“Thank you, you may be seated.” The officiant waited a moment, and then spread his arms wide. “For thousands of years rings have been viewed as a symbol of eternity, with no beginning and no end, and today James and Thalia have chosen to follow this tradition by exchanging rings with each other.”
Kalen and Maggie each stepped forward, placing the rings in James and Thalia’s hands with the synchronicity that the four of them had formed.
“James, please take Thalia’s hand and make your declaration.”
Brushing his thumb against the delicate engagement ring she already wore, James hovered the wedding band at the end of her finger, his eyes finding hers as he spoke, “Thalia, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and commitment to you, now and forever.”
The ring slid home, fitting perfectly, and inside she felt whole, bruised and scarred in places, but unbroken. No more pieces out of place. Then the voice of the officiant broke into her thoughts, “Thalia, please take James’ hand and make your declaration.”
Feeling slightly giddy, her hands shook as she took his hand and held the ring in place. “James, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and commitment to you, now and forever.” Nudging the ring forward she settled it in place, and he immediately clasped her hand, the bright band glinting in the light.
I am yours, and you are mine.
“James and Thalia, you have shown today your great love for each other. Your family and friends have committed to supporting you, so now I just have one more question for each of you.” The older man smiled, and when he turned to James there was not a hint of the fear that Thalia had worried about before, she knew exactly what James’ answer would be. “James, do you take Thalia to be your wife, now and forever?”
“I do,” James’ voice was the perfect blend of how he sounded on Sunday mornings, aroused and playful, and the way he sounded when he was telling her something important, something he was passionate about. And she had all of him, every side, the serious and the fun, the darkness and the light.
“And Thalia, do you take James to be your husband, now and forever?”
“I do,” she answered, almost shaking as she waited for the next words.
“Then I now pronounce you husband and wife. James you may —” Before the man had even finished the line, James had pulled Thalia towards him, one arm behind her back as he kissed her. Dipping her backwards to the sounds of cheers from the guests and the roar of clapping. It was warm and soft, but he nipped her lip just once, enough of an edge to promise her so much more. From somewhere above them, the officiant finished amidst his own laughter, “— kiss the bride.”
Chapter Five
What does perfection feel like?
Sitting in a chair beside James with the soft, green grass brushing the soles of her feet, Thalia had no doubt that this was it. The pinnacle moment of perfection in her life. Loved, cherished, surrounded by friends, and a family that accepted her completely. It used to seem too ridiculous to even dream, because… who really falls in love anymore?
Who actually gets swept off their feet, or rescued?
Things like this only happened in fairy tales.
Well, in fairy tales, and around James.
Her prince, her knight in slightly scuffed armor, her lover, her Master, her husband.
Their fingers were intertwined under the tablecloth, the party dress much easier to breathe in than the wedding dress, but he still managed to take her breath away. Every smile, every flash of his green eyes, every stolen kiss that was cheered by the guests who caught it — this was perfection.
“I love you,” she whispered against his lips when he pulled back from another kiss, tasting of champagne and chocolate cake.
He tightened his hold on her hand, pulling her just a little closer to him until she thought she might just tip out of the chair and into his lap, but she knew he would catch her. James always did. “I love you more than anything, Thalia. My beautiful wife,” he added quietly, that smile coming back so full of joy that she felt it like a hum on her skin.
“Still happy you went through with it?” The laugh was so close it made her bite her lip to keep it in, but James didn’t bother. He laughed and then released their hands to pinch her thigh through the dress, her body jumping as she lost the battle and laughed too.
“You’re stuck with me forever, pet. Remember that tonight when I tie you to the bed and make you beg.” James’ voice was a growl, and suddenly her mouth went dry as the tilt of his lips turned wicked. Winking, he nodded towards the guests spread out before them. “Focus on them for now, baby, everyone is here to see you.”
“Us,” she corrected, still unsteady with visions of his possible plans running through her head.
“Oh no, they’re all here to see you. I told you earlier today none of them think I ever leave the office.” Pressing another quick kiss to her lips, he turned to answer something Kalen said, the two of them laughing at whatever she’d missed.
Trying to shake the thoughts of rope, and floggers, and his hands on her, she looked out at the party that was just getting started now that they were clearing the food away. The Wedding Breakfast, which was actually more of a late lunch, had been as wonderful as the wedding itself. Outside in the balmy weather, the slightest of breezes ruffled the white tablecloths, and for once England was without grey skies. Pale clouds drifted across a blue sky, and the sun shone as if the world were celebrating with them.
Thalia ran her feet over the grass under the table, sitting much more comfortably after removing James’ pre-wedding gift, but now she noticed the plug’s absence. The tickling buzz between her thighs that his promises had summoned making her antsy in the chair, unsure of what to do next.
“You’re thinking too much, I can tell. It’s your wedding day!” Julie nudged her with an elbow, leaning away from Antonio to smile at her. “Enjoy it!”
“I just can’t believe I’m married.” Staring down at the wedding band, she twirled it with her thumb, watching as the late afternoon light played over the metal. “It doesn’t feel real, does that make sense?”
“Totally.” Julie laughed, running her hand over her belly before she held up her own wedding ring. “It was a few months before it felt real I think. I suddenly woke up and it hit me that we were really married. Together forever.”
“Did you have other plans?” Antonio asked, his voice comfortingly American to her ears, but Julie just grinned at him.
“Maybe I did.”
Huffing, Antonio braced his hand on the back of her neck, his fingers twining into Julie’s golden up-do before he tightened them and she gasped prettily. “And that is yet another reason I’m so glad I knocked you up. You’re all mine, angel. You, and the little one.” With all the gentleness that his grip in her hair lacked, he ran his other hand over her belly in a caring sweep. “My family.”
Julie’s cheeks were flushed, and she whimpered as she laid her hand over his. “I was only joking. Please don’t tease me, sir. It will be hours before—”
“Oh, I know, angel. But you teased me first, and now you’re just going to have to sit there needy, and wet, and absolutely beautiful until I get to take you back to the hotel and fuck you.” Antonio’s voice was so quiet that Thalia was sure she and Julie had been the only ones to hear it, but the moan the blonde released was not as quiet.
Heads turned along the table, but Antonio just pulled her towards him and kissed her with an intensity that had Thalia pressing her thighs together with a groan.
Dammit.
How soon was it acceptable to leave your own wedding reception, or breakfast, or whatever?
Turning toward James she ran her hand along his thigh and she couldn’t help but smile. He was as carefree as she’d ever seen him, still laughing when he turned towards her, one eyebrow lifting. So hot, so absolutely wonderful, and she just wanted a few minutes alone to ease the ache growing between her legs.
“Master, can we—”
“It’s time
!” Kalen interrupted her from James’ other side, and her new husband’s bottle glass green eyes widened a moment before he turned his head.
“You wouldn’t dare,” James hissed at Kalen, but when their friend stood tall, clanging his knife against the side of his glass, he just gave a devious look down to the two of them. Groaning, James grabbed her hand under the table, pulling it from his thigh as he leaned close. “If I hit him to shut him up, I hope you won’t judge me.”
“It depends on what he says,” Thalia whispered back, smiling against his lips when James snuck another quick kiss that did nothing to ease the need coiling down low in her belly.
“Toast! Toast! Toast!” The chant started and soon multiple people were clanging their silverware against champagne flutes and other assorted glasses as silence spread through the tables scattered over the lawn.
“Thank ye!” Kalen’s voice boomed, the grin on his face making her a little nervous as she caught Evelyn and Henry’s eyes at the nearest table.
What on earth did Kalen have planned that had James tense enough to be squeezing her hand this hard?
“As ye might have noticed, I’m the Best Man today, and that means I get to give a speech… no matter what James has to say ‘bout it.”
Laughter shuffled through everyone as more people turned in their seats to listen, the string quartet pausing the music off to the side.
“I don’t know all of ye, but I was lucky enough to meet James sixteen years ago when we were both on holiday. Well, I should say that James was on holiday, and I was just roving around Paris because it seemed like a good place to be — and I was out of money.” Another round of laughs as Kalen smiled down at James, and then he winked at her before continuing. “So, one night in Paris I’m drinking away the last few quid in my pocket when I see this lad at a pub, proper dressed, watching a rugby match. Of course, he knew as little about rugby then as he does now—”
“What!” James laughed, and Kalen held up a hand as the guests chuckled.
“No matter what he tells ye, just know that I taught him what little he does know about the game!” Kalen took a breath, shrugging his broad shoulders. “And, in exchange for the help, he bought me a pint. And then another, and another until we were rather drunk. If ye had asked me that night, I would nae have thought I’d spend another day with this Sassenach that didn’t even know the better team in the match… but we actually spent the next two months wandering side by side across Europe. More oft than not getting into trouble, or finding trouble if it didn’t find us.”
“Oh bloody hell, Kalen,” James muttered, but he was grinning, and Thalia couldn’t help the smile that was so broad it made her cheeks ache.
“Ye know it’s true, James. And as we moved from city to city, country to country, there were a few brawls — sorry Evelyn,” Kalen raised his glass towards James’ mother, and she just laughed. “But I taught James how to fight, and we learned pretty quickly that we much preferred to be the ones leaving the welts instead of taking them.”
“Bastard,” James cursed under his breath on a laugh, shaking his head, and a blush flooded Thalia’s cheeks as her eyes went wide at Kalen’s dangerous choice of words.
He wouldn’t dare.
“I knew before the holiday was half-over that James was the kind of lad to always have yer back. The kind of mate that would share absolutely everything he had with ye, and we shared…” Kalen paused, grinning at the two of them, and then he continued like he had just wanted to look at the newly married couple. “…plenty of good times.”
James was cursing while trying to keep his chuckles quiet, Thalia’s cheeks were burning as she glanced at Evelyn and Henry and Katherine to see if any of it was sinking in, but they were both smiling calmly. No visible reaction from her new in-laws, while Julie sputtered to her right, trying so desperately to hold in her laughter that she was choking on her water.
“By the end of the summer we’d enjoyed the highest of highs, and been through the darkest dungeons together—”
The tittering giggles of Chloe and Lauren at one of the tables near the front made Thalia lean close to James’ ear to whisper, “Okay, you can hit him now.”
“— and I knew I had a brother for life.” Kalen finished, grinning devilishly. Flashing white teeth through his beard as he rested his hand on James’ shoulder.
“I cannot believe you,” James hissed through his teeth as he smiled, but Kalen was unfazed.
“Brother, we used to say that we might never find the right women for us. That none of them would put up with us, but I found my Maggie, and I knew the day I met yer Thalia that she was the one for ye. James, ye light up when yer with her, more alive than I ever saw ye even in that first summer, and I’m just glad ye didn’t balls this relationship up, because she is everything ye ever dreamed of. And, as much as we like her, if ye had messed it up we might have kept Thalia around instead of ye!” Laughter broke out again as James stood and Kalen pulled him into a hug, clapping him on the back with a few resounding slaps. Leaning back from him, Kalen raised his glass high, “TO JAMES AND THALIA!”
“TO JAMES AND THALIA!” The guests echoed back, and Thalia lifted her glass high into the air before finishing her glass of champagne.
As the boys settled back into their chairs, she heard James chuckling as he spoke low, “I will get you back for that, brother.”
“Sure ye will.” Kalen’s laugh was booming, another resounding slap landing on James’ back. “Good feking luck, brother.”
James shook his head, grinning as he tapped his glass against Kalen’s with another laugh. The wait staff was quick to refill glasses as Maggie stood from her chair, moving around to stand beside Thalia, and she grabbed for the champagne like a life raft.
“Oh, hell,” Thalia whispered under her breath, and Julie grinned from her chair as she made room for Maggie to stand between them.
“Don’t worry, I won’t embarrass ye like that. Boys are boys, even at weddings.” Maggie smiled at her, and Thalia nodded, begging with her eyes as her friend cackled.
“This will be good…” Julie muttered and Thalia groaned as her Matron of Honor began.
“If ye don’t already know, I’m Kalen’s wife and those two wild ones rolling around in the grass are ours.” Maggie smiled as the twins stumbled and chased each other, darting after the fireflies that were starting to twinkle as the sun started to drop below the treeline. “I’ve known James for a long time, but in all those years I never really saw him happy in life. I saw him entertained, I saw him proud of his work, and I have listened to more boyish arguments about rugby than I care to remember.”
People laughed, and Thalia reached for James’ hand as she kept her eyes on Maggie, catching another glimpse of the James she’d never met through her words.
“But I always wondered what made him hold back, what made him stay just a bit apart from the rest of us… and then I met ye, Thalia.” Maggie’s blue eyes found hers, and she felt her heart start to race. “When he brought ye to visit, I already knew something was different. I’d never heard his voice like that before, and just the smile on his face was something completely new. There! That smile!”
Everyone looked at James and when Thalia turned she indeed found him smiling, just before he kissed her. The whistles that ran through the crowd made Thalia’s cheeks burn, but James kept it just appropriate enough to be acceptable, while still being intense enough to send a shiver up her spine.
“Alright, alright, we get it.” Maggie’s boisterous laugh interrupted them and the cheers died down as they looked back at her. “I’m sure all of ye have seen it in him before today, or ye saw it during the wedding, and now ye know exactly what I mean. Thalia carries a light within her, and it blazes so fiercely that nothing can dim it. It was strong enough to pull James halfway around the world to be near it, and it was strong enough to ignite that light inside him too.”
There was a strange ache in Thalia’s chest as Maggie spoke, a tension that made her
eyes burn like she was about to cry. James sensed it, or saw it in the way that he could always read her like a book, and his arm draped over the back of her chair, his fingers brushing her arm in small, looping circles that let her take in a deeper breath.
Maggie looked down at her, tears threatening in her eyes as well. “It would have been enough for me to know how happy ye make James, Thalia, but yer heart is so good, so open, that ye became my friend too. One of my best friends, one of my favorite houseguests…” She winked, and Thalia laughed, the tension easing in her chest just a little. “Ye made James better, and I can’t imagine our lives without ye in it. That is why I am so glad to be able to say that today ye are Mrs. Thalia Hawkins, and that Kalen and I will always be here for the both of ye.”
“Oh, Maggie,” Thalia whispered, the tears came slipping down her cheeks, and her friend wiped at her own face to raise her glass.
“TO THALIA AND JAMES!” Maggie cheered loudly.
“TO THALIA AND JAMES!” The guests cheered, and then the lights came on across the lawn. Summoning a fairytale glow as people shouted their well wishes, and guests stood to applaud, many making their way towards them.
Before Maggie could slip away, she caught her hand. “Thank you so much, Maggie. I love you and Kalen both, you know that, right?”
“I know ye do, Thalia, and we love ye too. It’s why we were both so proud to stand beside ye today.” Leaning over, Maggie pressed a kiss to her hair before standing again. “Ye ready to get the party started?”
“Hasn’t it already?” Thalia asked, looking out over the guests who were beginning to line up in front of her and James, but Maggie just laughed again.
“Oh, no… they haven’t even opened the whisky yet!”
With that, Maggie escaped back to Kalen, her husband sweeping her into a kiss that made Thalia smile and roll her eyes. Those two were breaking their own rules about public displays in front of the vanilla crowd, especially as Kalen’s large hand roved downward to cup Maggie’s ass through the dress.
Tying the Knot (Thalia Book 4) (The Thalia Series) Page 6
