Marrying Mr. Darcy (Love Manor #2) - Kate O'Keeffe Page 0,92

in a million years stoop that low to get the man I loved, I get why she did it. Sebastian is a truly special guy, and I’m the lucky girl who gets to keep him for the rest of my life.

Geraldine, rightfully ashamed by her actions, apologized to us both for her involvement. She claimed she was stressed over the fact we were facing losing the house, and I’ve chosen to accept it. Not that I believe it, of course. I didn’t come down in the last English rain shower, you know. But I have chosen to accept her apology because she’s my soon-to-be grandmother-in-law. And now, almost a year on from all the drama, as much as I know she still disapproves of me, I’m not going to bend over backwards for her anymore.

No way.

In my efforts to fit into Sebastian’s world, in my vain attempts to make Geraldine accept me, I’d lost something incredibly important.

I’d lost me.

And I’m not going to let that happen again. I’m not going to change myself for anyone. Emma Brady is an okay chick, a “top bird” some might say, and you know what? I kinda like me.

I’m me. Take it or leave it, people.

In the beautiful sunlight, filtering through the stained-glass windows, Sebastian’s face lights up in a gorgeous smile, and my heart flutters. This man is about to become my husband.

My Lord Martinston.

My Mr. Darcy.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the priest says with a smile. “You may kiss the bride.”

With a huge grin on his face, Sebastian takes a step closer to me and loops his hands around the back of my head. He leans down and kisses me, and everything that has gone before, all our challenges, all our hurdles are rendered completely irrelevant.

I’m his, and he’s mine.

I wrap my arms around him and pull him close, kissing him back as the congregation erupts into applause around us.

Suddenly sheepish, I turn to face them all. “We’re married,” I say, barely able to process it myself.

“Yeah, you are, girl!” Kennedy calls out to whoops and more applause.

As the Bruno Mars song Just the Way You Are begins to play, I can’t resist a glance at Geraldine. She’s seated in the front row, between a grinning Jemima and Zara, looking severe and formal in a navy Chanel suit and her habitual strings of pearls. I remember she insisted we have nothing but organ music play at our wedding and certainly didn’t want anything from the last century. But disapprove as she might, we like this song, and that’s why we’re playing it.

Ladies and gentlemen, the new Emma Brady. Make that Emma Huntington-Ross, the very new Lady Martinston.

My mouth goes dry.

Wow, I’m still not sure I’m ever gonna get used to that.

“Shall we?” Sebastian says as he takes my hand in his.

I grin at him. “Let’s do this.”

We walk down the aisle together, hand in hand, all our friends and family grinning at us as we pass them by. We step out of the little chapel and into the heat. I look up at the building, gleaming white in the hot Texan sun.

“This was the perfect place to get married, Brady,” Sebastian says.

“It was, wasn’t it?”

As our friends and family spill outside and surround us, they offer us their congratulations with hugs and kisses and handshakes.

“You make such a beautiful couple,” Zara says as she gives me a hug. “I am so glad you’re my new sister.”

“I’m so glad you’re my new sister, too.”

“I feel so pretty. Thank you for choosing a bridesmaid dress that actually makes me look sexy.”

“You, Phoebe, Kennedy, and Penny look incredible today,” I reply as the rest of my bridesmaids surround me. They’re all in slinky, charcoal gray halter-neck dresses from Susan’s bridal store. Zara came in with me when I went to claim my dress, and she was smitten the moment she tried one on.

“We do not look as incredible as you, babe,” Kennedy says to me. “Maybe you’ll start wearing dresses and ditch the activewear a little more often now?”

“Not now that we’ve got Timothy into a UK store she won’t,” Penny replies with a laugh.

I grin at her, thinking about how amazing it is that we finally look set to make some headway into Britain, thanks to me and my bra fitting skills with the elderly. “Denise’s store may be small, but it’s been a great start.”

My bridesmaids fall into silence with the arrival of Geraldine. She attempts a smile when she says,