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The three of us are sitting at a small round table on our suite’s balcony overlooking the beach and the waves as they roll in, and we just finished our second round of Go Fish when Travis turns to Harper. “Victoria and I have something we want to talk to you about.”

Her little brows pinch together. “What is it?”

Travis clears his throat and glances at me. “You remember how I told you what’s happening between Victoria and me is complicated?”

“Yeah…” she says.

“Well we’ve decided to make it…less complicated. Or more, maybe.” He’s rambling, clearly a little nervous, and I reach over and squeeze his hand for reassurance. That’s when he blurts it out. “The real reason we brought you down here today is because Victoria and I have decided to get married. Tonight. On a cruise.”

Harper gasps. “You are?”

We both nod.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!” she squeals, and she bounces in her seat with excitement. “Are you serious?”

We both nod again.

“And I would love if you’d be my maid of honor,” I say, capitalizing on the moment of excitement.

“I don’t know what that means but yes! I would love it!” She’s still squealing, and Travis and I are still holding hands, and all of this is coming together in a way I wasn’t sure was possible.

I think for a beat about who will stand up with Travis. He’s here solo, barring Evan, who is fairly new in his life still, and it’s my whole family who instead will be in attendance. I know he isn’t close with his parents, but I also know he has close friends and teammates who he’d probably want there.

But he’s the one who asked, and I’m the one who agreed, so here we are. Maybe we can have another reception in a year from now when the dust is settled and we don’t have the threat of someone coming in to take Harper away from us, when we don’t have Owen hanging over us threatening to have Travis arrested…when we can just live our lives as normally as possible.

If that’s really even a thing when you’re married to a professional athlete as hot as Travis Woods is.

It’s time to start getting ready, and I show Harper the matching dresses I got us. She loves them. I curl her hair, and then I take a little time to myself to get ready.

Growing up, I wasn’t the girl who dreamed of the big fancy wedding and the Cinderella gown and the five hundred guests and the cake and the presents. I always dreamed about what came after that.

I didn’t dream about the wedding. I dreamed about the marriage.

But I still had images in my brain about what my wedding day would look like, and it’s definitely not this. Still, everything about today has been simple, and it’s somehow perfect.

It’s too fast and it’s impetuous and its crazy, but it’s also full of love. And that’s us. That’s Travis and me together, and while the reasoning behind the wedding today is a little untraditional, it doesn’t matter. We’ll grow into it. We’ll get there.

And if somehow we don’t, then I guess we’ll figure it out and how to handle it without hurting Harper in the process.

I take a quick look in the mirror.

I didn’t spend the day getting pampered. I did my own make-up. I did Harper’s, too—just a light dusting of blush and eye shadow. I did my own hair, which is falling in loose waves down to my shoulders. And as I look at my own reflection, as I stare myself in the eyes, I can’t help but think I look happy . Maybe for the first time in my life, there’s a glow coming from within that wasn’t there when I was with Owen.

Maybe it’s just the Bahamian sunshine, but I think it has a whole lot more to do with Travis and the sweet little girl who’s going to make us a family.

I slip into my dress, and I call Harper in to help her into hers, too.

“You look like a princess,” she says when she walks in and sees me.

Tears fill my eyes. I feel like one, too. “Thanks, ladybug,” I say softly. It’s the first time I’ve called her that, but it just seems to fall out naturally.

She smiles up at me. “Maybe it’s weird to say it, but I’m excited you’re marrying my dad. You’ll be like a mom to me.”

The tears that were dancing in my eyes spill over onto my cheeks. “It’ll be the greatest privilege of my life to step into that role.” I give her a squeeze, and then she gets dressed.

Because this is nontraditional and also secret, it’s not like I can slip away onto the ship without being seen by my future husband, so Harper and I walk out of the bathroom and into the main living area together.

I spot Travis over by the window as he looks out over the ocean, clearly deep in thought. And when he turns around, my breath catches in my throat.

He’s a dark silhouette against the brightness from outside, but he steps toward the two of us and his features come into view. The aqua of his button-down shirt makes his eyes absolutely glow as they find mine. And then I study the rest of this man who’s about to become my husband.

The scruff-covered jaw that tickles my inner thighs, the short, textured hair my fingers are flexing to grip onto, the full lips I can feel on my body…

I clear my throat as heat prickles down my spine.

His eyes flick briefly to his daughter before moving back to mine, and the warmth and love I see there causes a wave of emotion to surge through me.

Those emotions coursing through him…they’re for both of us. It’s for this family.

This is it. It’s everything I dreamed of, everything I’ve ever wanted…except a tiny little voice in the far recesses of my mind reminds me that it’s not quite as real as I wish it to be.