Page 532 of The Daddy P.I. Casefiles: The Second Collection

“I do,” I say.

“Cynnie, do you take Max to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, in sickness and in heath, in good times and in bad, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself unto her for as long as you both shall live?”

“I do,” she says. Fresh tears run down her pink cheeks. “I’z do, I’z do, I’z do.”

“Ty, do you have the rings?” Ginger asks.

Ty steps forward. I shift Cynnie in my arms to get a hand free and take the gold band, inset with white gold daisies to match her collar, that he offers me. Cynnie slides one arm from around my neck to take a battered and slightly squared-off gold band—Uncle Max’s graduation ring from Howard University—from Ty.

“A ring is an unbroken circle,” Ginger says. “It symbolizes your infinite love. Whenever you look at these rings on your fingers, be reminded of this moment, your commitment to each other, and the love you feel for each other. Cynnie, Max, please place the rings on each other’s fingers and repeat after me. I give you this ring as a symbol of my promise to love you today, tomorrow, always and forever.”

With a little jostling, we get the rings on each other’s fingers. I wrap Cynnie up my arms again before we exchange vows, looking into each other’s eyes.

“Oppa, I give you this ring as a symbol of my promise to love you today, tomorrow, always and forever.”

“Bumble baby, I give you this ring as a symbol of my promise to love you today, tomorrow, always and forever.”

“Oh, Oppa!” Cynnie wriggles higher on my chest and covers my face in kisses. Laughing, I curl my hand around the back of her head, burying my fingers in veil and the silk of her hair, to hold her still so I can claim her mouth.

Ginger holds up her hands. “Please rise and celebrate the union of Cynnie and Max. They have pledged to be joined in marriage. They have sealed their pledge with their rings and akiss. By the authority vested in me by the great State of New York, I pronounce them husband and wife, Little and Oppa.”

A huge cheer breaks us apart. Cynnie presses her cheek against mine as we look back into the crowd. Into the faces of our friends who have made this journey with us, from the very beginning at playgroup, making pizza, to this day that was supposed to be a quiet elopement, just the two of us.

We couldn’t have done any of it without them, this family we’ve found. I catch Emmy’s eye, where she’s standing beside Brenna, both of them teary and grinning. I smile at Jack, and at Sammi, who is jumping up and down so hard he’s shaking the whole deck. Bravo, with Yummy on his back, wolf-whistles. Beside him, Henry grins as she holds her own little tight to her chest. My eyes roam over our other friends from playgroup. The newest additions, Sutter and his black-haired little, who is wearing a gown as yellow as Cynnie’s daisies, are looking at each other with misty smiles. Saoirse’s already wearing an engagement ring and I’m pretty sure they’re imagining the day they’ll be standing in our places.

A figure all in black, standing at the back and leaning against the door to the lodge, catches my eye. Myles looks like he dragged himself here through a hundred miles of mud. He very well may have, given that two days ago he told me he was half the world away. Whatever mountains he moved, he arrived in time.

I never doubted he would.

He lifts his chin to me.

I lift mine back before reclaiming my wife’s sweet lips.

The end ... or is it just the beginning?