Jonathan kissed my cheek. “We wanted to take one final tour together if that’s okay.”
She nodded and directed us down the hall, where her other staff was fiddling with ten foot tall flower arrangements. “The ceremony lawn is right through those doors, remember? And the reception room is down two halls and to the right. Actually...” She pulled a slip of paper from her pocket. “This is a scaled down blueprint of everything. Knock yourselves out, but I’m going to have to force you to leave in forty five minutes. I don’t want the photographers to have to edit baggy eyes from your pictures.”
We laughed and made our way down the hall.
I tried to steer us toward the reception room, to get a glimpse of the changes he’d asked her to make, but he held me close and sighed. “You’ll see it tomorrow.”
As we stepped outside and into the darkness, I could see hundreds of stark white chairs with ivory sashes, blush and pastel aisle markers, and a beautiful white gazebo that stood near the edge of the newly sodded grass.
“Come here.” Jonathan tugged me down the aisle and under the gazebo. He motioned for me to sit down on a bench and sighed. “I want you to look at this before I give it to you tomorrow—because after tomorrow, I don’t want you to ever take it off.”
I watched as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring box, holding it out to me. Shaking my head, I pushed it back. “It’s bad luck...Look at yours first.” I reached into my robe and placed the box on his thigh.
He stared at it awhile, then he popped it open and—stopped. He pulled me close and held the ring into the light, sucking in a breath as he read the inscription aloud. “My last. My soul. My everything.”
He smiled and rolled the ring around in his hands; it was a platinum band with two thin strips of crushed diamonds, with “C” and “J” etched and entwined against a centered sea hook.
“This is beautiful, Claire...” His voice was hoarse. “I’m so sorry that I ever thought you didn’t design it...” He shook his head and gently placed the ring back into the box. “Open yours.”
I flipped the box open and gasped at the stones that glittered against the night. Slowly prying it from its box, I ran my fingers along the white and blue diamonds that were shaped in a design of waves. The words “Mr. & Mrs. Statham” floated in between them, and on the inside of the band he’d etched “Forever Yours, Always Mine.”
I felt tears falling down my face and he reached under my sunglasses to wipe them away.
“I want to read my vows to you.” He pressed a kiss against my wet cheek.
“I thought we agreed that we weren’t writing vows...”
“These are only for you to hear. They’re not appropriate to say in public.” He smiled and wiped a tear away from my cheek. “Why are you crying?”
“I’m not...”
“You’ll always be a terrible liar.” He wiped another stream of my tears away and leaned forward like he was going to kiss me, but he held back. “Claire Gracen...The first time I f**ked you—”
“Seriously?”
“Of course not. I’m just making sure that you’re listening.” He smiled. “The first time I met you and you turned me down, I honestly thought you were out of your mind, that there was no way you didn’t want to go out with me. I thought you were just playing hard to get, but then you turned me down again at work....When I finally got a chance to take you out—on a short run, no less, and we barely talked...I knew that there was something special about you.”
“And the more time I spent with you—outside of the amazing sex we had, I couldn’t help but fall for you...I know you didn’t believe in having a second chance at love and that our age gap bothered you, but I want you to know that I never thought about our age gap for a single second, and I never will...If something tragic happens between now and our wedding tomorrow, please believe me when I say that I didn’t know what love was before you, and you are—without a doubt, the love of my life.”
My bottom lip was quivering and I’d given up on trying to hold back the tears.
“You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met and I can’t wait until you’re officially mine—forever...” He trailed his finger against my lips. “I’ll never hurt you, betray you, or allow anyone else to.”
“Jonathan...” I was crying now. He was too much.
“I’m going to continue to send you flowers every day because you deserve them, because there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you...And I promise to love, cherish, and f**k the shit out of you for the rest of our lives.”
I sniffled and let out a laugh. “Those vows were beautiful... Especially that last line.”
“That was the hardest one to write.” He kissed my forehead. “I love you, Claire.”
“I love you too.” I leaned in to kiss him, but he held my shoulders still and whispered. “Tomorrow.”