Every time Gavin Northwood promised to marry me, someone we loved got hurt.
Chapter 4
Two weeks later, Julian and I stood on a terrace overlooking the Atlantic.
The scandal back home had begun to settle into consequences.
Northwood Group had lost major investors and was being reorganized under court supervision.
Paige’s studio closed after creditors called in loans she could no longer pay.
Serena was detained at the airport after investigators found corporate securities in her luggage that didn’t belong to her.
My mother moved out of the large home she’d financed partly through debt taken in my name.
For years, I had feared punishment from some invisible curse.
In the end, there had been no curse.
Only choices.
And consequences.
Julian joined me at the railing carrying two glasses of champagne.
“Your lawyer called.”
I groaned. “Good news or bad news?”
“Good.”
“My mother?”
“Her attempt to make you responsible for her remaining debts was dismissed.”
I took the glass he offered.
“And Gavin?”
“Do you really want to know?”
I considered it.
“No.”
Julian nodded.
That was one thing I loved about him.
He never forced an answer out of me simply because he wanted one.
The sunset painted the water copper and gold.
I leaned against the railing.
Ten years were gone.
I couldn’t recover them.
I couldn’t return to twenty and tell that hopeful girl not to wait.
But perhaps that wasn’t what healing meant.
Perhaps healing meant finally stopping the loss.
Julian looked at me.
“You’re quiet.”
“I’m thinking.”
“Dangerous.”
I smiled.
“About the wedding.”
His eyebrow lifted.
“We’re already married.”
“A courthouse signature and a chapel registrar are not the wedding I waited ten years for.”
Understanding spread across his face.
“Oh.”
“I want a dress.”
“Naturally.”
“With a long train.”
“How long?”
“Long enough to annoy somebody.”
He laughed.
“I want flowers everywhere. I want dinner and dancing. I want music loud enough to shake the windows.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
I stepped closer.
“I want to walk down the aisle without being afraid someone is going to fall down a staircase, get hit by a sign, poison a dog, develop a mysterious illness, or tell me the universe has decided I don’t deserve to be happy.”
Julian’s smile disappeared.
He took my hand.
“You never deserved what they did to you.”
“I know.”
And I did.
That was the difference.
For years, I had needed someone else to convince me I was worthy of love.
Now I knew it even standing alone.
I turned toward the ocean.
“You know what people called me?”
Julian sighed. “I have several unprintable opinions about the people of Merrowfield.”
“The marriage-desperate woman.”
“They were wrong.”
“Were they?”
He looked at me.
I smiled.
“I did want marriage desperately.”
Julian waited.
“But I don’t think I was desperate for a wedding.”
I thought about all those years imagining ordinary breakfasts, grocery lists, shared jokes, someone waiting beside me when life became difficult.
“I was desperate to belong somewhere.”
Julian’s hand tightened around mine.
“You do.”
I shook my head gently.
“No. That’s the best part.”
He looked puzzled.
“I don’t need to belong to someone anymore.”
I placed a hand over my heart.
“I belong to myself.”
Slowly, Julian smiled.
“And if I choose to spend that life with you, it’s because I want you. Not because I’m afraid of being alone.”
He lifted my hand and kissed my fingers.
“That’s the only kind of marriage I want.”
We stood together while the sun lowered itself into the ocean.
Later that year, we returned to Merrowfield.
I wore the long dress.
There were lilies in every aisle.
My studio employees came.
Old college friends came.
People who had known Julian for years came and looked astonished when he danced badly.
Even some townspeople who had once whispered about me stood outside the church, hoping for a glimpse.
For once, I didn’t care what any of them thought.
There were no disasters.
No mysterious phone calls.
No curses.
Before the doors opened, Julian stood waiting at the altar.
I could see him from the back of the church.
Calm.
Patient.
Certain.
For a moment, I thought of Gavin.
Not with longing.
Not even with anger.
Just as someone from a life I had finally finished living.
Then the music began.
I stepped forward.
Halfway down the aisle, Julian smiled.
I smiled back.
All those years people had laughed and said I wanted marriage too badly.
Maybe they were right about one thing.
I had waited a very long time for this walk.
They were simply wrong about the man waiting at the end of it.
THE END.
⚠️ All characters and events are fictional. Do not imitate or apply them in real life. 😌😌😌
