“How, Jace—”

“Shh,” he demands, his eyes burning into mine. “I now know why I never loved before you, and that’s because I was waiting for you. You are the one and only woman I will ever love. My last first kiss. I know that because of what I feel when I look into your eyes. I’ve known since the moment I met you. I believe God has a plan for us, and while we thought we already had a plan, this is our plan now. Okay? I mean, do you get everything I’m saying? I know I’m talking a thousand miles a minute, and yeah, I can’t breathe, but Avery, I just fucking know. You’re it. You and our baby.”

A sob breaks free from my lips as I nod slowly and reach up, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Is this real?”

He grins, his hands wrapping around my waist. “Yeah.”

“But I thought you wouldn’t want this. It’s such a shocker.”

He nods. “A surprise, you mean. And no, I didn’t want this. It’s the last thing I would ever think of wanting right now. But now, after knowing, it’s all I want.”

I search his eyes for any inkling that he doesn’t, but all I see is love. Pure, unadulterated love. Still I have to ask, “Are you sure?”

“Are you?” he asks and my lip trembles, but I know the answer.

“I never wanted to end this.”

“Then why did you bring us here?”

“Because I was so scared.”

“What have I told you? Be honest with me and we got this.”

“I know. I just freaked.”

“You freaked?” His eyes widen. “I think I peed a little when I saw you come out of there,” he admits and I smile. “Because, yeah, it scares the living shit out of me, us doing this. But what scares me more is us not doing this.”

“Me too,” I breathe, my body breaking out in gooseflesh.

“Good,” he says, his eyes filling with tears as he grabs my hands and unwraps them from behind his neck. Confused, I watch as he falls to one knee, and I gasp. “And just in case you ever question if we will last, I want you to look at this ring,” he says, a grin on his face as he slides a beautifully simple oval diamond onto my ring finger. “And know that the last woman who wore this was my grandma. She wore it for fifty-three years of a loving marriage with my grandpa and then for another ten after he died because she was so in love with him. She wore it until the day she died, not to be morbid… Maybe I should have left that last part off, but I’m still freaking out here,” he adds with a grin, but I can’t even think. “Good freak-out, though, happy freak-out.”

Holy shit.

“Oh, Jace,” I say, covering my mouth as everything goes still. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

Panicked, I ask, “You’re not doing this ’cause I’m pregnant, are you? You don’t have to.”

He scoffs, flashing me a dark look. “No, Skeptical Sally, I’m damn sure I want to marry you. Baby or not, I love you. I’ll marry you right now if you want. Because I’m not going anywhere. It’s me and you and this kid,” he says, poking me in the gut.

“Really?” I cry and he smiles.

“Really. I’m not like your parents—or those fucktards you call brothers. I love you, and I’ll stand beside you for the rest of my existence. So you say the word and you get this amazing fella right here,” he says, hooking his thumb toward himself, a stray tear rolling down his face and falling off his jaw.

It all seems too good to be true.

So perfect.

But it’s real.

I know it is.

So I nod and whisper, “Word.”

He eyes me and I watch as he realizes what I’m saying. As he laughs, he goes to his feet, lifting me off the ground and kissing me hard on the lips. Our mouths move together, and I know this is crazy. I know that we are young and it’s so sudden, but I love this man.

And I will for the rest of my life.

When we push through the county clerk’s office, I look over at Avery and meet her excited gaze.

“We did it.”

Her eyes are still filled with tears, but I know they are happy tears.

She may have thought she was getting an abortion today, but not on my watch.

Nope, we got married.

When Pastor Dwayne holds his hand out, I take it and shake it hard. “Thank you so much for fitting us in.”

He smiles, but I know he’s still a little wary of our union. I’ve known him a very long time, grew up going to his church. He may think that we are too young, but I’m convinced it really was a gift from God that he was marrying someone else when we walked in. It was a sign. I had only planned to get the marriage license and then get married at our church. But he was there, we were there, and it just seemed right. He did hesitate, asked if we were sure, and it took everything out of me not to scream, “Yes!”

I want this.

I want Avery.

I want her to never stop smiling.

And boy, is she beaming.

“I’m very happy for you both. Hope to see you at church this Sunday,” he says with a wink and I nod.

“For sure, thank you.”

“Thank you,” Avery says as she trembles beside me.

Giving us a hearty smile, he waves. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” we both say as he turns to walk away. When I wrap my arm across Avery’s shoulders, she looks up at me and I grin down into her beautiful face.

“We really did it.”

“Yup.”

Her lips turn up and my heart just, wow, it soars. “This is crazy.”

I nod. “It is. But it feels right, right?”

“Yeah,” she says breathlessly, turning into my chest, her hands coming to rest against my heart. “It feels so right.”

Her smile drops, though, and she looks a little green. “Are you about to get sick again?”

She swallows hard. “No, I swallowed it again.”

I chuckle. “That’s so gross.”

She giggles as she holds me tight. “Eh, you’re stuck with it.”

Wrapping my arms around her, I kiss the top of her head. “Yup, and I couldn’t be happier.”

Kissing the base of my throat, she squeezes me as the sun shines down on us. It’s chilly, but in her arms, it’s perfect. This is perfect.

Holy shit, I’m married.