Page 37 of Where the Roses Bloom (Gospels & Grimoires #1)

Willow

The air around me shimmered like heat rising from pavement…but it wasn’t hot. And there was no pavement.

No…this was something else.

I stood just inside the back door of the Ward house, my heart thudding in my chest, hands curled around a bouquet of roses—roses that had bloomed entirely out of season, of course.

I could hear fiddle music drifting up from the lawn, voices murmuring, chairs creaking.

June’s voice, low and steady, as she welcomed the crowd.

I wasn’t nervous about marrying Rhett—that was the last thing I was worried about. Marrying Rhett felt as natural as breathing, like it was supposed to be happening. Marrying Rhett made sense.

What didn’t make sense was the shimmer in the air.

The voices in my head.

Voices that told me I didn’t deserve this, that I wasn’t desirable, that no one would ever want to claim me as theirs.

“Too late,” I whispered to the air. “He already did.”

“Hm?” Delilah asked, fiddling with the lavender she’d woven into her red hair. She was fully decked out in purple, wearing a floral print wrap dress that fluttered around her ankles, no shoes.

Jasmine looked up too, pausing in the process of pinning a stray curl behind my ear. “You okay?”

I nodded, gulping down my fear. “Yeah…just talking to ghosts.”

Neither of them laughed; we all knew it wasn’t a laughing matter. Delilah glanced toward the hallway, scowling.

“This house is full of ‘em,” she said. “But I promise you, the vast majority of them want you happy…so fuck the ones who don’t.”

I smiled at her. “Damn right.”

The back door creaked open…and I saw the last person I’d expected, once again.

Silas.

He stood there in the sunset light, solemn, sad. He wore the same linen shirt he’d arrived in earlier, but now it was tucked in neat, his hair combed into a bun at the crown of his head. He looked clean, but…damn it, so, so sad. Still grieving.

And when he saw the dress…

He looked at me for a minute, opened his mouth and closed it again. It fit like it was made for me, which felt right and wrong all at once. Silas reached up and rubbed his eyes, squeezing them shut for a second.

I held my breath. No one spoke.

Then he extended his arm.

“You ready?” he asked.

I wanted to ask for clarification, to figure out if he was really about to walk me down the aisle and give me away in his dead fiancée’s dress…but everything about this day had been strange.

So I just nodded. “More than ready.”

We all gathered around as the other Wards filed in—Whit to walk with Delilah, Beau with Jasmine. Delilah took Whit’s arm and smiled at him, and I didn’t miss the blush on his cheeks.

Such a flirt, but even he couldn’t help but be disarmed by Delilah Jessup. There was something soft between them when they thought no one was looking—a thread waiting for the right moment to pull tight.

Jasmine adjusted the delicate shawl over her shoulders and reached for her bouquet, then she and Beau stepped out ahead of me. I caught a glimpse of the crowd, of the look on Caleb’s face from where he held Anita Mae in his arms, sleeping.

And then…then it was my turn.

I looked over at Silas, who stood stoic, staring ahead.

“Thank you for giving me away,” I whispered.

He didn’t look at me, but he smiled. “It’s about time.”

I didn’t know if he was talking about me or the dress.

The backyard had been transformed—rows of mismatched chairs lined the grass, jars full of wildflowers dangling from the backs.

A scattering of rose petals lined the aisle, though I had no idea where they’d gotten so many…

or if this was just another one of the house’s tricks.

The fiddle music got a little slower and sweeter as we walked out, Silas steady beside me.

I saw Rhett at the end of the aisle.

God, he looked good.

The way his shirt hugged his broad shoulders…the way his hands were clasped in front of him like he didn’t trust them not to shake. The way he was so big and tall…but always looked so gentle.

That crooked, devastating smile when he saw me.

I couldn’t breathe.

And the moment our eyes locked, the shimmer in the air thickened…like the magic was between us , drawing us closer.

As we made our way to toward the arbor at the end of the aisle, I saw Holden tilt his head, peering at the space like he was trying to figure out what was wrong with the lighting.

I watched his brow furrow, watched him nudge Whit—who seemed way too focused on Delilah to care about the magic hovering in the air.

June, meanwhile, didn’t seem even remotely surprised.

She stood beneath the arch of vines and twinkle lights, her vestments catching the light and turning it violet and dusk-blue. She looked like a saint, or a witch…or both. Her hands were folded in front of her, a small leather-bound Bible pressed to her chest.

I stepped closer to the altar, the shimmer intensifying, and Rhett reached out for me to take my hands in his as Silas stepped behind him.

Our hands met—and the shimmer seemed to rise above us like stars, though I wasn’t sure if I was actually seeing it or if it was a trick of the light.

A pulse of warmth surged up my arms, buzzing, and I knew Rhett felt it too when he squeezed my hands.

June raised her hands.

“Beloveds,” she said. “We are here to witness a covenant—not only between man and woman, but between the living and the dead.”

A few people huffed out surprised breaths; I wasn’t sure if the whole town had gotten the message that this was an exorcism and not just a party, but they’d decided to show up regardless—so they all got to be part of it.

“I’ve blessed a lot of weddings,” June said, smiling at the two of us. “In churches, in wedding venues, in courthouses…and even in a few bars. But I can’t say I’ve ever had the privilege of performing an exorcism at the same time as a wedding.”

Well, they all knew now.

“But all weddings are exorcisms of a sort, aren’t they?

” she went on. “When we gather to celebrate the beginning of a new, shared life, we’re exorcising the demons of our past…

we ’re discarding grief and old wounds, at least for a while.

We are sitting in joy, and we’re saying to those woes— get the hell out of here! ”

A few people laughed, but I wasn’t sure if that was just because they were still shocked that they’d shown up at an exorcism.

June turned slightly, her gaze sweeping the crowd.

“And I say this with all the pastoral authority granted to me by my bishop and by the Archdiocese…if there’s any spirit here that doesn’t serve joy, that doesn’t bless this union, that doesn’t wish these two well—” her voice dropped a few pitches “—then it is not welcome .”

Maybe it was just me…but I thought the air trembled.

And a look at the wedding party showed me that it definitely wasn’t just me.

Holden flinched and rubbed his arms; Whit frowned and looked around like something bit him.

I was starting to think June was legitimately a witch.

“I just met the Wards, but I know this family has seen pain,” she went on.

“This land has known sorrow—of course it has, just like the rest of our beautiful country, right? We’re no more than a hundred miles from where ten thousand people died at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain; where even more human beings were driven out of the state and forced to walk the Trail of Tears.

And Delilah shared that this town has a history with witch trials and executions. ”

She paused.

“It’s…well, it’s a lot. But even land like this deserves healing, because there are still people here, beautiful people who remain God’s children.

And sometimes…that healing begins with joy .

With love. With two people standing up and saying, ‘It’s time to see those hurts, and know them, and build something that honors that. ’”

My fingers twitched in Rhett’s, but my eyes were on Silas over his shoulder, because it felt like June was talking to him too. Even considering our actual ghost…he’d been haunted for years, the Ward son most affected by the curse.

I hoped this was the beginning of something for him as well.

June looked between us now, her voice softening.

“Rhett and Willow have written their own vows,” she said. “And in the presence of family, friends, and the holy company of those we’ve loved and lost, they would like to speak them now.”

I looked into Rhett’s eyes, our hands still joined. His thumb brushed over mine—just once, steady and warm. I could see he was trying not to cry already.

He cleared his throat, then pulled his hand away to take a folded scrap of paper from his pocket. “I, uh…yeah. Okay.”

A ripple of soft laughter moved through the crowd, and he huffed.

“Right,” he said, more to himself than anyone else, then looked up at me with those gorgeous green eyes.

“Willow,” he said, voice low and raw, “from the moment I found you asleep at the end of my driveway, I’ve known two things. One—that you’re the strongest person I’ve ever met. And two—that my life wasn’t mine anymore.”

My chest tightened.

“You walked into this house like you’d always belonged in it.

You healed our garden, you faced down our ghosts—hell, you even took on my whole family without flinching.

And every day since, you’ve taught me what it means to choose someone.

Not out of fear, not out of habit, but because the world feels like it finally makes sense when we’re in it together. ”

The shimmer surged again. I swore I felt it in my bones.

“So I’m choosing you. Today, tomorrow, every damn day we’re given. I promise to love you when you’re laughing and when you’re pissed off and when you’re scared. I promise to build a life with you—a home, a family, a thousand small and ordinary things that feel like miracles.”

He squeezed my hands. “I promise not to let go. Not ever.”

I was crying before I even started. Not sobbing, not loud—just tears slipping quietly down my cheeks, carried by the wind and the magic and the moment.

I gave a watery laugh and blinked up at him. “You just had to be better at this than me, huh?”

Another laugh from the crowd. He winked.

I reached into my bouquet for the slip of paper I’d hidden there. My voice shook, but I didn’t care.

“Rhett,” I said, “when I came to Willow Grove, I thought I was just…running. I thought I’d broken too much to ever be whole again. And then you opened your front door and you looked at me like I wasn’t ruined. Like I was…home. And for the first time in years, someone— you— chose me.”

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—and something moved through the space between us. It didn’t just stir the air…it blessed the whole town. I heard someone whisper did 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 you married .”

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 was blooming .

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.”