Chapter 21

“It’s too tight,” Burke wanted to wrench the tie off his neck and throw it as far as he could. “Leo, it’s too tight.”

“It’s supposed to be tight.” His friend bumped his hand away from where Burke was trying to rip the bow tie off.

“I’m sure that’s not right,” Burke said. “They come in sizes, don’t they?”

The door behind him opened and his dad entered, carrying a box with a red ribbon. “That better be a pair of scissors,” Burke said.

His dad grinned at him. “No, but your mother insisted you have this before the ceremony.”

Burke couldn’t wait for the ceremony to be over, because then Ash would be his wife and they would be alone. It felt like a decade had passed since that morning on the beach instead of only a year.

He’d asked her to marry him on the same beach, months after she’d gotten her running mojo back. He’d worked for six months to train Dolly to dig in a certain spot and when she had and procured the ring, Burke had dropped to both knees and popped the question.

Thankfully, Ash had said yes almost before he’d finished his sentence.

Burke lost himself in the memory for a moment. It had been so fantastic to finally hear that yes from the woman he loved. She’d gotten a little teary, and Burke had to admit that he almost had too.

Now he just hoped she’d show up.

She’ll show up, he told himself. She said yes.

“Open it,” Leo said, interrupting Burke’s memories and thoughts. “You don’t want to be late going downstairs.”

Ash had wanted a beach wedding, complete with silver bells and gold stars for the Christmas holiday. She’d hired her friend Charlotte at Your Tidal Forever, and he could look out the window and see the branch wreaths covered in twinkling tea lights, the white fabric that looked like gauze which flowed over the chairs and altar. The splashes of navy and deep crimson on the chairs and altar, along with the metallic elements.

He pulled the ribbon off the box and found a pair of cufflinks inside. “Dad?”

“They were mine, at my wedding,” he said. “And your grandfather’s before that. And his father’s before that. As long as Petals and Leis has been in our family, so have these cufflinks.” His dad lifted the first one out of the box and helped Burke put it on. Once both cufflinks were in place, Burke lifted his wrist to see them in the mirror.

“They have little flowers on them,” he said, turning them this way and that to see the orchid.

“My dad had those engraved.” His dad started fiddling with Burke’s bow tie, miraculously loosening it. “There, that’s got to be better. Your whole face was turning red.”

Burke glared at Leo, who simply laughed. “I don’t wear bow ties,” he said by way of explanation.

Someone knocked on the door four times, sharply, and then a woman poked her head into the room. “Good, you’re dressed. Five minutes, Mister Lawson.” The wedding planner left, and Burke drew in a deep breath.

“All right. Let’s do this.” He checked his hair one more time, glad this December day wasn’t too terribly windy. He went downstairs and outside, the scent of plumeria and orchid hitting him square in the chest the same way the humidity did. Huge urns of the flowers stood at the end of the aisle and edged the entire section of the beach where their wedding would take place.

He smiled at the blooms, appreciating that Ash had given such a major nod to him and his family. Almost everyone had already taken their seats, and his mother stood to look at him from head to toe. “You got the cufflinks?”

He showed them to her and gave both of his sisters a hug. The preacher gestured him forward and started explaining how things would go. Burke had been through it before, at the rehearsal just last night. He knew where to stand. He knew where to look for the photographer. He couldn’t wait for the actual wedding to be done.

But he stood in his spot, his cells buzzing with anticipation, excitement, and if he were being honest—anxiety.

She said yes. She said yes. She said yes.

And then she came out of the same door he had, someone holding the train of her dress while she adjusted the bodice. Though she was farther away than he would’ve liked, he basked in her beauty, in the honor she’d given him by placing an orchid in her hair, in the absolute joy now soaring through him.

Her wedding party swallowed the sight of her, and they stayed as a wall in front of her as they moved her into position at the back of the congregation. Her bridesmaids moved down the aisle, latching onto a groomsman after the first row of chairs.

Finally, everyone was in position, and Ash stood at the end of the aisle with her brother. Leo looked at her, and she looked at him, and they both faced Burke.

Step by step, she walked toward him, a radiant smile on her face. Leo passed her to Burke, and the entire crowd faded in her brilliance. Only she existed on the beach with him, and Burke took a deep drag of her perfume before facing the preacher.

“Friends and family, welcome to the marriage of Burke David Lawson and Ashley Cynthia Fox….”

Burke tried to pay attention, he really did. But all he could focus on was the feel of Ash’s hand against his arm, and the way she seemed to be made of sunlight and stars while she read her vows to him.

He read his, and the pastor said, “I now pronounce you man and wife.”

And then Burke got to do what he’d been waiting so long to do: he kissed his wife.

END