Page 82 of Cherished Lands
I let out a long breath and stared at the mountain of documentation we'd assembled—photos, texts, emails, witness statements. How the hell do you prove to a stranger that you'd been in love with someone for years without even realizing it?
I spread everything across our kitchen table. The witness statements hit hardest. It seemed everyone had seen what we'd been too stubborn to admit.
Andy's statement described years of watching me watch her: "Every time Tessa walked into Callaghan's, Elliot's eyeswould follow her. He'd deny it if asked, but man, the temperature in that place would rise ten degrees from the tension between them."
Sarah wrote about the time Tessa had sprained her ankle at the fall festival three years ago: "Elliot carried her to his truck and drove her to the ER himself, growling at anyone who tried to help. He stayed with her for four hours, pretending to be annoyed the whole time."
Even Chase, in a rare moment of clarity, had contributed: "They've been dancing around each other since high school. The fighting was just foreplay. We all knew they'd end up together—we just didn't expect them to figure it out so fast."
Mom's statement made my throat tight: "The way my son looks at Tessa—like she hung the moon—that's not something you can fake. He's looked at her that way for years, even when they were supposedly enemies. A mother knows."
Dad wrote about catching me watching Tessa at the farmer's market every summer: "He'd volunteer for the booth next to Vintage Point's, claiming it was to keep an eye on the competition. But his eyes were always on her, not their wine sales."
Mrs. Henderson recalled the time I'd nearly gotten into a fist fight with Marcus Wellington at the winter festival because he'd been harassing Tessa: "Elliot was always so protective of her, even when they were supposedly at odds. You don't defend your enemy like that."
Old man Miller wrote about how I'd help Tessa's car out of snowbanks every winter: "Boy would drop everything and drive across town the moment he heard she was stuck. Claimed it was because he didn't trust anyone else to properlyhandle a stuck vehicle near his property line. We all knew better."
Kai's surprisingly lengthy statement detailed what he'd picked up on in just a few short months of watching us at Callaghan's: "They'd sit at opposite ends of the bar, pretending not to notice each other while being hyper-aware of every move the other made. The sexual tension was exhausting."
How had everyone seen it but us?
I picked up Jasper's statement last: "They've been orbiting each other for years, both too stubborn to admit what everyone else could see. The 'hasty' marriage wasn't hasty at all— it was years in the making. We were all just waiting for them to catch up."
"Whatcha thinkin' about?" Tessa padded down from the loft, wearing nothing but my favorite hoodie.
"Just reading what everyone wrote again." I held up Chase's statement. "Apparently our fighting was just foreplay."
She snorted, coming to stand between my legs where I sat at the table. "Well, he's not wrong."
I set the paper down and wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her closer. "Why didn't we see it?"
"Because we're both stubborn idiots?" She buried her fingers in my hair and scratched gently at my scalp. "Too busy antagonizing each other to notice we were falling in love?"
"When did you know?" I asked, pressing my face into her stomach. "That this was real?"
She was quiet for a moment, still running her fingers through my hair. "Remember that morning we ate at Bob Evans? Right after we got married?"
I nodded, face still buried in her hoodie.
"When you knew what I'd order for breakfast. You didn't even have to ask." Her voice got thick. "No one's ever paid that much attention to me before."
I tightened my arms around her waist. "For me it was watching you with my family. How you just... fit. Like you'd always been there."
"We're going to win," she said with quiet certainty. "Because this? Us? It's the realest thing I've ever had."
I looked up at her then, this woman who'd gone from my greatest irritation to my greatest love. "Come to bed, Princess. Whatever happens tomorrow, tonight you're mine."
Her smile was soft in the dim kitchen light. "I'm always yours, Paul Bunyan. Took us long enough to figure that out."
I wokebefore dawn to the buzz of my phone on the nightstand. Tessa was sprawled across my chest like a friendly octopus. For someone so tiny, she took up the whole damn bed—not that I was complaining.
The phone buzzed again.Fuck.
Carefully extracting myself from under my sleeping wife, I grabbed the phone and tiptoed downstairs. Three missed calls from Hank.
My stomach twisted as I hit redial. He answered on the first ring.
"Finally. Get dressed and get to my office. Both of you. The judge wants to see us in chambers in an hour."
