Page 107 of Forbidden Dark Vows

The evening is ticking by. I dance with Ronnie and Carlos and other friends of Harry’s whose names I can barely remember. Donna and Bill flew from the UK specially for the wedding, and I squeal when I notice the swollen belly beneath Donna’s dress. “You’re pregnant!”

“Why do you think we ran away to Gretna to get married?”

We have so much to catch up on, but my dad joins us, and I can see how tired he is. I escort him outside and cling to him with the starry sky twinkling down on us, while we wait for the car to take him back to the rehabilitation center.

“See you when I get back from my honeymoon, Dad.”

It feels like I’m leaving him for the first time. Like this is way harder and heavier than packing a bag and flying to the UK with a man I barely knew. It feels like goodbye, and suddenly, I don’t feel ready.

The tears, once they start flowing, don’t seem to want to stop. It’s hormones, I know, but how do you stop them when every emotion is heightened a hundred times because your body is growing a baby?

“Don’t forget to send a postcard.” He climbs into the back of the car that Harry organized to take him and his caretaker back to the center.

I watch the vehicle disappear into the traffic. The night air chills my bare shoulders, pinching me back to reality, and I wave at a passing limo as it toots its horn at me, a young Hispanic guypoking his head through the sunroof and blowing me kisses. I laugh at him as the car carries him away.

Will I ever get used to this crazy city and this surreal way of life that Harry is accustomed to? I feel like a fraud. I’m just a girl from Chicago standing outside a swanky building on a busy Manhattan street, wearing the kind of gown all little girls dream of wearing when they marry their prince.

I’m just Ruby Jackson.

“Hello, Ruby. I’m guessing I should call you Ruby Weiss now?”

I didn’t realize that I said the words out loud until the voice catches me unawares. I turn around, and my heart performs somersaults. “You came.”

“I wasn’t going to.” Melanie shrugs. “I didn’t even pack my suitcase until this morning.”

“What changed your mind?” I grab her hand, scared that she’ll slip away again without Harry ever knowing that she was here.

“You did. You love my brother, and really, that’s all I ever wanted for him. To be loved. And then I thought of all the years I’ve missed, and it made me realize that I was being selfish staying away all this time, no contact, no messages to let him know that I was still alive.”

“No. I don’t think you’ve been selfish.”

Melanie’s smile is all Harry. “I hope you never lose this ability to see the good in people, Ruby. I have been selfish. What happened between our parents wasn’t Harry’s fault, but I punished him anyway when I should’ve been looking out for him.”

“You’re here now. That’s all that matters.”

I go to walk back inside with her, but Melanie stops me. “How do you think he’ll react?”

“Honestly? You’ll make his day complete.”

“There you go again, thinking the best of everyone, and forgetting about all the years of catching up I have to do.”

“You’re both different people now, Melanie. You can start fresh, draw a line under what passed before.” I link my arm with hers. “Come on. Let’s do this.”

I spot Harry across the room when we enter, deep in conversation with Carlos Russo and his wife, the Italian’s booming laughter rising above the music and turning the joyful atmosphere in the room up a notch. Harry has his back to us and doesn’t see us approaching until we’re standing right behind him. Carlos raises his eyebrows, nudging him in our direction.

My heart skips a beat when Harry turns around, his gaze hopping between me and his sister, and his wide smile tells me all I need to know.

Harry Weiss is the happiest man on the planet, and he’s all mine.

EPILOGUE

“How’s themost beautiful woman in the world?”

Harry comes into my room in the private clinic, leans over the bed, and kisses my forehead. Then he produces a bouquet of flowers in every shade of blue imaginable from behind his back.

I smile. “Harry, the room is already full of flowers.”

I glance around at the vases overflowing with blossoms on every available surface, the petals catching the sunlight from the window. It doesn’t even feel like a hospital room; it’s like sleeping in a forest.

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