My father whispered in my ear, “You ready, Elizabeth?”
I took a deep breath and turned to look at him. With a smile, I said, “I’m ready. I love you, Dad.”
“I love you too, honey.”
As my legs shook and my knees knocked, I kept my focus on Alex waiting for me at the altar and looking so calm. Maybe it was because he’d done this before, or maybe it was because he tended to be unflappable by his nature. Whatever the reason, he stood as a sign that once my father let go of my hand when we reached him, he’d be right by my side as always, his strength there for me to lean on.
After what felt like the longest walk of my life past all the townspeople who’d come to share in our big day, I turned to look at my father as he slowly released his hold on my arm. He kissed me, and turned to face the minister when he asked, “Who gives this woman away?”
With the pride he always had in me, he said, “I do,” and guided me to Alex.
He reached down and took my hand in his as the minister began the ceremony. Looking at Alex, he said, “Alex and Poppy have written their own vows.”
We turned to face one another, and the emotion of the day threatened to overwhelm me. But just the touch of Alex’s hands holding mine let me know we were in this together. I listened as Alex began to say the words he’d composed to let the world know how much he loved me.
“Elizabeth McGuire…Poppy, you brought me out of the darkness I thought would be the rest of my life. You made me laugh and showed me I was meant for more than the life I’d accepted before you. You made me want to love again because of you. I love you and I promise to honor that love for the rest of my life. You brought joy and happiness back to my life, and I pledge to always do that for you.”
His words took my breath away. Never a man to say much, he said everything I could ever want to hear.
As my eyes filled with tears, I smiled and mouthed I love you to him before reciting my vows to him.
“Alexander Montero…Alex, you’re my strength when I think I can’t go on, and I can’t imagine living without you. You believed in me when few others did. You’re my champion who cheers me on in your quiet way that makes me think I can conquer the world. You showed me I could trust again, and I love you so much for that. I pledge to never let a day go by without proving to you that you were right about me.”
His smile told me I’d affected him with my vows just as he’d affected me with his. Even though for us, we already felt married, we turned to face the minister so he could finish the ceremony.
Looking at Alex, he said, “Alex, do you take Elizabeth to be your partner in love and life? To have and to hold from this day forward, and to honor and cherish for as long as you both shall live?”
He glanced over at me and smiled. “I do.”
Alex turned back toward Derek to get my new wedding ring we’d had made. He slid it on my finger as he repeated after the minister, “With this ring, I thee wed.”
“And Elizabeth, do you take Alexander to be your partner in love and life? To have and to hold from this day forward, and to honor and cherish for as long as you both shall live?”
As confidently as I’d ever said any words before I my life, I said those two magic words to the man I loved. “I do.”
I slid his wedding ring onto his finger and repeated the minister’s words, “With this ring, I thee wed.”
Smiling, the minister announced to the congregation behind us, “Then by the power vested in me by the state of Maryland, I pronounce you husband and wife. Alex, you may kiss your bride.”
I turned to face him and wondered if I’d ever be happier than at that very moment. Taking me in his arms, Alex whispered, “Mrs. Montero, I think this is when we’re supposed to kiss.”
“Then let’s not let all these people down.”
And we kissed, right there in front of a church full of friends, family, and neighbors in our little town of Sunset Ridge amid their cheers and clapping.
We’d done it.
Alex pressed a soft kiss onto the back of my hand as we sat alone at the last remaining table the caterers hadn’t cleaned up yet. All the guests had eaten the wonderful reception dinner from Diamanti’s and the gorgeous cake from Charming Bakery with the white frosting and pink and purple flowers everyone raved about. They’d drunk more than they probably should have and danced until their feet wouldn’t let them dance another step.
The gossips had pronounced in turn as they congratulated us that our wedding had been perfect. My father beamed the entire time through the reception as his fellow Sunset Ridge citizens patted him on the back and his regulars made toasts to the father of the bride and their Poppy, the girl they’d known all their lives first as the curious child who spent too much time around the bar and then as the grown woman who stood behind the bar serving them and listening to their stories of the old days.
Derek and his date separated by the time dinner was served. I saw him talking to Holly, and after they danced, I thought I saw a sparkle in her eye as they continued to talk throughout the night. Derek may not have been the best choice as a rebound for her, but I liked seeing two people I cared about smiling again.
When the last of the guests said goodbye, Alex and I breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed after all the excitement of our big day.
Now just as our life together had started, we sat alone in the darkness of a warm spring night. I wasn’t sneaking around the outside of his house, and he wasn’t aiming a gun at my head, but just like that first night, it was just the two of us.
“Everyone looked like they had a great time, don’t you think?” I asked as I leaned against his shoulder and played with the ends of his black bow tie that hung down against his white tuxedo shirt.
He nodded and kissed the top of my head. “Yeah, I think they did. I’d say we’re well on our way to cementing a reputation for knowing how to throw a party, Mrs. Montero.”
“We’ve got a couple hours before we have to leave for the airport. What do you want to do?” I asked, not really wanting to do anything but snuggle up with him right there.
But since the caterers probably wanted to finish their job and head home, I figured we should help them out. Even if it was our big day, that didn’t mean they needed to work late.
Alex looked around and took a deep breath. “I want to hear all about this book you’re writing. Which case of ours are you using again?”
I sat up and smiled. “Our first. The Geneva Woodward case. I’ll be changing all the names of the people and places, so don’t worry.”
“What’s the title?”
“The Eleventh Hour.”
Confused, Alex narrowed his eyes and gave me that look he wore when he wasn’t sure where I was going with something. “Why that title?”
Leaning in, I kissed my new husband on the lips and traced my fingertip along his jaw. “Because just when it looked like neither of us would ever find happiness, at the just the right time when we’d just about given up hope, fate brought us together at the eleventh hour.”
“Well, then, I can’t think of a better title.”
I took his hand and tugged him up out of his chair. “We better go. Hawaii awaits, Mr. Montero.”
Alex stood up straight and kissed me softly on the lips. “A whole week of nothing but you and me and a honeymoon suite we might not ever leave.”
We walked away from the pavilion where the reception had been held toward his Mustang to go home, and I said, “A week of no work at all. No working as a Sunset Ridge police officer for you, and no writing for me. Here’s to no interruptions for seven days straight.”
“Derek better be careful. I might get used to kicking back and relaxing on the beach,” Alex joked as we walked through the grass with the fireflies lighting our way.
But I knew better. For all he may have thought about Sunset Ridge being just a small town, my husband was as much a part of it as I was. It had its negatives, but in the end, Sunset Ridge was more than just a small town wit
h too many busybodies.
It was our home. And in the book I’d begun writing the day after we solved Samuel Morrow’s murder, it would be as big a character as my two main characters, the handsome yet enigmatic police officer and his amateur sleuth partner.
Alex stopped walking and pulled me into him. “Have I told you how much I love you in the past hour, Poppy McGuire Montero?”
I chuckled at the extension of my name with my married name. “That’s a mouthful, don’t you think?”
He kissed me, and pressing his forehead to mine, he whispered, “I guess, but to me, you’ll always be my Poppy.”
And he would always be my Alex. And just like the minister said, we’d always be partners in life and in love.
Forever.
LOOK FOR THE PROJECT ARTEMIS SERIES FROM ANINA COLLINS AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR K.M. SCOTT COMING IN 2018!
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About The Author
Anina Collins has always loved a good mystery. From Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective Sherlock Holmes to Dan Brown’s intrepid Professor Robert Langdon, she’s spent some of her favorite reading times with mystery novels. When she’s not writing her favorite mystery couple, she can be found watching entirely too much Supernatural and dreaming about the beach.
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Books by Anina Collins:
The Poppy McGuire Series
The Eleventh Hour (Poppy McGuire Mysteries #1)
After Hours (Poppy McGuire Mysteries #2)
Top of the Hour (Poppy McGuire Mysteries #3)
The Darkest Hour (Poppy McGuire Mysteries #4)
Happy Hour (Poppy McGuire Mysteries #5)
The Witching Hour (Poppy McGuire Mysteries #6)
The Finest Hour (Poppy McGuire Mysteries #7)
Project Artemis Series
In The Darkness
After The Storm
Behind The Scenes
The Finest Hour Page 21