Page 140 of Boston
Adam let the words sink into his heart, where they rang with a clear bell of truth. Relationships were all about choices, and he did want to choose Joey every single day.
“Now, I believe you two have some vows you’d like to say?” The pastor looked from Adam to Joey and back. “Adam?”
“Yes.” He cleared his throat, so he could speak in a clear voice. He turned to face Joey fully, his hands trembling slightly as he took both of hers in his. “Joey,” he began, his voice stronger than he’d expected. “From the moment I helped you after you fainted that very first time, you turned everything upside down in the most beautiful way possible.”
She giggled and shook her head, but she hadn’t made him promise not to bring up her near-fainting spell.
“You’ve taught me so much, first that there’s so much more to life than my work, and that the biggest things can happen in small towns.”
Joey’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears as he continued. “You’ve shown me what it means to have a partner, not just in love, but in life. Someone who challenges me, supports me, and believes in me even when I don’t believe in myself. I promise to love you through every season, buy you every pink thing you want, to laugh with you in joy, and hold you in sorrow. I can’t wait to build a life with you that’s filled with adventure, faith, and the kind of love that lasts forever.”
He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead and glanced back to the pastor.
The pastor nodded to Joey, who squeezed Adam’s hands before speaking. “Adam, you came into my life when I least expected it and changed everything. You see me—really see me—not just the parts I want to show the world, but all of me, and you love me anyway.” Her voice caught slightly, and she took a moment to swallow.
“You’ve taught me that love isn’t about losing yourself in someone else, but about becoming the best version of yourselfbecauseof them. I promise to stand by your side through whatever comes, to support your dreams as you support mine, and to love you with everything I have for all the days of my life.”
She stepped forward and tipped up on her bare toes as he leaned down so she could sweep her lips along his cheek. They both looked at the pastor again, but stayed standing so their families could see them.
“Beautiful,” the pastor said. “Let’s do this. Do you, Adam, take Joey unto yourself, to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
“I do,” Adam said without hesitation.
“And do you, Joey, take Adam unto yourself to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
“I do,” she whispered, her voice full of emotion.
“Then by the power vested in me by the state of Wyoming, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Adam, you may kiss your bride.”
Adam grinned, so many emotions rushing through him, and cupped Joey’s face in his hands. “I love you,” he said right before he kissed her.
Applause erupted around them, with plenty of cowboy whooping and hollering. Adam himself had never yelled, “Yeehaw!” but he was really looking forward to the day he could.
Joey giggled against his lips, and he pulled away and met her eyes. “I love you too, Adam,” she said.
He turned toward the crowd and lifted their joined hands, and then he lost his grip on Joey as her daddy swarmed her and swept her up into his arms.
He stepped over to his mother and hugged her too, knowing that he and Joey would be reunited soon enough, and that he was now hers forever, and she was his.
CHAPTER
FORTY-TWO
Boston leaned into his fist as he bent over the dining room table in Cora’s cabin. She’d run next door a half-hour ago to take Kat something to eat, as Jeremy was handling the Tuesday night pool party.
He just needed to go over his presentation for the Ramsfire Ridge hike and eagle-watching adventure one—more—time.
“It has to be marked adult-only,” he muttered, pulling off the sticky note with that question on it. He wanted it to appeal to a large audience, but he couldn’t imagine trying to get children six miles up the mountain and then entertained and quiet near the protected habitat.
“And moderate to advanced.” He pulled that sticky note off too. He moved the couple of steps to Cora’s trashcan and got rid of them. “You have to list the elevation gain, and you have to say that it’s rocky terrain.”
There were no two ways about that.
Boston sighed and looked down at the pictures he’d taken the last time he and Cora had made the trip to the cabin. With the fall foliage, they’d look amazing on the website.
“You’re still looking at that?”
He glanced up as Cora stepped into her house and closed the door behind her. “I’m nervous, okay? Not all of us make presentations to their bosses on a daily basis.”
