make it to the island. Quinn was thankful to Jordan for thinking of the idea and making it possible for the rest of his loved ones to be there in spirit.
Big Mac walked Mallory to the end of the aisle formed between two rows of seats. He kissed his daughter’s cheek and shook Quinn’s hand. “Be happy, you two.”
“That’s the plan,” Quinn said as he took hold of Mallory’s hand.
After Big Mac had gone to sit with his wife in the front row, Quinn took a good long look at his beautiful bride. “Holy smokes,” he said. “Stunning.”
She surprised the shit out of him by turning to show him the entirely bare back of her dress, shooting him a smile over her shoulder.
Quinn fanned his face dramatically as everyone else laughed.
Mallory’s uncle Frank, a retired Superior Court judge, presided over the service. “Friends and family, near and far,” Frank said, with a gesture toward Jordan and the FaceTime call with Quinn’s family, “we’re gathered today for the marriage of my beautiful niece Mallory Vaughn and Dr. Quinn James. Today is also our bride and groom’s birthday. They were born on the same exact day, which makes this an occasion forty-one years in the making.”
Quinn glanced at Mallory in the same second she looked at him, both of them smiling at the many twists of fate that had delivered them to this moment.
“Mallory and Quinn have written their own vows, and I’m just here to make it legal,” Frank said. “Mallory, when you’re ready.”
She handed her colorful bouquet to Janey and then turned to face him, taking hold of both his hands and looking up at him with the love and affection that had become essential to him. “I remember the day we met so vividly,” she said. “It was a summer day a lot like this one, only not quite as hot. We were out running when we encountered a motorcycle accident and discovered we both had medical training. I recall being so impressed by your cool competence during a crisis, but I also happened to notice that you were rather hot.”
Quinn laughed even as he felt his face flush with embarrassment.
“Neither one of us could’ve known what that first meeting would lead to or how intertwined our lives would become over the next few months. I was in a bad place that day, having just been laid off from a job that I’d loved for fifteen years. I was grappling with a lot of emotion over the secrets my late mother had kept from me while getting to know my father and my new family. By all accounts, that was probably the worst possible time for me to meet the man of my dreams. But there you were, and I’m so thankful our paths crossed that day and that we’ve gotten to spend almost every day since then together. Everything about us feels so right to me, so easy, so perfect. I love you more than anything, and I look forward to forever with you.”
Quinn used his sleeve to blot the tears she’d caused with her heartfelt words. “I remember that day, too. I remember every detail, especially how lucky our patient was to have a trauma surgeon and emergency room nurse first on the scene after he crashed his motorcycle. It’s hard to imagine anyone getting luckier than that, and yet I was the one who truly got lucky that day. You say you were in a bad place when we met. So was I. I’d sunk into a deep, dark place after losing my leg, and it was only after I met you that I was able to share that pain with someone and truly begin to recover. You not only helped to save that motorcyclist’s life that day, but you saved mine, too, in so many ways, mostly by giving me a reason to smile, to hope, to make plans, to fall in love and have this amazing new life that I never expected to have.” Quinn leaned his forehead against Mallory’s. “You make it so damn easy to love you, and I can’t wait for everything with you.”
They were both a weepy mess, but he couldn’t have cared less about that as they laughed through their tears and exchanged rings before Frank made it official.
“By the power vested in me by the State of Rhode Island, it’s my great pleasure to introduce for the first time as husband and wife, Dr. Quinn James and Mrs.