Page 161 of Dust to Dust

“Why not?” he demanded.

“Because I’m a girly girl who wants a big church wedding. I want to spend hours toiling bridesmaids dresses and which calligraphy to put on the invitations. I want to see you standing at the altar in your form-fitted tux. I want to dance with you under sparkling lights as man and wife.”

His lips curved in amusement. “You don’t want much, do you?”

“Oh, I also want a big, poofy designer dress and a rented antique tiara.”

“Jaysus, woman. You drive a hard bargain,” he teased.

“Do you think you can deliver all that?”

“Aye, I can and then some.”

“Oh my,” I murmured as he sank to one knee.

“Isla Grace Vaughn, will you overlook the fact that your beast of a boyfriend didn’t pull out all the stops to give you the over-the-top proposal you deserve and instead went with his heart?”

Tears overflowed my cheeks. “I will.”

“Will you do me the biggest honor of becoming my wife?”

“Yes, yes, a million times yes!” I cried before I threw my arms around him.

Quinn grabbed me by the nape of my neck and pulled my head to his. He slammed his lips against mine, causing me to moan. When he released my mouth, tears shone in his own eyes. “I love you, Little Dove. You’ve made me the happiest man in all of Ireland and the world.”

“I love you, too.”

“Tomorrow we’ll go to the jewelers, and you can pick the biggest diamond you can find.”

“Don’t tempt me,” I teased.

“We could still nip round to the church to be married and then have a big ceremony later in America.”

“Quinn,” I warned.

He groaned. “There’s two women in the world I fear: you and my mother. As much as I want to sneak into your room tonight, I know she’d kill me. But if I don’t have you, I’m going to explode.”

I giggled at the thought of Quinn fearing me and his mother. Then I thought about how close I came to losing him. How much pain I was in when we were apart. “All right. We can get married today on the condition that only your mother knows. Everyone else will believe our massive, over-the-top wedding is our first. Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

“I think you’re going to owe me live doves at the reception now as well as a live band”

He threw back his head with a laugh. “I agree with the doves, especially if they’re little like you.” He held out his hand to me. “Come on. Let’s go tell Mam the good news.”

“I hope she won’t think we’re doing this just to sleep with each other.”

“I think she’ll see it exactly as it is: two people so very madly in love they can’t wait another moment to be man and wife.”

“Even though they’ve only known each other barely four months,” I countered.

“Callum and Caterina knew each other for three days before they were married, and they were in love by six weeks. In the end, time isn’t a true measure.”

“It will be when we get to fifty years,” I said.

Quinn smiled down at me. “I can’t wait to spend the next fifty years with you, Little Dove. I can’t wait for you to become Dr. Kavanaugh. And when the time is right and we’re ready, I can’t wait for you to be the mother of my children.”

I took his hand and mine. “Let’s go and get married.”

---