Vicious Minds: Part 2 (Children of Vice 5)

“Ethan,”

For some reason, all of me stiffened, and she had all of my attention.

“…You glare a lot.”

I paused. Of all the things I was expecting, that was not it, and it just got worse from there.

“You snore in your sleep, you either wake up too damn early in the morning, or you sleep for too long. You like going for runs, even when it’s raining or snowing. It takes you forever to text me back. You text or work during movie nights. You are the king of the silent treatment, and you lecture me about my wine consumption. Almost like magic, you hit every one of my pet peeves with surgical precision. And each time I open my mouth to say something, you look at me with those emerald eyes of yours and say my name and I forget exactly what I am mad about. So I stand there like a crazy person, staring at you as you stare back. All I can do is change the subject. But now I’m using this opportunity to bring up every last thing you do that annoys me, to tell you…” She looked up at me, the smile softer on her face. “You can keep doing them. You don’t have to change in any way. You are perfect for me exactly as you are. And I love you as you are now and as you’ve always been. And I always will. I promise.”

She was merciless.

She never played fair.

“Ethan,” the priest said as if he didn’t realize it was impossible for me to top that. What could I possibly say?

“Everything you said…me too,” I whispered, reaching over and bringing her lips to mine, kissing her. And for the first time since I had stepped outside…all of me relaxed.

CALLIOPE

“Me too?” I repeated, glaring at him as we walked over to take photos.

“Congratulations,” others called as we walked.

I forced a smile, holding Ethan’s arm tighter.

“I mean, you could have at least recited poetry or something,” I muttered under my breath.

“That’s what you get for giving me such short notice,” he uttered back, nodding to those who congratulated us on our short little walk.

“The bride and groom will take photos first,” the cameramen said when we came closer. “Mr. and Mrs. Callahan, please stand side by side.”

“I wanted you to spontaneously speak from your heart,” I argued, brushing my dress to the side.

“All right on three…one…two…three.”

I smiled, but I was sure Ethan was more stone-faced than that, seeing as how so many people were around.

“That was your first mistake,” he said when they posed for their photos.

“My first mistake?” I asked.

He nodded. “Who told you I had a heart?”

I rolled my eyes. “If you didn’t have one, I’d steal one and shove it into your chest.”

“You are being very romantic today. I’m flattered.”

I glared up at him, and he smirked, staring down at me.

“Perfect—”

“I wanna be in the picture!” Gigi hollered, breaking out of her Uncle Declan’s arms and running straight for Ethan’s legs.

Ethan let go of me and caught her before she could even reach him, tossing her into the air before bringing her closer.

“Papa, can I have a wedding day, too?” She pouted, and I couldn’t help but laugh, not only at her obvious jealousy at being left out for so long but at Ethan’s face at the thought of the question.

He looked like she’d kicked him in the gut, and he wasn’t ready for it. “I’ll think about it later,” he managed to say. “Right now, you can be in all the photos from here on out, okay?”