’s truly mine.
I want us all to be Sullivans, if that’s okay with you.
I have the best friends in the whole world, and I love them.
But they all have their own families to go home to.
I want that, too. I know we could achieve that without the legal shit, but call me old-fashioned…
I want the big white wedding day and the vows and the party and the happily ever after.
And just for the record, I never pictured that for myself until I pictured it with you. ”
She stares at him for a long time, long enough that a million thoughts pass through his mind—not all of them good ones.
What will he do if she says no to him? Will he be satisfied to live with her and their kids without the vows?
If that’s what she really wants, he’d do it for her. He’ll do anything for her.
“First of all, it is not an undeserved honor.”
He has to think about that for a second before he ties those words back to what he said earlier.
“I’m batting way out of my league here, babe. Just want you to know I get that.”
“Stop talking, Duke.”
He swallows a laugh and forces his expression to be serious. “Yes, ma’am.” God, he loves when she’s bossy with him.
“You deserve my love and Jax’s more than anyone ever has.
From the minute you showed up at Tiffany’s with as many of our things as you could find in our destroyed home, you’ve been showing me who you are and what you’re about.
So, I don’t ever want to hear again that you don’t deserve me or that I’m way out of your league. Is that understood?”
“I’ll keep the thought to myself going forward.”
“You do that.”
“What’s the second of all?”
“I meant it when I said I never wanted to get married.”
He feels like a balloon that’s been stuck with a pin as he deflates.
“However… I understand you wanting a family that’s all yours, and it seems I want to give you that more than I want to avoid being married.”
Just that quickly, he’s back in the game, breathless as he waits to hear what else she might say.
“It gives me tremendous comfort to know how much my grandmother loved you. There could be no greater endorsement for me than that, but over these last few weeks, I’ve also witnessed how much everyone else on this island loves you.
I can’t say your name without someone telling me what a great guy you are, how you helped them out with this or that or how you showed up for them time and again.
And during that same time, you’ve shown up for me time and again, giving me a place to live and basically turning your truck over to me and helping with Jax and bringing me coffee in bed every morning and trying—not so patiently—to teach me to cross-stitch and sticking with me even though I totally suck at it. ”
A grunt of laughter bursts out of him. “You’re coming along very nicely.”
“No, I’m not, but you don’t give up on me.”
“I never will.”
“And I know that, so…”
Duke holds his breath as his whole life comes down to whatever she says next.
She looks him dead in the eyes. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Duke.”
A Gansett Island Wedding
Together with their families
Nikki Stokes and Riley McCarthy
invite you to join them as they exchange vows
on Saturday, November 30
at five o’clock in the afternoon
at the McCarthys’ Wayfarer on Gansett Island
Reception to follow.
Riley wakes up to snow on his wedding day.
He’s at his father’s house while Nikki gets ready with the women at their house, Eastwood Look.
His dad makes breakfast, and soon Riley is surrounded by all his favorite McCarthy men and their honorary uncle, Ned Saunders.
As he glances out at the snowy landscape, a thought occurs to him. “Hey, Ned?”
“Ya?”
“You still got that sleigh you had a couple of years ago when you saved Christmas with it?”
“Sure do. Why?”
“I’ve got an idea.”
Cindy Lawry arrives to help the ladies with their hair and makeup.
Chloe wants to take care of her soon-to-be-sister-in-law, Nikki, so Cindy will handle Jordan, Gigi, Chelsea and Evelyn.
By three-thirty, the women are ready to go.
“We should’ve stayed at the Wayfarer,” Nikki says fretfully.
“I knew I should’ve reserved the rooms for last night. ”
Riley’s mom is staying there, along with a couple of his and Finn’s friends from Connecticut.
Evelyn puts her hands on the bride’s shoulders. “You wanted to be at home with your girls last night, and it was a perfect night. Today will be a perfect day, despite the snow.”
“Riley sent another text. He said to dress warmly and send your gown to the Wayfarer with us.”
“What is he up to?” Nikki asks.
Jordan goes to the window and lets out a squeal of excitement. “Come see!”
Nikki joins her sister at the window as a horse and sleigh comes down the long driveway. “Oh, my God!”
“Most romantic thing ever,” Jordan says, “and it couldn’t have happened without the snow.”
Riley stands up as the horse-drawn sleigh, driven by Ned Saunders, comes to a stop in front of the house. “Nicole Stokes, will you marry me?”
Jordan gives her a push. “Go!”
Nikki pulls the hood of her warmest winter coat over her head to protect her hair as she runs out to meet Riley, who stands beside the sleigh, looking for all the world like a knight in shining armor.
“How cool is it that it snowed on our wedding day?”
“I’ll never forget this,” Nikki says. “Not for the whole rest of my life.”
He kisses her. “Me either, love.”
Right at five o’clock, Nikki takes the arm of her grandmother and goes down the stairs at the Wayfarer, which has become her home away from home since she became the general manager. She’s overseen many weddings in the last year, but none as important as this one.
Riley thought he was ready to greet his bride, but nothing could’ve properly prepared him for her.
His eyes fill with tears as she comes toward him on Evelyn’s arm. He loves her grandmother almost as much as he loves Nikki.
Finn’s hand on his back helps to keep him grounded and centered for the biggest and best moment of his life.
Their cousins, Mac and Shane, stand next to Finn while Jordan, Chelsea and Gigi wait for Nikki. Summer is their honorary flower girl.
“Take good care of my girl,” Evelyn says to Riley through tears.
“Always.”
“Love you both. Be kind to each other and never go to bed mad.”
Riley and Nikki kiss and hug Evelyn.
Then they turn to face Riley’s Uncle Frank, who’s presiding.
“Are we ready?” Frank asks, smiling.
Riley looks at Nikki, who nods.
“We’re so ready,” Riley says.