Page 88 of More Than A Feeling

Tony stepped forward as officiant, grinning.“I never thought I’d be the one talking you two into forever, but here we are.”He glanced at the small crowd.“Keep it short, they said.So here it is, two people who fought the world, found their song, and decided to keep playing it together.Jami, Carlene, do the thing.”

She laughed through the tears that blurred her vision.“That’s it?”

“Simple works,” Tony said.

Jami reached for her hands.“I’ve written a hundred songs,” he said, voice low.“None of them sounds like this moment.You walked into my life when I needed a reason to believe again.You reminded me that real doesn’t need a spotlight; it just needs truth.And you are my truth.”

She tried to breathe past the ache in her chest.“You showed me that independence doesn’t mean being alone,” she said.“That love can exist without chaos, that it can be strong and still be kind.You make the world steady, Jami.You make it home.”

Tony cleared his throat, pretending not to wipe his eye.“Then by the power vested in me by… the internet,” he said, laughter spilling through the room, “I now pronounce you husband and wife.Kiss her before someone cries harder than Maddyn.”

Jami pulled her in, kissed her deeply, slow enough to remember it.Applause broke out around them: Sean’s whistle, Axel’s shout, Livia’s laugh through tears.

When they broke apart, she whispered, “You know there’s no going back now.”

“Good,” he said.“I burned the map.”

The band kicked into “More Than a Feeling”,the full version this time, bright and alive.Jami strummed, Sean joined, and soon everyone was clapping, feet tapping on the polished floor that Quinn had promised would “shine like pride.”

Later, when the last notes faded and the crowd drifted toward the food tables set up by the doors, Carlene slipped outside.The night air was cool, and the string of lights Quinn had hung along the porch cast a golden glow across the yard.

She turned when she heard footsteps behind her.Jami stepped out, loosened his tie, and leaned against the railing beside her.

“Nice wedding,” he said.

“I liked the band,” she answered.

“Me too.”

They stood together under the lights, the hum of conversation fading behind them.From inside, someone restarted “Keys” quietly, and the melody floated through the open barn doors.

She turned to him, her hand brushing the ring he’d placed there weeks ago.“We did it.”

He nodded.“Built it.Played it.Owned it.”

“Together.”

He kissed her forehead.“Always.”

Inside, the barn pulsed with laughter and the warmth of everything they’d built, not perfect, but theirs.

Carlene leaned into his side and looked out across the field where the last of the sunset melted into the trees.“You know what comes next?”

He smiled, soft and certain.“Yeah.Whatever we want.”

And for the first time, that felt exactly right.