Page 92 of Wasted On You

“He’ll be living with us.”

“Ivy told me.” Cal’s expression darkened. “I was told his old man was released because of a clerical error.”

“That’s what we were told.”

“At least he’ll be behind bars for years to come. No way is he getting out after what he pulled.”

“I don’t want to think about that shit now.” Mike Paul grinned. “I promised Ivy I’d make an honest woman out of her.”

“Let’s go.”

Mike Paul followed his friend out of the room, and they walked to the front of the church. There were heaters set up in the corners, and the candles threw shadows. Pastor Newsome waited for him, a smile on his kind face, and he and Cal turned to stand beside him. Mike Paul focused on the small alcove where Ivy was holed up, then looked out at his family and friends. Some he’d known his entire life, and a couple were new. He cleared his throat and waited.

Millie Sue began to play a beautiful acoustic song on her guitar, and slowly, the doors opened.

Ivy appeared, Kip Lafferty at her side. She was dressed in a cream silk gown with simple lines. There were no big skirts or embroidery or beads. Her hair hung in loose waves, just the way he liked, and as she walked toward him, her big, beautiful eyes shone from the candlelight.

She took his breath away, and damn, but there were hot tears in the corners of his eyes. He didn’t want to bawl like a baby, so he exhaled and did his best not to.

“Stay steady, brother.” Cal grinned and stepped back.

Mike Paul shook Kip’s hand, and then Ivy joined him.

“Hey,” she said, taking his hand. “You came.”

“You said you needed a date for New Year’s Eve.”

“Just so you know,” she whispered, leaning so close he could count the freckles that spilled across her nose. “This date doesn’t have an expiration. It’s the forever kind, so it’s your last chance to bail if that’s not what you want.”

He swept his mouth across hers and then glanced at the pastor. “Let’s do this.”

And there, on a night that signaled new beginnings, surrounded by the people that mattered, Mike Paul and Ivy took their first step together. It was their first and last date. He’d found his forever girl in the spot she’d been all along. And he wasn’t letting her go.

When the pastor pronounced them man and wife, he looked down at her smiling face and felt his heart shift. Hell, his whole body moved.

“We’ll have to wait for Spring,” he whispered.

When her eyebrow rose questioningly, he smiled.

“The white picket fence.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

His smile widened. “That’s what I was hoping to hear.” He nodded at their friends and family. “Shall we?

Ivy took his hand and their forever officially began, there under a sky so big the world seemed endless.