“Do you want to wait?” he asked me his hazel eyes studying my face.
I shook my head. I didn’t. I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Elliot, so what point was there in waiting? “But I’d like to do it in Richmond,” I told him.
He lifted my hands to his lips, pressing a few kisses to my fingers. “Anything you want,” he murmured against my skin.
“You,” I told him, and he smiled.
Hart made a gagging noise. We both ignored him.
It wasfour days later when we pulled into the Richmond City Courthouse parking ramp, me wearing a new suit that Noah hadinsistedon buying, and Elliot wearing black dress slacks and a ribbon shirt that Henry—who had used a spare set of keys to Elliot’s truck anddrivendown for the occasion (also giving us a way to get back and bring the animals with us)—had brought with him.
Elliot had been ridiculously pleased that Henry managed to make it—Henry was not only a long-time close Crane family friend, but also a Menominee Nation elder, and part of why he’d come down was to give approval on behalf of the Nation. Even though Elliot hadn’t said anything else about it, I got the impression that he’d had been slightly worried that the tribewouldn’t approve of me—a Southern white boy who had barely lived in Shawano a year, much less spent any significant time learning about the Nation.
But Henry approved of me, and he’d brought with him the ribbon shirt and a few other traditional pieces used by the Mamaceqtaw—a beaded pendant and a thin ribbon tied to an eagle feather. Elliot explained that at some point in the future, we’d be expected to exchange vows for his people, as well—which was more than fine with me. It would mark me as a member of the community, through Elliot. And it was something to which he could invite Judy and Marsh Hart, which was the only reason Judy Hart was going to forgive him for not having a big wedding, according to Hart.
We’d left the goats and chickens in the care of Helen and Ray Hill until after the wedding. We’d have to buy a better trailer than the falling-apart thing in my parents’ barn in order to cart them halfway across the country, anyway. I felt a little guilty about not asking Helen and Ray to come, but Elliot pointed out that they couldn’t just up and leave the alpaca farm with no notice.
Elliot and I were staying with Noah and Lulu at Lulu’s house, and all four of us had clambered into Lulu’s Suburban—which, according to Noah, was often used to transport entire drag show casts and had the remnants of glitter to prove it—and drove downtown. Lulu successfully maneuvered the giant SUV into the narrow courthouse parking ramp, and I noticed that Elliot’s truck was already there—which meant Henry was, too.
Henry, Hart, Taavi, Dan Maza, Quincy, and a man who must have been Aaron, Quincy’s boyfriend, were all standing outside the courthouse when the four of us walked up. Well, they walked, and I hobbled—I’d graduated from two crutches down to one, although I was still sporting a massive metal brace. Quincy let out a shriek and ran over, hugging me. I huggedher back, ignoring the pain in my ribs and the spike that went through my now-braced knee when I got knocked off balance, although, between the two of us, we managed to right ourselves. But pain or no pain, I was happy she was there, a little surprised at how much I’d missed her. I’d have to remember to call her more often.
“Thanks for being here,” I said into the top of her head.
“I wouldn’t miss it for theworld,” she told me.
“Want to come out to Wisconsin for the other half?” I asked her spontaneously.
“Absolutely!” She squeezed me again, then stepped back to admire my suit. It was probably the first one I’d ever owned that actually fit me, although I’d chosen not to wear the jacket—just the pants and vest. They were a dove grey, and I had on a light yellow shirt with them. The shiny black metal knee brace and silver crutch kind of ruined the effect, but if I didn’t want to fall on my face, I needed to wear it.
Elliot’s open-collar red shirt had ribbons sewn across the chest in black, white, yellow, and red, with loose ribbons in the same colors hanging down on the sides and running along the sleeves. He wore a tied beaded belt and pendant, and beaded earrings hung from his ears. Henry was similarly attired—although his shirt was grey and slacks blue—and he held the ribbon with the eagle feather in one hand.
“Uncle Taavi!” a voice called, and we turned to see Jackson Turner-Manning, a goat-legged baby in his arms, trotting toward us along the sidewalk. Behind him, Mason—carrying an orc baby with a bow in her hair—and Ward made up the rest of our party.
Hart, for all his crochety sourness, immediately reached out to take the small orc—whose name was Grace—from Mason while Taavi tossed the tiny faun—Zane—into the air, elicitingshrieks of glee. Grace immediately reached out and grabbed one of Hart’s ears, causing him to wince, but he let her do it.
“Jesus, that’s way too adorable,” Elliot muttered, the expression on his face something between fondness and horror.
“You want one?” I asked him, wondering how I’d feel if his answer wasyes.
“Hell no. I have goats and chickens now. They’re enough like babies for me.”
I laughed, a little relieved. I’m pretty sure I’d make a terrible father. “And Sassafras.”
“The cat is all you,” he told me. I was good with that. Cat-parenting I could handle.
The judge had no idea what to do with us. I suppose it isn’t every day that four shifters, two orcs, an elf, a faun, and a demographic smorgasbord of humans walk, limp, and roll into the courtroom for a wedding. Especially one that an older Indigenous man interrupted to chant partway through.
But fifteen minutes after we walked in, we were done, the license signed, and everything legal.
When we’d driven down to Virginia, I’d been full of dread, wanting anything else but what was happening. And I hadn’t been wrong—it had been pretty fucking awful. But it was ending with me marrying the love of my life, and I honestly would go through all of it again just to be standing there at the end of it, married to Elliot Crane.
I took a moment to look at him, laughing, the sun glinting off the mirrored gold of his sunglasses and painting his coppery skin with light. He wasn’t objectively beautiful, but he was gorgeous and sexy as hell. I’d known from the moment I saw him that there was something special about him. That I wanted him. That if he’d let me, I could love him.
And even though he hadn’t, I’d fallen in love with him anyway.
Fortunately for me, he’d decided to love me back.
To choose me.
