Page 52 of Troubled Skies (Blue Skies #3)
Adrian
Two Years Later
The official state wedding wouldn’t take place for another month, and it was going to be a spectacular event in Belvaux’s grand cathedral.
At least that’s what the wedding planners told Adrian.
He went where they told him to, did what he was supposed to, and tried not to let it freak him out that he was going to be marrying His Royal Highness Prince Henri Renard Sebastian de Montclair in a fairy-tale wedding that social media had already decided was the wedding of the year.
The gossip sites were beside themselves hurling questions at Adrian when he emerged from the designer’s in Paris, trying to catch photos of Prince Henri at the jeweler’s, accosting anyone even remotely connected with the wedding for the smallest detail about the guest list, the food, the music, the honeymoon.
This was just the latest challenge of life with Ren, and even after two years of adjusting to the jet-set life, attending state functions and international conferences at Ren’s side, and dealing with the endless pomp and chaos of living a public life, Adrian still had moments of panic.
Ren understood and had become a master at knowing when Adrian needed a break, which is why they were at Greg and Holden’s place in Aspen.
As far as the gossip mags and social media had been informed, Adrian and Ren were there for the opening of Ren and Rachel’s second restaurant.
Their first had opened to spectacular success in LA less than a year before, and just as they’d been looking for a second location, Greg asked if they would be interested in taking over the inn’s signature restaurant when the chef retired.
The real reason they were in Aspen? That was about to happen in Greg and Holden’s idyllic backyard under a circle of golden-leaved aspens beside a running stream. This was Adrian’s true fairy-tale wedding: a few friends to share the day with him, and the love of his life waiting to say, “I do.”
He stood before the French doors in Greg and Holden’s living room and took a deep breath to let the moment sink in. Standing beside him, Luis squeezed his hand.
“Whenever you’re ready, sweetheart,” he said.
“I know.” Adrian leaned over and kissed Luis’s cheek. “Thank you for everything you’ve done.”
“Anytime,” Luis said. “Though I expect to have prime seats for the big day in Belvaux.”
“Already done.”
Adrian wouldn’t have it any other way because when his anxiety had skyrocketed, Ren had gotten on the phone with Luis and the two of them set this all in motion.
They were getting married the way they wanted to, the way they wanted to celebrate, and with the people who meant the most to them.
The circus was just a show for the public, this was the real thing.
“I’m getting married,” Adrian said and clutched Luis’s hand as he stared at the people waiting for him to make his grand entrance. There were Greg and Holden and Darius, of course, along with some of the other flight attendants with whom Adrian was friends including Micah and his husband, Jake.
After grudgingly including Jake in his invite and actually talking to the man over the past few days, Adrian finally understood the connection between the two of them.
And maybe some of that was because he’d finally met someone worth waiting for.
He still thought Jake was an asshole for taking twenty years to figure out Micah was his person, and had had no problem telling the man that, but Jake surprised him by admitting Adrian was one hundred percent correct, and Adrian decided maybe the guy wasn’t so bad after all.
It was clear he adored Micah, and Micah was crazy about him.
And wasn’t that all that really mattered?
“Do the nerves go away?” Adrian asked Luis as the butterflies in his stomach made another swooping circuit.
“They will once you get out there. Are you ready?”
Adrian’s eyes misted for the thousandth time, but he turned to smile at Luis. “Yeah. Like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Then let’s get you to your prince.”
Luis texted Darius, and the string quartet began to play.
“Oh my God,” Adrian whispered. “This is happening.”
“It is, sweetheart,” Luis said as he took his place at Adrian’s side. “And you deserve every moment of it.” He wiped the tears that were threatening to spill down Adrian’s cheeks, then pulled him into a hug.
The old Adrian would have pushed Luis away, would have declared he was fine, and asked if they could just get on with it.
But that wasn’t who he was anymore. Ren had changed that by opening Adrian’s heart and showing him he didn’t have to put up all the walls he’d used to protect himself, showing him it was okay to be vulnerable, to be soft, and still be brave, and that it was possible to get through the worst moments in his life by opening himself up to the people who loved him.
As Adrian stepped off Greg and Holden’s porch and his feet touched the soft earth, Ren moved into position under a bower of autumn flowers: his handsome prince who was about to become his husband.
Adrian gripped Luis’s arm, and Luis chuckled.
“Easy there, babe,” he said. “He’s real.”
“Yeah, he is,” Adrian agreed. He took a deep breath, and a smile so big it hurt his cheeks burst across his face.
A few steps, a few more deep breaths, and Adrian stood with Ren, their hands entwined as their ceremony began. Rachel stood next to Ren, just as Luis stood next to Adrian, their stalwart supporters and best friends.
Though Ren was still friends with Maurice, he hadn’t been a major part of their lives since the incident on the Belle and Ren started transforming from the playboy prince into a budding entrepreneur and philanthropist. He’d stepped back from his royal duties to concentrate on the restaurant and pursuits he and Adrian shared.
But some people were too precious to let drift away.
Like Rachel. Like Luis. Like everyone they’d invited to witness their wedding.
When Ren had told Adrian about this plan, Rachel and Luis had been the obvious choices to stand with them.
Adrian would never be able to thank Luis enough for putting up with him, though he did suspect having Luis source all the décor for the new restaurant would go a long way to putting some credit in his account.
So, too, would the rings that Rachel and Luis handed them when it was time to exchange their vows.
While the official rings were a traditional diamond and gold set that had been in Ren’s family for generations, these rings had been designed by Xander, Luis’s partner at Fix, and were stunning creations of wood, gold, and rubies that looked like flames.
“They are the story of how we fell in love, mon c?ur,” Ren had said when he saw them.
“Olive wood for my little statue, gold for your jacket, and rubies like the fire of your hair.” Adrian had called him a hopeless romantic.
“Oui, je suis trop romantique, mais seulement pour toi.”
“Comme il se doit,” Adrian had responded with his slowly improving French.
Now, Ren held Adrian’s ring in one hand as he reached for Adrian’s with the other.
“I did not expect you, chéri,” he said. “The first time I saw you, I knew you were special and mourned that I would not get the chance to know you. But, I had no idea how special you were until I did know you and discovered I had been wrong about much of my life. You shared your heart with me, mon amour. You helped me understand what mattered most to me, and it was nothing I had thought it would be, because it was you, and you are so much more than I could have ever imagined. Tu es mon trésor, mon c?ur. And, so, I give to you this symbol of my love, of my promise to be with you, to share with you, to laugh with you, to protect you when you need me to, and to stand beside you from this day forward. Richard Adrian Bennett, will you be my husband?”
Adrian smiled through the tears welling in his eyes. “I will.”
Ren slid the ring onto his finger. A perfect fit, just like the man who stood before him.
Then it was Adrian’s turn. He stared at Ren’s ring in his hand and took a deep breath.
“I didn’t expect you, either,” he said. “When I opened my eyes and found you staring at me, I felt like a fairy-tale princess whose prince had come to wake her, especially when you carried my limp body off the plane.” There was a smattering of laughter, and Adrian smiled.
“I didn’t know how right I was. Or how right you were going to be.
You helped me see sunshine when I saw nothing but dark skies, helped me feel worthy, helped me learn to trust myself again, and helped me finally understand what love really is.
I’d chased fairy tales for so long, but it wasn’t until I met you that I understood what they really meant and how powerful they can be.
And so, I give you this ring as a symbol of our enduring love, of our hearts that beat together, of my promise to be by your side, to walk with you, laugh with you, and love you with my whole being as we spend our lives together.
Will you…” Adrian paused to take a deep breath.
“…Your Royal Highness Prince Henri Renard Sebastian de Montclair, be my husband?”
“For the rest of my days,” Ren said as Adrian slipped the ring onto his finger.
Their officiant pronounced them married, and their friends cheered as Adrian kissed his husband. His prince. His happily ever after.
THE END