Chapter 179
Chapter 179
Victoria blinked. "You're going out too?"
Strange.
Yara usually spent her weekends at the Windsor Estate with Rhea.
Why the sudden urge to tag along today?
Yara nodded vigorously. "Aunt Veda said she's taking me for ice cream!"
Veda hadn't mentioned anything about bringing Yara on the phone.
But Victoria didn't think much of it. Yara adored Veda, and the two of them hung out all the time. Wanting to go out for ice cream was perfectly normal.
She bent down and straightened the bow on Yara's collar, then took her hand and headed out.
---
Veda's car was already waiting downstairs.
The door opened and Yara climbed into the child seat in the back on her own, buckled her seatbelt, and sat perfectly still—far better behaved than usual.
Victoria glanced at Veda. "What did you say to her? She's being suspiciously good today."
She was always well-behaved, really. But spending so much time with Rhea lately had spoiled her a little.
Usually she insisted on being carried to the car.
Today was different.
Veda put on her most innocent face. "I didn't do anything. She's probably just in a good mood."
She turned her head, hiding the flash of guilt in her eyes.
Then she started the engine and headed toward downtown.
---
When the car stopped in front of a private garden, Victoria already sensed something was off.
She'd never been to this place before.
It was enclosed by tall walls and hedgerows. The iron gate stood open, and beyond it she could make out white trellises and a walkway paved with pale stones.
Veda parked and glanced back at Yara with a wink.
Yara unbuckled herself, hopped out of the car, and tugged Victoria's hand. "Mommy, come on!"
Victoria let herself be pulled through the gate, Veda trailing behind at a leisurely pace with that deliberate "I know absolutely nothing" expression plastered across her face.
---
Past the iron gate, a winding path stretched ahead, flanked on both sides by white hydrangeas in full bloom. Morning dew still clung to the petals and leaves.
Yara bounced ahead. Victoria followed, her shoes crunching over the pale stones as they wound through the flowers for about two minutes before the path opened up.
A wide clearing, canopied by flower-laden trellises.
Pale purple wisteria cascaded from the white lattice overhead, the trailing clusters swaying gently in the breeze.
Beneath the trellises stood a long table draped in cream-colored linen. A small glass vase sat at its center, holding a single white orchid.
Yara ran to the trellised archway and turned around, her little face bright with excitement.
Victoria's steps slowed.
She stood at the end of the path, taking in the scene before her.
Edward stepped out from behind the hedgerow to her right.
He wore a dark gray suit. At his collar, a silver-gray tie pin—the same one he'd worn the day they'd gone to the County Clerk's Office.
He wasn't holding anything elaborate. Just a small bunch of white wildflowers gathered from the garden, tied with a bit of twine. Simple. Clean.
He walked to her and stopped. Held out the flowers.
Victoria took them and looked down. The stems were freshly cut. He'd just picked them.
She raised her eyes to his face. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the trellis and fell across his features, illuminating the quiet sincerity in his eyes with perfect clarity.
He didn't bother with a preamble. He reached into his suit jacket and produced a small navy velvet box.
Inside was a men's platinum band—the match to the ring already on her hand.
"The day you chose the design, I ordered this pair."
He looked at her. "I was going to wait until the wedding to show you. But walking in through the back gate just now, it felt like today was right."
Victoria stood clutching the wildflowers, looking down at the ring in the velvet box, then at the platinum band she'd been wearing on her right middle finger for so long.
Her eyes began to burn. She dropped her gaze and blinked hard, twice, forcing the tears back.
When she looked up again, she saw Rhea standing behind Edward in a deep burgundy dress, dabbing at the corner of her eye with a silk handkerchief.
Beside her stood Nolan, wearing a clean, neatly pressed new outfit, smiling at Victoria.
Yara couldn't contain herself any longer. She ran over and grabbed Victoria's hand, tilting her face up. "Mommy, say yes!"
Veda darted in from behind, scooped Yara up, and carried her back a couple of steps, clearing space for the two of them.
Victoria noticed the small cake on the long table beneath the trellis. Next to it, an already-opened bottle of champagne. The tablecloth lifted in the breeze, its corner rising and falling.
She brought her gaze back to Edward.
He stood before her, wisteria blossoms swaying gently beside his shoulder.
The velvet box was still open in his hand. The ring inside caught the sunlight and threw a thin sliver of brilliance.
Victoria looked down at the wildflowers in her hand. The petal edges were damp with morning mist, leaving a cool trace of moisture on her fingers.
She spoke, her voice soft. "When I picked this design that day, I already imagined you wearing the matching one."
Edward looked at her. The faintest curve touched the corner of his mouth.
He lifted the ring from the box, took Victoria's left hand, and slid the men's band onto her ring finger.
It fit perfectly. The platinum was cool against her skin for an instant before her warmth claimed it.
Victoria looked down at her two hands. The delicately engraved band on her right middle finger. The smooth, unadorned circle now on her left ring finger.
She looked up at him. "When did you measure my size?"
Edward glanced at her. "The second night after you started wearing the ring on your right hand. While you were asleep."
Victoria laughed. And the tears came with it.
She lifted her hand and swiped at her eyes with the back of her wrist, shifted the wildflowers to her left hand, and reached out her right to pull him close.
Edward let her lead him a couple of steps beneath the trellis. Rhea had already come forward and taken Yara from Veda's arms.
Yara was still shouting. "Mommy and Daddy, kiss!"
Nolan stood nearby, laughing too, the creases at the corners of his eyes folding together with a lightness that had been compressed for years, finally allowed to unfurl.
---
Victoria looked through the gaps between the wildflowers at the people who mattered most in her life.
Her father, standing in the sunlight, smiling. Her daughter, held in loving arms, waving at her. Veda, phone raised, recording everything, squeezing one eye shut in a playful wink. Rhea, by the trellis, silk handkerchief in hand, her smile soft and warm.
She turned back to Edward.
He hadn't made any grand speeches. But his hand held hers, their fingers interlaced.
Victoria realized the words didn't need to be said. Everything he'd done had already carved them, one by one, into the days they shared.