Savage Ending (Savage Trilogy 4)

“Funny. I wanted a guy just like you.”

“I think you did better,” he says, and my heart swells with his approval.

The door opens and Linda announces, “Now, it’s time.”

My heart flutters and butterflies explode in my belly. “Oh gosh. Oh gosh. What if I fall, Dad? What if I trip and fall in front of all of those people?”

“Then I’m quite sure Savage will pick you up and carry you to the front of the church.”

“Rick,” I say. “Today, he’s my Rick.”

“Rick,” he amends.

Jessica rushes into the room and offers me my bouquet of lilacs and lilies. They were my mother’s favorite flowers and that’s why they decorated the entire church. I wanted her with me, with us.

“Rick,” Linda announces, “is already at the front of the church. And he looks handsome.”

Tears burn my eyes and I fight them hard. In a rush of activity, I’m at the entrance to the chapel, and the wedding march music starts. My father offers me his arm. “Ready, princess?”

“Since the moment I met him,” I whisper, accepting his arm and seeking out Rick, who is so far away right now, too far away.

We start walking down the center of the room, and the seats are filled with people. Military friends of my family and his. Doctors from the hospital in San Antonio where Rick started his career. Clients of Walker Security who became Rick’s friends, many of whom are alive today because of him. I don’t know how he can call himself a monster. One day I’ll make him see the truth in himself is much grander.

Finally, I can see the front of the room, where all three of my ladies, and friends, are lined up in a rainbow of silver, pink, and cream, just opposite Rick’s handsome best man and groomsmen. But my focus is on Rick, and the closer I get to him, the calmer I become. But that moment, that moment, where he steps to the center of the aisle to greet me, and our eyes meet, it undoes me in ways I’ve never been undone. My father goes to hand me off and Rick catches me to him and kisses me. The room hums with voices and I laugh. “You weren’t supposed to do that yet.”

“I couldn’t help myself,” he assures me. “You look beautiful, baby.”

“You don’t look so shabby yourself,” I whisper. “I can’t believe we're finally doing this.”

“Oh, we are,” he says, his fingers brushing my cheek. “And I’m a lucky man. I want to make this official before you change your mind.”

“Never, and yes, now.”

And so, we step in front of the priest and the ceremony begins. And when it comes time for our vows, after much debate, Rick and I decided to say only a few short sentences each. Enough to get the point across to each other without the world knowing our private thoughts. The priest explains this to the crowd. Rick goes first. “There’s a song called Love You Like I Used To. I don’t love you like I used to, Candace. I love you more than every single day before.”

Now I tear up because those few words speak so much to our lives we’ve shared together and apart. Now it’s my turn and I say, “You’re a good man, Rick Savage. I know it. Everyone in this church knows it. It is my vow that one day you will know it, too. You make me whole. I need you. Don’t you dare forget that.” And now I’m crying.

Rick kisses me again, and the crowd goes nuts. The priest clears his throat. “Not yet.”

Rick and I laugh, as does everyone else, as he says, “The rings please.”

Eagerly, impatiently, Rick and I exchange rings, and then it’s time to say I do.

“Do you, Rick Savage, take Candace Marks as your lawfully wedded wife?”

“I do,” he says. “With every fiber of my being.”

I smile as the question is reversed. “Do you, Candace Marks, take Rick Savage to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do,” I say. “With every fiber of my being.”

The priest has barely said the words, “I now pronounce you man and wife,” before Rick is kissing me again, and it’s a toe-curling, intense kiss. I’m pretty sure we leave the entire room breathless, even the priest. And when it’s done, Rick whispers in my ear, “I love you, Candace Savage.”

“I love you, too, Rick Savage.”

Now, Rick is smiling as the priest turns us toward the crowd, and what a crowd it is. Luke is watching Julie from the front row. Lauren is between her husband, Royce, the eldest Walker, and Kara. Asher and his wife, Sierra, are there. I even find Smith and Lucifer, too. I see so many faces of those I now call family. The priest proudly announces, “I now introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Savage.”