Chapter 14 - Thirty-Seven Invitations
We decided to renew our vows privately.
Then Paige found out.
Private ended immediately.
“You had a billionaire marriage collapse, a forged signature, a criminal trial, an ex-girlfriend turned ally, thirty-seven revenge purchases, and a second proposal, and you expect me to accept twelve people in a garden?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Maya agreed with her.
Sophia flew from Paris.
Rebecca came.
Celia, after much hesitation, accepted.
Even Marcus received an invitation.
Thirty-seven invitations.
One for every charge that had changed the direction of my life.
Alexander laughed when he saw the number.
“Intentional?”
“Very.”
We held the ceremony at the first Hudson Valley inn North & Rowan restored.
No Grant estate.
No ballroom.
No press.
The magnolia branches from June’s tree inspired the flowers.
Before the ceremony, Sophia entered my room wearing pale gold.
“You nervous?”
“Terrified.”
“Good.”
“How is that good?”
“Last time, certainty got both of you into trouble.”
Fair.
She adjusted my veil.
“Do you ever regret coming back to New York?”
Sophia considered it.
“No.”
“Even after everything?”
“I spent years believing Alexander was the great unfinished love of my life.”
“And?”
She smiled.
“Turns out he was unfinished paperwork.”
I laughed.
Then she became serious.
“You know he loves you.”
“Yes.”
“That doesn’t mean you owe him forever.”
“I know.”
“And that is exactly why I think this might work.”
Outside, Alexander waited beneath the magnolia arch.
He wore his grandfather’s restored cuff link.
I wore its companion on a chain around my neck.
When I reached him, he whispered, “You look…”
I raised an eyebrow.
He smiled.
“I was going to say expensive, but I’ve learned.”
“Good recovery.”
Our vows were short.
His began:
“I once gave you a black card because I thought money could compensate for my absence.”
People laughed softly.
“I know now that presence is the one thing nobody can purchase for someone else.”
Mine began:
“I once believed loving someone meant making myself easy to keep.”
Alexander’s eyes filled.
“I know now that real love makes room for two complete people.”
We promised truth.
Choice.
Attention.
Freedom.
Not forever.
Forever was too abstract.
We promised tomorrow.
Then tomorrow after that.
When we kissed, Paige cried louder than anyone.
At dinner, thirty-seven small candles burned along the tables.
Alexander noticed.
“Thirty-seven again?”
“Each one represents a terrible financial decision.”
“Your accountant disagrees. Most of it was refunded.”
“Emotionally terrible.”
He touched my sapphire ring.
“You kept this.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
I looked at it.
“Because it was the first thing I chose without wondering what you thought.”
He smiled.
“I like it.”
“I don’t care.”
“I know.”
That was why we were going to be okay.
Late that night, after everyone left, Alexander and I stood alone outside the inn.
Snow began falling.
Exactly like the sleet two years earlier.
He looked toward the windows.
“Do you ever think about that dinner?”
“Yes.”
“I do too.”
“I know.”
“I wish I had stayed.”
I took his hand.
“If you had, maybe none of this would have happened.”
“That sounds better.”
“Does it?”
He looked at me.
I thought about North & Rowan.
My restored desk.
My red coat.
The truth about Victoria.
The life I had reclaimed.
“No,” I said. “I don’t think I want the version of us where I kept disappearing.”
Alexander squeezed my hand.
“Neither do I.”
For the first time, our worst night no longer felt like the night our marriage ended.
It felt like the night the lie did.
But there was one thing left.
The next morning, I woke nauseated.
At first, I blamed champagne.
Then I looked at the calendar.
Alexander was still asleep when I entered the bathroom.
Five minutes later, I stared at two pink lines.
My knees nearly gave out.
Pregnant.
May you like
Again.
And suddenly every fear I had buried with June came rushing back.
