ur Mommy a minute." I read between the lines, knowing he needed to separate from me as much as he seemed to think I needed the space.
When they left the room, I realized just how deafening silence could really be.
???
Father Alessi spoke, his words ringing through the yard and the small group of people who had gathered to watch us tie ourselves to one another. "Ryker, repeat after me." He went through the vows, and I had a moment where I wondered if Ryker would go through with it. If the memory of the wife he’d lost might prevent him from taking a new wife.
But the worry proved unfounded when he smiled down at me, sliding a thin rose gold band studded with diamonds onto my finger along with my engagement ring. "I, Ryker, take you Calla to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part."
My breath stalled as my heart thumped in my chest. Given that we'd both lost spouses, the until death do us part took on a new meaning that it hadn't the first time around. I knew what it was like to lose a husband.
But I knew with sudden clarity that I wouldn't survive losing Ryker.
I stared up at him, tears shining in my eyes. His hand reached up to stroke my cheek, as if he could see just how close I'd come to my breaking point. Closing my eyes, I leaned into his touch for just a moment before I looked to where the kids stood with my Dad and Aunt Sigrid. Even she looked pleased; even she had been won over by Ryker's gentle affection and how incredible he was with the kids.
"A once in a lifetime kind of man," she'd said as we parted ways at the restaurant a week before. "And a once in a lifetime love."
I knew she was right. I knew there would be no one who made me feel the way Ryker did. It didn't take a genius to see the way others went about their lives and how different we were.
"Calla, repeat after me," Father Alessi said with a smile. Ryker dropped his hand from my face, letting me look at the priest so I could really hear the words as he spoke them.
"I, Calla, take you Ryker, to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward. For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part." As I repeated them, it felt like a brand on my soul. Like the vows went straight to the core of me and seared themselves into me so I could never forget who I was.
Calla Fiore.
I slid the simple black band onto Ryker's finger, staring up into his face as he looked down at me with shining blue eyes. Once that was done, he ducked his head forward and stole my lips in a fierce kiss as he pulled me to him. Another brand on my soul came with it, our first kiss as husband and wife.
In the group watching, Enzo hooted. "Thatta boy!"
"I suppose saying you may now kiss your bride would be redundant," Father Alessi sighed, and I giggled in response as I tried to pull away from Ryker. Instead, his arms wrapped around my waist as he lifted my feet off the ground and spun me in a circle. "I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Ryker Fiore."
When Ryker finally set me to my feet, the kids rushed into us, hugging our legs tight as we grinned down at them. It was when I looked back up at Ryker that he spoke. "Hello, wife," he whispered, and it felt like my heart stopped.
"Hello, husband," I murmured in response.
We moved away from the center of the focus of the room, Ryker glad to be out of the spotlight as much as I was. As we approached where Matteo stood with Ivory, Enzo spoke. “You know, I have yet to meet Sadie.” He laughed.
Ivory eyed him curiously, and Matteo shot her a warning look with whatever he saw in his wife’s sea-green eyes. “How is that even possible?” she asked instead, though the amusement never left her face.
I didn’t doubt his words though, because I had a feeling anyone who met Sadie would have a very distinct impression and remember the event in significant detail. “No clue. She’s just never around when I am,” he shrugged. “I hear she’s quite the woman.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Matteo growled. “I will not deal with the wreckage when the two of you crash and burn.”
“Relax, Teo,” Enzo said mockingly. “I haven’t even met the woman.”
I didn’t hear Matteo’s response, when Ryker grabbed my hand and the kids and dragged me off into the kitchen where we could be away from the crowd. He knelt in front of the kids, the pant leg of his suit touching the floor in a way that most men might have fussed over, even though the floor was pristine. It didn’t bother Ryker in the slightest. He pulled a necklace out of his pocket, a sparkly ring hanging from the chain that he clasped around Ines’s neck. “I promised you there’d be one for you too, Princess.” She giggled in response, grabbing the ring and pulling it away from her chest so she could look at it with a shining grin.
“Thank you!”
“And for my Little Man,” Ryker said, turning his attention to Axel. “It isn’t much, but you love working on the Chevelle with me so much that I thought you might like to have this.” I recognized the adjustable wrench he pulled from his pocket as the one he most often used when he worked in the garage. “It was the first tool I ever bought myself after I discovered my love of cars. It only seems fitting that I pass it on to you now.”
Emotion clogged my throat, the meaning behind the gift not lost on me or Axel as he held out a hand and accepted the wrench with tears in his eyes. It was the gift a father gave to his son.
“Thank you,” my boy whispered, and both kids collided with Ryker’s chest to hug him tight. I clenched my jaw against the threat of tears as I watched Ryker tend to my kids with such gentle affection that they’d always enjoyed.
“I’m sure your grandpa will want to see that,” I said to Axel, making both kids dart into the living room to go show off their new things.
Dad’s shout traveled through the doorway. “Ryker, we're gonna have some words!” he called with a laugh, kicking himself for missing the opportunity to give Axel his first tool. He might have wished he didn’t miss that chance, but I wouldn’t change the way it happened.