Page 327 of When a Soul Cries

Sugga immediately wiped her face and spoke up. “You ain't got no choice now.”

The laughter that followed was exactly what all of us needed. Even the pastor laughed, and Roman dropped his head for a second, smiling as I wiped carefully beneath my eyes.

When the laughter settled, I looked back at my soon-to-be husband and squeezed his hands.

“And most of all, I promise to keep choosing you too.”

The pastor's smile was warm as he gave us a moment before moving the ceremony forward.

When he announced that it was time for the rings, Kai stepped forward. For once, he didn't have a joke ready. He simply reached into his jacket, pulled out the box he'd apparently been protecting with his life all the way to Dahlonega and handed it to his brother.

Roman opened it.

My eyes dropped to the ring inside.

Then widened.

“Roman.”

A grin spread across Kai's face from beside us. “That's what I said.”

A shaky laugh left me as I stared at the enormous diamond sparkling beneath the candlelight.

The thing was ridiculous.

Beautiful.

But absolutely ridiculous.

Roman took my left hand carefully. His own fingers weren't quite steady anymore either. He removed the ring from the box and slowly slid it onto my finger.

It fit perfectly.

Of course it did.

This man probably knew my ring size before I did.

I stared down at it for a second, overwhelmed all over again—not because of the size of the diamond, but because it made everything suddenly feel real.

I was wearing Roman's ring.

In a few minutes, I would be his wife.

The pastor continued the ceremony, and when he finally smiled and pronounced us husband and wife, Roman looked at me like he'd been waiting all day for permission to do exactly what came next.

Both of his hands came up and cradled my face.

Then he kissed me.

The second his lips touched mine, Sugga screamed.

“Yes, Lord!”

Zari started cheering.

Kai's voice rose above everybody else's. “About damn time!”

Even the pastor laughed.