Page 126 of The Marriage Narrative
“Bye, my baby,” her mom said, holding her cheeks. “You’re so beautiful. Look at you. Married.Again.”
“We’ll see you in three weeks,” her dad promised. “Call us in the meantime.”
When they got back from New Zealand, they were spending Thanksgiving weekend with her parents.
Zaffre holidays were filmed affairs and Zinnia didn’t want to haveallof their firsts as a married couple on camera. So this year, her parents got Thanksgiving, his parents got Christmas Day, and they’d have Christmas Eve to themselves—the start of their new family tradition.
After the camera pods officially clocked out for the night, Jordan led Zinnia out to the dance floor, serenaded by melodic harmonization as their song began to play. They’d decided on a simple slow dance to keep things easy.
“Did you really say all that to Bea?” she asked.
“Yep. Walked right into the selective editing trap.” He peered at her and planted a quick kiss on her nose. “Although,youshould’ve known something was up when she said I compared everyone Idatedto her. Becausewenever did. Zin, we had business meetings. I set up that inside joke specifically for you.”
Her triumphant cackle drowned out the music for a moment as they continued dancing in neat loops across the floor in the empty, glittering ballroom.
“Jordan,” she began, wanting to go first. “I decided to search for a stranger to marry because I thought I was never going to find my person. I’ve never been in love before because that doesn’t make sense to me. The way I love people feels so all-encompassing, it’s always been enough for me, and it still is. It’s something that I hope I’m able to hold on to until the day I die. But I didn’t realize there could be more for me to find.
“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t love you more than my parents or Grace and Fiona. For me, it’s like different shades of the same wondrous color. I love you in a way that makes me feel like I’ll never be alone again. Even if you leave me someday, I’ll still have the memory of being your other half and how miraculous it felt.Your shade of my love means you aremyperson.Mystranger.Myplus-one. Iloveyou, Jordan. For as long as my heart is beating and my soul is shining. I love you so, so much.”
“Oh.” He was blinking a lot and cleared his throat. “I, uh…oh.”
Zinnia didn’t know if she believed in soulmates, but damn it, the way her heart roared as she said her vow made a compelling case for him. She kissed his cheek until he made her stop by kissing her instead.
“Being loved by you is the greatest honor of my life,” Jordan said breathlessly. “For a long time, I thought you’d never love me back. I waited for the moment when I’d realize it was time to leave. I’d accept that I was wasting my time being obsessed with you. And then I realized that actually, no, I was never going to leave, because I was exactly where I wanted to be.
“The love I feel for you is so transcendent it changed me. I didn’t need you to love me back because my feelings were my own. You inspired them. That didn’t make you responsible for them. Iamin love with you because that’s how it works for me. I want to spend my life, my forever, with you, my love. For as long as you’ll have me, however that looks.”
Zinnia honestly didn’t think anything could ever surpassmy wife.
My loveknocked her senseless, stole her passport, and shipped her off to sea. It was uncharted waters just waiting to be explored with him—exhilarating and wonderfully terrifying. An adventure to last a lifetime.
“Say that again.” She had to close her eyes for a moment to catch her breath. “Just one more time, please.”
He smiled, knowing exactly what she wanted. “Say what, mylove?”
