Page 107 of Where the Roses Bloom

He blinked hard. I watched his jaw work like he was trying to hold something in.

“You are the most patient, gentle, stubborn man I’ve ever met. You’ve shown me that love isn’t about perfection—it’s about staying. It’s about choosing each other even when the world tells us we shouldn’t. Even when it’s scary. Even when it hurts.”

The paper trembled in my hands, but I held on.

“I promise to love you with everything I am. To be your shelter, your partner, your best friend. I promise to raise whatever wild, magical, stubborn children we’re blessed with in a home that is always filled with laughter and forgiveness and grace.”

My voice dropped, just for him. “I promise not to run. I’m yours.”

The wind picked up then—sharp, insistent—andsomethingmovedthrough the space between us. It didn’t just stir the air…it blessed the whole town. I heard someone whisperdid you feel that?and another person gasp.

Then even the trees stilled, the birds stopped singing their evening song.

It was as if the land itself had paused to listen.

June let the silence linger, her face shining…then she smiled.

“Beautiful,” she breathed, then laid her hand over our joined hands. “And so, with all the authority of my office, the blessings of this community, and the radiant power of the divine—I now pronounce youmarried.”

Rhett grinned wide, not taking his eyes off me. “Can I kiss her now?”

June laughed. “You may.”

Not wasting another second, Rhett reached forward and scooped his arms around my waist, then pulled me in, capturing my lips with his in a deep, breathtaking kiss.

I was so distracted by the kiss that, at first, I didn’t notice as people started to murmur…then as a few gasped. It was Whit muttering “holy shit” that finally got me to open my eyes and look for what everyone was gasping at?—

—and I saw it right away.

Because the arch over us wasblooming.

Not just blooming…exploding. Roses unfurled from every inch of vine, coiling out in full crimson and blush, petal after petal peeling back into the light. Ivy twisted upward like it was racing the sunset, and tiny white blossoms sparked along the green like stars.

The shimmer pulsed through the branches…and just for a moment, just long enough for my breath to catch, the entire canopy above us glowed. Maybe it was just golden hour, maybe it was that perfect moment when the sun caught just right…

…but I like to believe it was magic.

“Oh my God,” Delilah muttered.

“Praise be,” June said.

And Holden stared up at the arbor like he was seeing the divine for the first time. “Okay…okay, I get it.”

But it was Silas who said what I was thinking.

“Hey, Grandma Hazel.”

CHAPTER 37

Rhett

The vows were spoken.The wexorcism—the thing with the silly goddamn name—had worked.

And now came my favorite part.

A quiet moment with my wife.

We were curled up on the porch swing, her hand tucked into mine, her bouquet abandoned somewhere behind us. Her dress had slipped off one shoulder, just enough to drive me crazy, but she didn’t seem to notice—too busy watching our friends and neighbors slow-dancing under the string lights.