Chapter 25
RYAN
Once we arrived on the upper east coast, I held open Maggie’s door and she climbed out of the car, but neither of us said anything.
Instead, we just turned in unison to look at the massive Gilded Era estate.
I didn’t know much about building or construction, but even to me, this place looked like it’d been designed by an architect with no restraint and an unlimited budget who’d been told to go wild.
It was a castle, pretty much. I wasn’t sure what requirements it technically needed to meet to be called that, but either way, it looked like one.
My first thought was how much Isaac would love this, so I pulled out my phone and took a few quick snaps to send him. While I was zooming in on the stone towers, the turrets, and the ivy crawling across the walls, Maggie gasped at least four times.
“It’s perfect,” she said breathlessly, her mouth falling open as she looked around.
I finally pocketed my phone. “It’s also the only venue within a hundred miles that has an opening this summer, but let’s just wait until we’ve seen the rest of it before we get excited, okay? It looks like there’s a lot more to see and the interior could be crumbling.”
“I don’t care,” she murmured, her eyes so wide that it was clear she was completely awed. “If there’s a part that’s crumbling so badly that it’s a danger to life or limb, we’ll close it off, but this is where I want to get married, Ryan.”
My heart squeezed, but I ignored the unpleasant sensation and simply shook my head at her. “I know you’re excited, but—”
A man in his sixties came striding toward us with a broad smile on his lips and I cut myself off when I realized this must be the owner I’d made our appointment with. “Welcome! Is this the happy couple?”
I opened my mouth to correct him, but Maggie grabbed my arm and marched us closer, already extending her hand as she returned his wide smile. “Yes, we are. I’m Maggie and this is Ryan. It’s lovely to meet you.”
“Henry,” he said, shaking with her. “It’s an absolute pleasure. We’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”
I glanced at Maggie, an internal groan echoing through my mind, but I could see how excited she was and I didn’t want to ruin it. So, when Henry turned to me, I offered my hand without correcting his assumption about me being the groom.
“It’s wonderful to be here,” I said. “It’s a beautiful place.”
Henry beamed at me. “Thank you. It was built in the 1920s by my great grandfather. He was a rather eccentric man, as I’m sure you can guess, an inventor who was inspired by the royal hunting cottages and castles in Europe.”
“That’s incredible,” Maggie gushed, wrapping her hand more firmly around my arm, but I wasn’t even sure she was aware she was doing it.
Her attention was entirely focused on the silver-haired man currently waving us toward his weird ancestor’s house.
“It took my breath away when we first came up the drive. I love it.”
“Ah.” He smiled and led us across the gardens first. “That’s how you know you found the one, my dear. In a wedding venue, that is. You’ve clearly already found the one you want to marry here.”
Maggie glanced at me, those blue-gold eyes so alive with excitement and joy as she nodded that even I almost forgot that we weren’t actually getting married. “Absolutely. Of course. I can’t wait to see the rest of it.”
She blinked a couple times but turned back to him without missing a beat. As Henry launched into an enthusiastic explanation of the history of the estate, Maggie absorbed every word like she was learning she’d been adopted by a fairy-tale kingdom. And me?
I tried to remember my role here. As wedding planner. Not groom.
Frankly, I was just along for the ride anyway. This was Maggie’s show and she ran it like a boss, asking questions about the different amenities available on the property, local vendors, the guest rooms, and the gardens.
She looked so happy that it felt like seeing her this way was rewiring my brain. I hadn’t seen her look this alive since we’d been teenagers, and right now, I would do anything to keep her like this. Which is a problem. For obvious reasons.
I wasn’t supposed to want anything from her—or to want her, for that matter. But clearly, touring a wedding venue with her was fucking with my head just a little too much, so I kept my mouth shut and let her do her thing.
Henry showed us around inside first, leading us through a ballroom and several smaller, more intimate dining areas before taking us outside. The grounds stretched as far as the eye could see. Ancient trees surrounded wide, green lawns with patches of flowers and brush here and there.
Maggie oohed and ahhed as we followed, but when we reached the far end of the property and Henry pointed at the next stop on our tour, I thought she might just faint.
“This is the real star of the show. The chapel might be small, but it seats almost a hundred guests in moderate comfort. My grandfather restored it with his bare hands after my gran passed away.”
My gaze followed to where he was pointing until I found myself staring at a tiny building beyond the trees. To me, it didn’t look like it could seat anywhere near a hundred people, but I didn’t know anything about the dimensions you’d need for that kind of thing.
An actual, honest-to-God graveyard stood beside it, and when I glanced at Maggie, her eyes had widened. “Oh, my God.”
Henry smiled. “The chapel dates to the eighteenth century and the cemetery is part of the estate. I realize that’s not exactly romantic, but—”
Maggie shook her head hard and fast. “No. No, I love it. It’s perfect.”
“I was going to say it symbolizes the till death do us part vow,” he finished, grinning at her. “I’m glad you understood that so immediately.”
She was practically glowing when she nodded at him. “It’s gorgeous. Honestly. There’s not a single part of it that I don’t love.”
Henry looked at her like he was about to burst into tears of joy. He pressed his hands together and gave us a little bow. “I’ll give you a minute to look around by yourselves, but I won’t be far if you have any questions.”
“Thank you,” I said, waiting until he’d meandered over to tug at a few weeds along the side of the chapel before I turned back to her. “Well, you’ve officially burned any bargaining power we might’ve had to the ground. Now that he knows how much you love it, he’s going to charge you—”
“I don’t care,” she said in a dreamy, sing-song voice, her gaze even a little hazy now. “I’d pay double whatever his usual rate is just to be able to get married here.”
My eyebrows twitched. “Are you sure? It’s pretty pricey as it is.”
“Ryan.” She refocused on me, once again grabbing my arm. “Cost has never mattered to my parents. I won’t let them start pretending to care about it now. This is the most perfect place I’ve ever been.”
I swallowed hard, forcing a smile as I stared down into her eyes. For fuck’s sake. This is a conversation she should’ve been having with Daniel. Seriously.
“I’m glad you like it that much,” I finally managed. “Should we take some pictures for Daniel?”
She shook her head, but none of the excitement dimmed from her gaze. “I doubt he’d be interested. What do you think?”
“I think it has a haunted chapel and a graveyard.” I exaggerated a shudder. “Personally, I’ll be hoping that we’re well clear of this area before the sun sets.”
Maggie shot me a look that said she thought I was fundamentally incapable of appreciating anything important, but I grinned.
“We can put the carnival right around the corner.” I gestured toward the general direction. “The ghosts can come out for cotton candy. Have I mentioned that I’m washing my hair that day? I probably won’t be able to attend.”
Her lips pursed. “I haven’t even set a date yet.”
“Yeah, I know, but busy calendars refuse to be tamed.”
As she turned back to face the chapel, she elbowed me in the ribs. “Stop making fun of my wedding. You will be here, and if the dead would like to attend the reception, the least you can do is add them to the seating chart.”
I laughed. “I’ll do my best, but that’s a lot of gravestones, Maggie. How will I know who to seat and who will be left floating?”
She chuckled, and the sound made something deep inside me a lot too warm, but then she sighed and looked up at the chapel like she’d stumbled into her favorite storybook. “God, I didn’t know it was possible to be this in love with a wedding venue.”
I glanced up at it with her, the weathered stone walls now glowing under a few rays of sunshine that had broken through the clouds. “Yeah, it’s pretty special. Should we go check out the inside? I’m not convinced it can seat a hundred people.”
“That doesn’t matter. I don’t want to get married inside, remember? It has to be outside.”
“Fair enough.”
Together, we wandered around the chapel until we got to a small clearing behind it.
The grass had been cut short, but the space itself was wild compared to the manicured lawns between the not-castle and the chapel.
Stone walls enclosed one side of the clearing, sunlight filtering through the leaves in mottled patches.
Immediately, Maggie turned to me. “This is where I want to do it.”
Henry must’ve made his way around the chapel from the other side because he appeared next to her, considering the space with a professional eye.
“It would be beautiful. We’ve done the canapes here before, but never the ceremony itself.
You’re sure you want it outdoors? Weather can be unpredictable. ”
“More sure than I’ve ever been about anything in my life.”
“Well, then.” He strode a few more steps forward, turning in a slow circle before he motioned toward one side. “We could have the aisle come through here with the chairs under the trees. If you want, we could decorate the wall with flowers and bring in an arch.”
“That sounds amazing.” She sighed, looking at him like he’d just made all her dreams come true.
Hell, I would have promised her a Ferris wheel on the roof if she looked at me like that, but Henry just gave her a professional smile and gestured toward the center of the clearing. “Imagine having your first kiss as man and wife right here.”
My heart pounded hard against my ribs because as he said it, my mind went straight there, imagining kissing her like she’d actually just become my wife. I heard Maggie suck in a soft breath at my side, too, but Henry just kept smiling at us.
“Right?” he urged when neither of us said anything. “Give it a whirl and see how it feels.”
Oh, hell.
Maggie looked up at me and I could practically hear the gears turning in her head. She was about to make a joke, probably about the graveyard, but I looked back at her and saw that same happiness on her face from before.
Suddenly, I couldn’t stand the thought of letting one awkward moment put a dent in the first genuinely good day she’d had in weeks, so I turned, leaned down, and kissed her.
It was supposed to be a peck, but the moment my mouth touched hers, my brain evaporated, turning a harmless press of one set of lips into another from something we could laugh about after into a kiss I’d never forget.
Maggie went still, but not even a full second later, she kissed me back, one of her hands sliding up my chest to rest against my heart. Her soft lips moved with mine, the scent of her faint, but so intoxicating that I felt drunk.
For one stupid minute, I forgot about Henry, and Daniel, and that we weren’t actually rehearsing for our wedding. In fact, I forgot about everything but what it felt like to have her body flush against me, my mouth devouring hers like I was branding her as mine.
But she’s not.
The unwelcome reminder finally burrowed itself into whatever part of my brain was still functioning, and immediately, I pulled away. Maggie’s cheeks were bright pink, but her eyes were dark and fixed on my mouth.
My pulse kicked hard against my veins. The urge to kiss her again was so overwhelming that I rolled with it. One of my hands was already on the move, slowly reaching for her hip when Henry clapped his hands.
“Oh, I just love love, you know?”
I jerked back like I’d been caught shoplifting while Maggie blinked like she’d only just come crashing back to earth.
As she turned back to Henry, I took a few steps closer to the wall and pretended to be inspecting the craftsmanship, but in reality, I was desperately trying to hide a much bigger problem than the fact that it was suddenly comically obvious just how much I wanted a woman I was never even supposed to have touched in the first place.