Page 162 of The Grand Rise

I look to the hilltop, waiting.

Her girls come first. Lucy, Megs, and Lissie.

I’m good with her girls.

It’s Waverley who comes next, hand in hand with Nina as Bear bounds along at her feet, who threatens to make a lesser man out of me.

I pull my lips into my mouth, biting down before letting them go. I do it over and over, my eyes not leaving my daughter as she looks around.

And I know how nervous she will be. How she will have caused chaos all morning and been excited and ready right up until it was time to go, and then she’d have gone quiet.

Lucy pulls my attention away, gently touching my hand and giving me a smile that I can’t quite return as she passes by.

Megan stops in front of me, pulling me into the biggest hug. “She looks fucking divine.”

I do smile then, waiting as Lissie looks from me to Charlie to me again. She winks before taking up place next to the girls.

When I face forward again, Waverley is just letting go of Nina’s hand, completely out of rhythm with the music as she runs to me, leaping into my arms.

I put my face in her neck, breathing her in and letting her light me up. “Hey, baby girl.”

“Hi, Daddy.”

“You look perfect.”

She leans back, holding my face. “So do you.”

My eyes shine, but I don’t care. I don’t care because I know that she’s coming next. I know that no matter how many days and nights I went without the woman who makes my world right, no matter how often I told myself she deserved more, someone else, a life without me in it, I know that after today, I’ll never go a day without her by my side. So, I don’t give a shit about any tears that fall.

Because they will be happy ones.

And fuck if I’ve only just learnt how good those can be.

Scarlet appears on the hilltop, pausing with her brother in arm as they turn and look back toward the house. Toward their parents.

I bow my head and mutter low and quiet,“With my life. I’ll love and protect her with my life.”

When they eventually face us, making their way down the bank to the aisle, I wonder if I’ve ever felt more lucky, more grateful in my whole entire life.

She’s beautiful, her dress held up at her neck by a thick band, the material fitted to her every curve as it trails her body and the path she walks.

She’s perfect.

“So perfect.”

As they near, I see Scarlet’s smile, so sure and full. I shake my head and chuckle. “Sunshine.”

“Sullivan.”

She stops a foot away from me, and I can’t help but eat up the space, regardless of Mason at her side. “A better man would wait to put a ring on your finger before kissing you.”

She grins, holding up her left hand, showing off the lavender diamond adorning it.

I lean in and kiss her. I kiss her gently, slowly, and as if she is mine forever.

When we eventually part, Mason proudly steps forward, putting Scarlet’s hand in mine. “We don’t tend to do conventional around here.” He turns to take whatever Charlie passes him, handing it straight to me. “It’s from the three of us.”

Frowning, and presumingthe three of usare him, Charlie, and Elliot, I pull the papers from the envelope, reading the words over and over as I blink at them in confusion, disbelief, of what they mean.

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