Page 168 of Lesson In Faith

“A long time ago, I thought I was in love with someone. I was willing to give her anything and everything she wanted if I only got to call her mine, and she turned me down. I thought she’d broken my heart, ruined me for anyone else, but looking back at that moment and this one…” He shifted his weight slightly and bared his teeth when his side twinged loudly. “She was never meant to be mine, Tamsyn. She was a fork in the path, a shove in the direction I was always meant to go. You are, and always will be, my destination, my home, my universe. I love you, and I promise—here, in front of all these lovely women and the collection of jackasses who will never let me break my word—that I am gonna love, cherish, protect, and guide you until the day I die.”

Violet cleared her throat meaningfully.

“What, too soon?” At the ripple of laughter, Merrick grinned. He lifted a hand to Tamsyn’s cheek, stroking away the wetness trickling down her skin. “Don’t cry, darlin’. I know this seems rushed, and maybe we could’ve waited a few months for all our ducks to align, but I can’t wait. Don’t want to, if I’m honest. Life is too short to hang around for paperwork to finalize and all the other crap. From this moment until our last breath, you are the blood in my veins, the beat in my heart, the reason I exist. I love you, little owl.”

After a subtle pause to see if he was finished, Eli nodded his approval. He gestured for Tamsyn to take the spotlight.

“How am I supposed to compete with that?” she whispered, a little too loudly.

“It’s not a competition, sweetheart.” Eli’s tone was low and gentle. “Vows are whatever you feel compelled to say; there aren’t any standard guidelines. Just tell Merrick how you feel.”

“Oh.” Biting her bottom lip, she squirmed nervously. “I guessI love youdoesn’t really sum up how I feel about you. Where I come from, those three words don’t exist between a man and a woman. They’re rarely spoken at all except between a mother and her child, and even then, it’s usually under the cover of darkness. I came from that darkness, Merrick. You saw it in me from the start and yet you didn’t let it sway how you treated me. Even though I was a burden—” She jolted when Fordham growled, paling as she backpedaled. “Um… even though I wasn’t the easiest patient and I couldn’t use my voice, you never lost your temper or your patience. I think I fell in love with you because you were everything I’d ever dreamed of having in a man and I… I knew if my father came to take me home, I would die. I gave you my heart because you were the only man who deserved it, who would protect it even after I was gone, and because… loving you is the greatest thing I’ve ever done.

“Being lovedbyyou is the only thing that compares to it. I’d go through it all again, every second of…” She appeared to remember where they were, who they were with, and cut herself off. “All of it, Merrick. It was all worth it to be standing here with you. For the rest of my life, you will always be the only man who sees me for who I am, who knows me inside out, who loves me despite all my… weird bits.”

Chuckling, he leaned forward to nip her lip. “I do love your weird bits, darlin’.”

“I know. That’s why I’m standing here now, unafraid for once in my life, vowing to be the best wife you could ever wish for. I love you, Merrick, and I’m going to shut up now so the scary sadist can make us official.” Her eyes darted in Elias’s direction.

“Daddy!” Callie called out. “Make them ‘fficial, ‘kay? I wanna see them kiss!”

Running a hand over his face, Eli sighed. “Merrick Cole, do you take Tamsyn Drake to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, honor and cherish, in sickness and in health, from this day forward?”

“I do.”

“And Tamsyn, do you take Merrick to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do.” She beamed at him, stunning without a stitch of makeup. “I really do.”

“Then by the powers vested in this scary sadist by The Provenance Center, it is my honor to declare you man and wife. You may now kiss the bride,” Eli added dryly. “Preferably before my wife comes up here and smushes your faces together the same way she makes her stuffies kiss.”

An outraged cry came from the audience. “Daddy!”

While laughter rippled around them, Merrick cupped Tamsyn’s face and simply stared at her. There was joy in those beautiful eyes, joy and love. Hope for the future she never believed she’d have.

Wasn’t he just the luckiest bastard in the world, waking up to those eyes every morning for the rest of his life?

“All mine, little owl. Finally, all mine.”

She wrapped her fingers around his wrists. “Mr. Cole.”

“Mrs. Cole.” Fuck yes, he liked the sound of that. Teasing her lips with his, he smiled against her mouth. “Want to smush faces together like stuffies, Mrs. Cole?”

Her laugh, bright and sweet, was all the answer he needed.

*

Tamsyn

Her first kiss as a married woman was magical.

It was full of promise and passion, a silent vow adding weight to the ones already spoken, and she was floating on the sensation. She vaguely heard cheering and whooping, but all she cared about was her husband’s skilled mouth making love to hers in a very possessive manner.

Her husband.

Once, those two words would have rendered her comatose with fear. They were a threat, a different kind of promise; a shackle around her neck, hobbles around her ankles, and a knife pressed to her heart.

Merrick might never know how deeply his love marked her. Truthfully, she didn’t think she’d ever be able to find the words to express how he’d not only saved her from the community, but liberated her from herself. Her old, brainwashed self.

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