But he wasn’t even looking at her.
“Sed!” she called.
Jessica was running down the aisle toward him even before he moved. His head popped up and when his gaze landed on her, he staggered against Brian as if his knees had given out. She wanted to apologize for making him worry. She wanted to yell at him for thinking she’d leave him at the altar. But mostly she just wanted to stare at him in adoring awe. He’d never looked more handsome. More loving. More hers.
She stopped dead as she reached the front row of the carefully decorated chairs with their bows all blowing flat and the flowers crumpled, the ribbons flying in every direction in the punishing breeze. But that didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was the man. The man was perfect.
The wedding march faded to silence, allowing her to hear the whispers discussing the scene she’d just made. But these people knew her. They should be used to her causing scenes.
“Who gives this woman to this man in wedlock?” the chaplain said, as if he were going through the motions and not really part of what was going on.
The murmured conversations quieted as everyone stared at the empty spot beside Jessica where her mother was supposed to be standing and giving her away. At least that’s how they’d rehearsed.
“I give myself to him,” Jessica blurted. “My mother doesn’t own me anyway.”
Sed chuckled, his dimples flashing in his cheeks. He held out a strong, masculine hand in her direction. Her heart thudded, as it always did when she was near him, and she took his hand, stepping to his side. She didn’t know which of them was trembling more, but neither of them was at all steady as they waited for Myrna to arrange Jessica’s train as best she could in the wind so they could have their picture-perfect exchange of vows. The backdrop was far from the perfection she’d imagined: the sky was near black with clouds, the ocean churned with angry waves, the wind caught her carefully chosen veil and whipped it about her in chaotic plumes, and her poor bouquet would never look the way it should. But the man....
The man was gorgeous in his tailored black tux with his smile unending and his eyes full of love and a bit of humor.
If he laughed at her for this, she would, she would… laugh right back. Actually, she was moments from breaking into hysterics and she couldn’t figure out why. Her perfect day was far from perfect and for some unknowable reason, she didn’t care. Not as long as Sed recited his vows and meant them as much as she meant hers.
She could scarcely hear the chaplain over the howling wind, but since she and Sed had written their vows, she didn’t need the cues. She knew them by heart.
“You are the reason I breathe,” Jessica said, lost in Sed’s striking blue gaze until a piece of sand found its way into her eye and she had to rub at it, undoubtedly smudging her make-up into a one-eyed-raccoon look.
“What?” Sed yelled. “I didn’t hear you.”
“You are the reason I breathe!” she yelled.
“Yeah, I feel the same way!”
Had he forgotten the words? Understandable. He was probably nervous, and it wasn’t as if either of them could hear the drone of the chaplain. She blinked the sand out of her eye and then squinted up at him. He had his lips pressed together as if he was barely able to hold it together. She continued. It was important that they recite their vows to each other even if they were the only ones who could hear them.
“I love you more with each passing moment!” she yelled.
“Me too!” he returned.
“I promise to stand beside you always, weather any storm—”
“Any storm?” he yelled.
“Yes, any storm. Even this one.”
“I love you!” he yelled. “You matter to me more than anything. I don’t want to live a single moment without you in my life.”
“I love you too!” Those weren’t the words they planned, but considering that she was getting hoarse from yelling, they would have to do.
“Do you want to be my wife?”
“Yes! For always. Do you want to be my husband?”
“Of course I do, or I wouldn’t be here.”
Sed flung out a hand toward Brian, who started.
“Rings!”
Brian hurriedly unlaced the rings from the pillow on Malcolm’s lap and handed them to Sed.
“This ring tells the world you’re mine and no one else’s,” Sed said, then he slipped the ring onto Jessica’s finger.
“This ring tells horny bitches that you’re off-limits,” she countered and slid his ring over the knuckle of his left ring finger.
She couldn’t even remember what they’d planned to say. These words were organic. Real. They were both jealous and possessive of each other, so why not just get that all out in the open and into the ceremony?
They both looked at the chaplain, who stared at them as if they were raving lunatics. Jessica was pretty sure they were at that moment.
“Uh, is that it?” the man said.
Jessica and Sed nodded in unison.
“Then I pronounce you husband and wife. Kiss your bride.”
Sed drew Jessica against his length and the instant his mouth found hers, the heavens opened and rain began to pour in a torrent. Jessica was vaguely aware of the startled cry of baby Malcolm, the disgruntled shouts of the wedding party, and the scramble for cover by the guests, but all of it faded as Sed continued to kiss her. She dropped her bouquet to the ground so she could cup his cheek. Cool rain slid down his face, over her hand, down her wrist, and dripped from her elbow. The wind finally claimed her veil, ripping it free of pins and combs and hurling it into the air. She didn’t care. All she cared about was kissing her husband. This disaster of a day might have taken every perfect moment from her, but it would not take her kiss.