He paused as he cleared his throat. “I did it with my dad. But that’s not love. That was trying to force the world into some vision of what I thought it should be and then resisting when people didn’t fit that narrow vision. I did it to myself too. I don’t think I’ve ever been as fully myself as I’ve been in the months since I met you.”
She wanted to say something. She wanted to tell him how deeply she understood. But he was still on a roll, so she didn’t interrupt.
“So I’ll marry you any time, any day, from now until the end of our lives. But I know this has happened kind of quickly. And I don’t want you to feel rushed or pressured because you might have blurted out something on the spur of the moment about getting married on Christmas and then I latched onto it and didn’t let it go. So if you’re nervous at all, if you’re not absolutely sure that you want to do this today, you can tell me. I’ll understand. We can wait. Until whenever you want. Or we can stay engaged for the rest of our lives and never tie the knot. I’m happy with anything as long as I can be with you. As long as I can be me... with you.”
She was definitely rather melty as she reached up to cup his face. “I want to marry you today, Carter Wilson,” she whispered. “I want to be me with you, and I want you to be you with me for the rest of our lives. I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. I want to marry you today.”
“Okay.” His voice was low and textured. “Good.”
They kissed for another minute, but Ruth was careful about her hands since she’d told him the truth about not wanting to have sex until they were married this evening. After a little while, Carter rolled off her with a groan. “Okay.”
“Okay what?”
“If we’re not having sex, then we’re going to have to have breakfast in bed. One aspect of my carnal nature has got to be indulged this morning. And if it’s not my dick, it’s going to have to be my stomach.”
“You want me to go down and fix us something?”
He frowned at her. She couldn’t see it, but she could hear it in his voice. “Of course not. I’m going to fix it. It’s your wedding day, after all.”
“It’s your wedding day too!” she called after him, but he was already pulling a T-shirt over his head and leaving the room.
THEY HAD A LOVELY BREAKFAST in bed early and then another one at ten with Mrs. Wilson, Lincoln, and Summer, who’d come over to exchange presents and then help with the preparations for the wedding.
Despite Mrs. Wilson’s exuberant attempts to add more guests, they’d kept the wedding small. Only twenty people were invited—mostly family and their very close friends—and they were having the wedding at the house with a dinner afterward.
Even though it was Christmas and very short notice, everyone they’d invited had enthusiastically accepted the invitation. Even Brent and the boys. Kayla was one of Ruth’s two bridesmaids.
Summer, who was the other of her bridesmaids, had brought in a stylist to do their hair, makeup, and nails in the afternoon and a massage therapist to give them massages. Kayla was thrilled with the special treatment. And honestly so was Ruth. She definitely wasn’t used to this kind of thing.
They laughed and chatted and relaxed and got beautified for a couple of hours. Afterward, when Kayla went downstairs to check in with her dad to make sure he wouldn’t get caught up with television and forget about the wedding, Summer turned to Ruth and said, “She’s lovely. I really like her.”
“Yeah,” Ruth replied, preening as if she’d been given the compliment herself. “She’s really great.”
“I’m so glad you and Carter are doing this,” Summer said. She looked gorgeous in perfect makeup and an elegant updo. She was wearing a pretty bathrobe since she hadn’t yet put on her dress. “Lincoln and I are so happy about the whole thing. Carter hasn’t been like this since... I don’t know when. You wouldn’t realize it because you didn’t know him before, but he’s like a new man.”
“I kind of feel like a new person too.” Ruth felt a little self-conscious, so she studied her beautifully manicured nails. “And what makes it even better is that I don’t just get