Levi wears a black suit and stands at the altar next to Chip who spent the entire run up to the wedding getting ordained so he can be the one who marries us. Scott stands next to Levi wearing his favorite Power Rangers T-shirt and jeans, choosing comfort over elegance, but I didn’t have the heart to make him change.
The previous wedding was a spectacle but this one is a cozy, intimate affair. The violinist Chip is dating plays music while I walk the aisle, Marcella stands nearby crying into tissues andbeing supported by one of her friends, while Naz and a few of his men make up the guests on the other side of the aisle.
With thick snow drifting down gently like each flake understands the importance of the moment, warm music constantly weaving through the air, and tears in Levi’s eyes when I reach him, we finally have the wedding we deserve.
It passes in a whirlwind, amusingly broken up by Chip pausing his speech every so often to snap a picture of us. I repeat what I’m told to recite while staring deep into Levi’s eyes, and while none of the words stick in my mind, the way his promises make me feel does.
“Maeve.” Levi takes both my hands in his. “Five years ago, you were my greatest secret. I’d go to sleep dreaming about you. Wake up excited to see you. I’d spend my day searching for things to tell you just so I could watch your face light up as I spoke. And then we were torn apart, and I regret every second I lost with you. It’s five years I won’t get back, but everything we’ve survived tells me that the next five years, and the five after that, are going to be the best of my life. I’m going to love you more and more with each passing second. I swear I will protect you from every danger that will arise from being my wife, and there will be a lot, but I promise you, we will face it together. You’ve given me a future I never could have dreamed of during one of the scariest periods of my life. With my father gone, stepping into the shoes of Don isterrifyingand I probably shouldn’t admit that.” Levi laughs softly. “But with you by my side, I feel like I can do anything. No mountain is too tall. No road is too long.”
I can barely control the tears welling thick and fat in my eyes.
“But more than that, I want to be that same rock to you. I want to support your dreams and desires. I want to be there while you take on the world free from the chains of the last five years. I’ll be there to watch you fly and catch you if you fall.And I swear…” Levi glances down at Scott, who’s chewing on his fingers. “I will be the best father I can be to Scott. I might need a little guidance, but there’s no one I love more, or trust more to help me down that road. I love you, Maeve, and I am forever honored to be your husband. I love you.”
Soft clapping rises as Levi cups my cheek and guides me into a teary kiss. I sink into the sensations while sniffling and laughing. “You didn’t tell me we were to write our own vows!” I gasp as the kiss breaks. “What the hell?”
“I couldn’t resist.” Levi smirks. “But that’s not the point. The point is I need you to know how much I love you.”
“My vows were shit in comparison.”
“Hey!” Chip scoffs. “I’m right here.”
“Your vows were perfect because you are perfect,” Levi insists gently, and he goes to kiss me again until Chip interrupts, clearing his throat.
“ANYWAY,” he declares loudly with a friendly glare, “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
Cheers and claps rise, Scott yells in delight, and Levi sweeps me against him with his arm around my waist. Then he kisses me so hard that I bow back slightly while looping both my arms around his neck and shoulders. Snow falls around us, kissing my skin with icy teeth. The music swells and the love in the air surrounds us as my heart finally finds peace.
A few hours later, I stand in our bedroom staring out the balcony doors at the blizzard swirling around outside. Softly knocking on the door, Levi joins me with a smile.
“You ready?”
I turn to face him. He’s in jeans and a soft sweater with his hair combed back, and for the first time since we reunited, he looks relaxed.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”
“We had a deal, remember?” He walks forward and takes my hand. “You plan the wedding and I plan the honeymoon.”
“Is your mother really okay with us leaving her on Christmas Day?”
“She did make a few soft comments about being abandoned, but I know she was joking. She’s going to go on a trip with some of her girlfriends. Her first trip without Dad.”
“He’d be proud of you.” I cup his cheek and softly stroke my thumb along his cheekbone. “He loved you dearly.”
“I know.” Levi nods and his eyelashes flutter. “I know he’s looking down on me, probably in awe that my first act as Don of the XXX Syndicate is to leave on a honeymoon.”
“We deserve it.”
“We do.” He threads his fingers through mine and clutches my hand. “The car’s waiting.”
“Actually…” I hesitate slightly and nerves flutter in my stomach. Now is as good a time as any, but there’s one thing resting on the back of my tongue that I can’t quite say. Somehow, saying it out loud is more terrifying than anything else. My thumb slides over the unfamiliar ring on my finger as Levi’s brow dips.
“What’s wrong?”
“Levi…”
“You can tell me anything. You know that.”
“I’m pregnant.” The words shoot out of me before I can stop them and an eerie silence follows. Levi stares at me with wide eyes, not saying a word, so the nerves get the better of me. “You know when we came to New York and you made me see your family doctor at the hospital for the bruising and stress? He ran a lot of tests and he found out that I was pregnant, and I didn’t know how to tell you because everything was a lot and we never,evertalked about anything like this and I’m sorry if I?—”
