No Gentle Giant (A Small Town Romance)

Nothing more incredible than knowing no mischief or misfortune will ever take us apart again.

We’ve worked too hard. We’ve earned the trust that’s only grown since that day we saved each other’s lives.

Saved each other’s hearts.

Saved each other’s souls.

And there’s nothing more spellbinding than the moment when suddenly Zachary Regis arrives at our sides, watching us with his solemn young man gaze as we take the rings from his small cushion and slip them on each other’s fingers.

Just like that, we’re bound in gold forever.

My heart almost hammers right out of my ribs to take flight when the priest finally says the magic words, asking if I take Felicity to be my lawfully wedded wife.

“I do,” I growl, without hesitation and with everything in me.

Fliss hardly waits her turn before it’s on her lips, spoken like a song, a prayer.

“I do.”

“Then I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the—”

To hell with waiting for permission.

Catching my hot as hell wife around her waist, I pull her straight to my lips—into our first kiss as husband and wife, our first in an endless train of kisses bound to last a lifetime.

She clings to me like she needs me to live, and God knows I need her.

She’s everything, the taste of her so perfect.

I don’t even register the people shouting and applauding around us, crying, cheering, their joy a shallow echo of my own.

When I break the vow our lips make, I have to swallow and breathe rapidly to stop my throat from closing as I look down at her with a smile fit to turn me into dust.

“Here’s to the rest of our lives,” I breathe out the words—just between us, over the clatter of the crowd and their frenzied cheers.

She laces her fingers with mine. “Here’s to us, Paxton. Forever.”

Then we belong to our hearts and the town, wading through countless hugs and well-wishes.

We’ll have to go through the reception, the opening of gifts, but for now it’s just boisterous goodwill everywhere.

We’re like leaves caught on a human current, swirled between different groups who just want to wish us well.

Until suddenly we’re front and center with my parents. My father a stern, upright, quiet man, and my mother, elegant in her old-world way.

They stare at us with a certain reservation that makes me pray Ma won’t start this first day of our lives off by making Felicity feel rejected.

Come on, dammit. Don’t do this.

Fliss looks at my mother shyly, then offers a small, tentative smile. “It’s good to finally see you in person, Mrs. Charter.”

My mother’s quiet for a moment.

I’ve loved her and hated her throughout this life. She’s set in her ways, and still judges me for the young, dumb mistakes I made with Katelyn.

But maybe she’s ready to let go.

Maybe she, too, could let me start again.

Because after that brutal silence, she smiles, warm and sweet.

My father echoes it in his own way, giving a brisk nod.

“I believe that name belongs to both of us now, dear. We’ll have to get used to sharing,” my mother says, holding her arms out for Felicity. “Welcome to the family.”

Fliss walks into her arms with a soft, joyous cry, the two of them hugging as if they’ve known each other forever. My father claps my shoulder with another wordless nod of approval, and the nervous fear inside me unravels.

“You did good, son,” he whispers. “I like her already.”

For a second, I’m fucking speechless, wondering if I’ve patched some black hole in the universe to make a miracle happen.

I’m not expecting the small hand on my arm, either.

I look down into Harper Randall’s eyes, twin to her daughter’s, soft blue-violet and warm as she watches Fliss hug her new mother-in-law.

“I’m so glad,” she whispers, tears in her voice. “I’m so, so glad to see both of you moving on together.”

Yeah.

So am I.

I smile and hug my mother-in-law, grateful that she’ll be moving past her old tragedies right along with us.

The rest of the day’s long.

I finally get to dance with my wife as the wedding spills into festivities after dinner.

There’s cake. The tossing of the bouquet, which lands smack in the throng of the vultures and turns into a minor catfight.

Enough gifts to let us completely replace all the old, worn-out things in the house. And then something I hadn’t expected, hadn’t planned.

A carriage rolls through the dirt-packed lanes of the little restored ghost town, pulled by two stunning white horses and decked out in flowers and banners proclaiming Just Married!!!

Fliss and I both stop and stare.

“Alaska?” she whispers.

“Wasn’t me,” I answer, a little lost.

“Surprise!” Holt says, coming up behind us and draping his arms over both our shoulders. “That was my idea. And my wife’s. And her horses. You’re welcome.” He grins widely. “The two of you got a plane to catch for your honeymoon. Might as well get you out of here in style.”