chapter Twenty-Five
Honey stood in front of the celebrant, Koru’s arm around her the only thing holding her up. She desperately wanted to collapse into a chair, but forced herself to remain there as gradually all the guests’ eyes turned back to her to gauge her reaction to the scene.
She kept her eyes fixed on Dex. He was watching Cathryn walk away, and she couldn’t see what he was thinking. Was he regretting marrying her yesterday? Had she done the right thing?
He’d taken her completely by surprise the previous afternoon. He’d held her hand and led her down the bank to the water’s edge, away from Jude, Wendy, Koru and Daisy.
“What’s going on?” Honey had asked, now thoroughly puzzled. “What’s Wendy doing here?”
Dex had looked across the inlet and she’d followed his gaze. A bunch of teenagers were making their way across the ford from the Stone Store to the park on the other side. They could easily have taken the footbridge, but the boys were showing off, balancing and jumping from rock to rock, the girls squealing their support. No doubt at least one of them would have wet feet by the time they reached the other side, she thought distractedly.
“It started after I proposed,” he said, and they watched a seagull land near a family picnicking in the park and carry away a crust of bread. “I was talking to Jude one night about Cathryn and how I knew that, as the wedding got closer, I’d worry about what happened last time. Not that the same thing would happen, but that it would play on my mind, and yours, and overshadow our wedding. And as much as I hated Cathryn for what she did to me, and I believe she deserved what she got, I know it was cruel to leave her at the altar. And I knew you would worry I’d do the same to you. It’s only natural.”
He looked back at her. She didn’t contradict him, because of course he’d guessed right. What woman, or man for that matter, didn’t worry that the person they were marrying wouldn’t turn up on the day? And that was without the added worry that he’d done it before.
“Unbeknown to me,” he said, “Jude’s mum is a marriage celebrant.”
Honey’s eyebrows rose and she glanced at Wendy. “Oh…” Her brain worked furiously. Did that mean… Oh my God…
“Jude suggested I book Wendy for the day before the wedding. Just in case.” He took her hands. “I thought about it over the next few months, and gradually became convinced it was a great idea. Honey, I want to marry you. I still want you to have your wedding day with our proper vows and your family and the big dress and all the paraphernalia that goes with it. You can still have that—the only thing that would change is that we wouldn’t sign the register again afterward. And I still want to wait until our proper wedding night to sleep together. But I don’t want you to worry that I won’t be there, or that Cathryn will somehow spoil it. I’m worried she’ll turn up somehow, and this way, there’s absolutely nothing she can do to stop us getting married.”
He lifted her hand that held her engagement ring and kissed it. “I didn’t agree to this so you wouldn’t have time to think about it. If you want to take a while to talk to Koru and Daisy or even Wendy, or if you’d rather wait until Saturday and make sure it’s what you want to do, that’s fine. But I would like to marry you now, so I know you’re mine and nobody can take that away from me. If you can forgive me. And if you’ll have me.”
She studied him without saying anything. He looked hopeful and panicky at the same time, his blue eyes wide.
“Say something,” he said as she stayed silent.
She chewed on her bottom lip, not missing the way his gaze dropped briefly to her mouth. The hunger that flared in his eyes as he obviously thought about kissing her made her catch her breath. How could she deny him this? What was the point in saying no just to punish him, when this was what she wanted more than anything else in the world?
“You’re killing me here,” he said softly. “I promise you I’ll love you forever, Honey Summers. I’ll treat you like a princess. And I promise I’ll be a saint from now on.”
She surveyed him thoughtfully before finally raising her eyes to meet his. “I never said I wanted to marry a saint,” she said.
He blinked a few times. “Huh?”
She started to smile. “You’re a bad boy, Dexter Concannon, and I wouldn’t change that. The naughty twinkle in your eye is what attracted me to you in the first place.”
Relief crossed his face, and then he grinned. “I thought it was the uniform.”
“That as well.”
He pulled her a little closer to him. “Well, if you like the devil inside me, maybe I won’t try so hard to exorcise it.”
She lifted a hand to cup his cheek. “You’re not evil, Dex. Just as I’m no angel.”
“I’m banking on that. In the bedroom, anyway.”
She slipped her hand into his hair. Little did he know how much that devil inside him turned her on. “I want you,” she said huskily, raising herself on tiptoes so her lips hovered near his. “I want to wake up next to you every morning, and make love you to every night. I want to feel you naked next to me. I want you inside me so much it makes me ache.”
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “I want you too. Say you’ll marry me today, Honey.”
“Yes, I’ll marry you today.”
And so Wendy had married them, and they’d kissed under the apple tree, and then Dex had gone back to work and they’d carried on with the stag night and hen night as if nothing had happened. Only Jude, Koru and Daisy had known, and Cam of course, as Dex had felt it only right and just that her father was aware what was going on.
But now, watching Dex’s back and waiting for him to turn, her heart rose in her mouth and panic filled her stomach. He’d dated Cathryn for a long time, and their relationship had obviously been passionate and reckless. Did he miss that? Was he regretting sending her away?
Then he turned around, and the joy and relief on his face nearly made her cry. He strode up the aisle, right up to her, put his arms around her and kissed her hard, taking her breath away and bringing heat to her cheeks as all the guests cheered.
Peter laughed as they pulled apart. “Shall we continue?”
Dex looked at her. And Honey nodded. “Yes, please.”
Peter cleared his throat. “I’m afraid I have to ask you once again. Please repeat after me. I solemnly declare that I do not know of any impediment to this marriage between me, Dexter Mark Concannon, and Honeysuckle Summers.”
Dex opened his mouth, hesitated, and briefly glanced around him. And that was it, Honey started giggling, everyone began laughing and Dex’s face broke out into a wry grin.
After that it was plain sailing. They said their vows, and when Peter asked if she promised “to love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, and to be faithful unto him as long as you both shall live,” she said yes without reserve.
Once again they exchanged rings, Dex sliding hers onto her third finger.
“These rings serve as a symbol of the vow you have just made,” Peter said, and smiled. “You are now lawfully married.” He grinned at Dex. “Again. And yes, now you may kiss the bride.”
And there, under the palm trees with the sun streaming through and the fantails fluttering in the branches, Honey let her husband take her in his arms and seal the deal with a kiss.