Page 102 of False Confidence

And then there were Jazz’s parents. As promised, they’d given her space and been patient while she thought through their apology, while she talked things out with Maggie, Liam, and her siblings. Xan and Rose had been as surprised as she was by her parents admitting they’d fucked up. Rose had been more distrustful of their apology, but the three of them had met their parents for dinner and started clearing the air. They had a long way to go to be like the kind of family Liam had grown up with, if they ever could be, but they were trying. Jazz no longer hated being a Cannon, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t excited to officially become a Michaelson.

Every single person in attendance had taken their dress to possess instruction seriously. There were ghosts and vampires, princesses and witches, a menagerie of creatures, and no less than three Han Solos. It was chaotic and beautiful and exactly what they’d hoped for.

They stopped in front of Cal and Liam’s moms, Cal’s gaze falling to Maggie’s face. His eyes widened.

“Have you been crying, love? Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine,” Maggie assured him, clinging to his arm. “Happy tears.”

“About what?”

Liam grinned at his parents. “Don’t freak out.”

To give Cal and Danisha their credit, they held it together when Liam told them why they were there. Eliza, on the other hand… Her blue eyes immediately filled with tears, a smile stretching over her face. She bounced up and down on her heels. Apparently, they needn’t have worried about Liam’s parents’ reactions.

“I’m so happy. My babies,” she blubbered, pulling both Liam and Jazz into her arms.

“Don’t cry on the bride, honey,” Danisha said gently, but, when they all pulled back, Jazz noticed her dark chestnut eyes were lined with silver too. She grasped Liam’s shoulder. “Happy for you, kiddo. I can’t imagine a better partner for you. We love you both so much.”

Jazz swallowed, her throat thick with emotion. She held her tears at bay until she met Cal’s eye. He was looking between her and Liam with nothing but love and pride on his face.

He said nothing, just folded them both into crushing hugs.

“We’d like you and Maggie to be our witnesses,” Liam said, and Cal nodded, wrapping an arm around Maggie’s waist as she took her place beside him.

“We’d be honored.”

Liam helped Jazz up to the small stage. He smiled down at her and squeezed her hand, accepting a microphone from the DJ, and nodding. The DJ cut the music and Liam took a deep breath.

“Hi everyone. Thank you for coming out tonight. You all look incredible.” Every eye in the room was trained on the stage as he spoke, their guests listening with rapt attention.

“A couple years ago,” Liam continued, turning his gaze on Jazz, “at my dad and Maggie’s wedding, Jasmine told me she was going to force me to marry her so she could be a Michaelson, too.” Jasmine, not Jazz. He always called her Jazz when he was talking to other people, but this wasn’t for everyone else in the room. This was for them. “Little did she know, I’ve been absolutely obsessed with her since the first time we met. We spent the next few months joking about our hypothetical wedding, and, along the way, it all started to feel a little real. And you see, because this is Jasmine we’re talking about, our hypothetical wedding was always going to be complete chaos. A Hallowedding, we called it. So with that in mind,” Liam turned back to face the room. “We’re so excited to welcome you all to our wedding.”

The room erupted, but Jazz hardly heard it. All she could focus on was Liam, on the love and joy in his eyes. He handed the mic over to the officiant—another clown—and, with their arms wrapped around each other, they said their vows.

She could barely take it all in. It was… chaos. But the good kind. The kind that was full of love and joy and pride. The kind that made her heart race and her palms sweaty, and her jaw hurt from smiling so much.

Life with Liam, she’d learned, was made of many things, but mostly it was a mix of the fiery chaos she’d had inside her for thirty years, and the steady, warm peace that Liam personified. It was a give and take, meeting in the middle and finding the sweet spot they’d both been searching for long before they’d met at the office. Chaos and peace were not the natural enemies she’d once thought they were. And the life she and Liam were building promised both.

As the clown declared them husband and wife, and Liam captured her lips in the kind of kiss that was half kiss half smile, Jazz thought about Liam’s favorite painting: Nothing Lasts Forever.

But they would. And Jazz couldn’t wait to spend the rest of their lives proving that painting wrong.

THE END

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