Page 31 of Ever After All

A few days later, after I had stolen one more night with Rosie, she looked up at me from where we stood between our vehicles again at her house. “You told me to tell you when I wanted this to be something more.”

“I did,” I said, my thumb twisting a lock of her auburn hair around my forefinger.

She took a quick breath as she shifted on her feet. “We don’t have to keep it a secret.”

“Are we telling people we actually got married in Vegas?”

She bit her lip. “I’m not sure about that part yet. Everybody will think we’re crazy.”

“Well, it was a little crazy,” I pointed out.

She chewed on the inside of her cheek as she studied me. “It was a little crazy, but…”

“Let’s just take it a step at a time.”

A smile unfurled slowly across her face. “Yes, please. We can just be open that we’re dating, and it’s maybe sort of serious.”

My heart thumped hard in my chest. I wanted more, so much more, but I checked that urge. “Okay, so how should we break the news? So far, your brother and Griffin know.”

“And my dad,” she said. “He saw your truck the other night when you were here. He won’t say anything, and my brother hasn’t said anything, and I can’t believe Griffin hasn’t said anything.” She paused, rolling her eyes. “Oh, and the doctor you told when you got your stitches.”

I grinned. “Doesn’t seem like she’s gossiped about us.”

Rosie shook her head as she reached up to twirl a lock of her auburn hair around her fingers. She didn’t show her nervousness much, but when it was evident, my heart twisted a little in my chest. She was so strong, so guarded, so protective of herself and of her heart.

“It’s okay,” I said softly.

“What’s okay?” She blinked.

“Think of it this way.” I stepped closer, reaching for her other hand. I held it in mine, brushing my thumb along the back of her palm before turning it over and dusting a kiss on the inside of her wrist. “When you found out Tessa and Adam were seeing each other, did you judge them? And what about McKenna and Jack? Or Blake and Fiona?”

“Don’t forget Rhys and Haven,” she interjected with a smile teasing the corners of her mouth.

“Of course not. And Kenan and Quinn?”

“I know, I know.” She finally released the curl she’d been spinning around her fingers and let out a tiny huff as I coaxed her a little closer and reached for her other hand.

“What are you worried about?” I asked.

Her eyes glistened with a hint of tears, and my heart nearly cracked open. “That it will all blow up, or that it won’t, and something bad will happen later.”

“You mean something like what happened to your mom?”

She blinked before clearing her throat and nodding.

“Okay, okay. I understand.” My voice was thick and husky. It wasn’t that I denied the pain I’d experienced in losing my father, but I hadn’t been alone in the echoing grief. She had her father, but the gap between her and her younger brother was large enough that she must’ve felt alone in her loss.

My family was a muddy mess of other shit that went down after my father passed. But still, I often kept my grief tucked away. Whenever I let myself feel it, and whenever it came up, like now, it was a piercing pain. It wasn’t as awful and as encompassing as it had felt when I’d been a little boy, yet the loss was always there.

“I want to lie and tell you it will all be okay, but I can’t do that. I know that there are no guarantees in life. I love you, and I want a chance with you. I think we might already be past the point of keeping it from hurting.”

She cleared her throat again and took a slow breath before squeezing my hands. “I know that. And, well, we’re married.” Her lips curled into a wobbly smile.

A laugh rustled in my throat. “True. We have to file paperwork for a divorce and everything if we want to break up officially.”

She rolled her eyes. “Can we at least give it a little time before we tell everyone we actually got married in Vegas? Except for Griffin, who I guess knows everything.”

“Not everything,” I replied. He did know most of my story with Rosie, but he had no idea how much she meant to me. I suspected he couldn’t understand that until he met someone who meant as much to him. “How do you want to handle this? How do we go public?” I asked.

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