Page 162 of Dust to Dust

“Married?” Orla shrieked from the kitchen doorway.

“Yes, married,” Quinn replied.

“Oh no. Not until we take care of a few things.”

“Such as?” Quinn questioned.

“Isla needs something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue.”

“My dress is new.” I smiled at Quinn. “Well, it’s the first time I’ve worn it since you took me shopping.”

“That should work,” Orla remarked. She then took off the pearls around her neck. “These can be your borrowed and your old.”

Waggling his brows, Quinn replied, “You could wear some blue knickers.”

Both Orla and I huffed an indignant breath at him. “Give me one minute to go grab a pair of sapphire earrings. They’ll look lovely with your dress.”

As Orla started up the stairs, Quinn drew me into his arms. “Instead of blue knickers, will you wear some green ones tonight?”

With a roll of my eyes, I said, “I didn’t come prepared with any lingerie when I was racing to get to you.”

“Then we’ll make a pit stop after the ceremony.”

“You’re a beast.”

“Aye, my beauty. That I am.”

As he brought his lips to mine, I sighed with pleasure. In that moment, I wasn’t silly enough to think we would live happily ever after. But I knew we would come pretty close.

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Quinn

Two Hours Later

I’d never imagined what my wedding would look like. Before the bombing, I’d never been one for monogamy, not to mention I was expecting my marriage to be arranged.

After the bombing, I never imagined a woman wanting to marry me. Even if it was forced on her for an alliance.

As I stood at the altar of the church, I couldn’t help feeling like the luckiest bastard in the world. I had a beautiful, kind, sexy, and smart woman who loved me with all her heart.

With a bouquet of lilies tucked in her hands, Isla made her way up the aisle. In her delicate green dress and with her hair flowing down to her waist, she was my fairy goddess.

When she reached the altar, I took her hand. After bringing it to my lips, I placed a tender kiss on it before turning my attention to the priest.

As he began to go through the ceremony, I turned my attention back to Isla. I couldn’t believe she was really consenting to marry me. When she glanced up at me, she gave me a beaming smile.

At a sniffle behind me, I glanced past Isla to see Mam dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief. “Happy tears,” she murmured when she caught my eyes.

Isla grinned. The priest continued on when we heard another sniffle. I glanced over my shoulder to see Eamon dabbing his eyes with the backs of his hands. “What?” he demanded, which caused Isla to giggle.

Although we would’ve liked to have kept the news from him a secret out of fear of him blabbing to the others, he came in from school just in time to attend. It was nice since he could be my best man, and Mam could be Isla’s matron of honor.

“And now we come to the giving and receiving of rings,” the priest said.

Mam had produced her parents’ first set of wedding bands. At their fiftieth wedding anniversary they’d gotten new ones. Although their marriage had been arranged, my grandparents did have a good marriage, unlike my parents.

“Repeat after me: With this ring, I thee wed.”

I slid the ring on Isla’s left hand. Then in turn, she did for me.

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