No Good Deed - Marie Sexton Page 0,63

suit. Gray was somewhere in between, wearing a tie, but it hung loose over his shoulders. He’d apparently forgotten how to tie the damned thing.

“We would have been here sooner if you’d asked which courtroom they were in rather than guessing,” Warren grumbled to Gray.

“Hey, I knew the day and time. That’s more than you guys.”

“What are you doing here?” Charlie asked. It clearly wasn’t a coincidence, but he could hardly believe they were here for him.

“Are you kidding?” Gray pulled him into a hug. “We’re here for the wedding, obviously!”

They took turns hugging him before turning to shake Jonas’s hand. Maybe it was a bit awkward, coming face-to-face with Jonas, but they seemed sincere as they congratulated him. Charlie’s eyes filled with tears as he hugged Gray a second time.

“Thank you.”

“No way I’d let you get married without me standing next to you. I don’t care who it’s to.”

“You have no idea how much this means.”

“I wouldn’t miss it for anything.” Gray patted him on the back and let him go. “Well, come on. Are you guys tying the knot today or what?”

They filed into the courtroom, where a magistrate waited. She was about forty, with short-cropped blonde hair, and she was all smiles as she looked around at them.

“Small group, but there’s nothing wrong with that.” She opened the little swinging gates that generally kept spectators at trials separated from the legal participants and led them through. “This is one of my favorite duties. Helping happy people get married is a million times better than listening to traffic violations all day, believe me.” She directed Charlie and Jonas to their places. Warren, Phil, and Gray stood back a few feet, more like guests than groomsmen.

“Are you ready?” she asked.

“Hang on.” Gray had apparently realized he still hadn’t tied his tie. “How does it go? Twice around the tree, then through a tunnel or something?”

“Oh, for God’s sake.” Phil swatted his hands out of the way. “Hold still.”

“I knew I could get you to tie it for me.” Gray grinned at Phil as he knotted it. “Come on. Tell the truth. You’ve dreamed about doing this, right?”

Phil slid the knot up to Gray’s throat and kept going, tightening it until Gray’s eyes bulged. “You’re right. I’ve definitely dreamed about doing that.”

Gray laughed as he loosened the tie enough to breathe. “Good to know I’m not the only sadist in the group.”

“Do you have rings?” the magistrate asked Charlie.

Charlie’s heart fell a bit. “No.”

“Yes, you do.” Phil stepped forward and handed him a box. Inside lay two silver wedding bands. “A gift from River and me. I had to guess on the sizes. Hopefully they fit.”

Charlie’s throat tightened with emotion. He might have kissed Phil, except it seemed wrong to kiss anybody other than Jonas at their wedding ceremony. He dumped the rings into his palm and handed one to Jonas, smiling. “I guess we have rings after all.”

“We’ll get started, then.” The magistrate picked up a leather binder and opened it to read from inside. “We’re here to celebrate the marriage of Charles Edward Garcia and Jonas Robert Kincaid. Marriage is the most profound commitment two people can make to one another, and one that should never be made lightly.”

Charlie barely heard her. He had nothing in his mind but Jonas, and gratefulness that his friends had shown up to support them. The magistrate read the “love is patient, love is kind” bit from 1 Corinthians, before asking Charlie if he vowed to love, honor, and cherish Jonas, and to forsake all others, from this day forward.

“I do.”

Then it was Jonas’s turn to say the two words. Charlie thought his heart might burst from the happiness felt, listening to Jonas say them.

“Do you have any personal vows you’d like to share at this time?”

Charlie searched his brain, wishing he’d thought to come up with something profound ahead of time, but he hadn’t. He said the one and only thing that came to his mind.

“I love you. God, I love you so much.”

Jonas’s smile was huge, his eyes once again full of tears. “I love you too.”

“You may now exchange rings. These symbolize your commitment to your vows, and to each other.”

The ring Charlie slid onto Jonas’s fingers was way too big. But when Jonas tried to return the gesture, the ring stopped before Charlie’s first knuckle.

“Try again,” Gray said.

Charlie and Jonas laughed, swapping rings. He should have thought to check the sizes rather than randomly handing one to Jonas.