Page 97 of Worth the Wait

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Callum

Callum couldn’t get comfortable.His shoulder ached, his eye throbbed, and the cut over his lip was agonizing. Worst of all, or maybe best, Jack was gone. Callum was embarrassed to have Jack see him looking the way he was. On top of that, he hated that he didn’t help Keith, that he didn’t even know where Keith was or how hurt he was, or if he’d…

“Kitten.” Jack’s voice at the door distracted him from the horrible direction his thoughts had been falling.

Callum looked up and found Verity and Jack standing in the doorway, tentative looks on their faces.

“Daddy,” Callum answered, smiling as wide as he could without cracking the split in his lip.

“Can we come in?” Jack asked.

“Of course.” Callum straightened up in the bed, hurting himself in the process when he jerked his arm and jostled his collarbone in the sling.

Jack entered the room slowly, Verity just behind him, pulling the door halfway closed. but sliding the privacy curtain shut. Jack came around the bed to stand on Callum’s good side and waited while Verity joined them.

“What’s up?” Callum asked.

“We’re getting married,” Jack informed him.

Callum attempted to scoff and only hurt himself in the process, reluctantly easing against his pillows.

“I told you I don’t want to look like Quasimodo when I marry you,” he pouted.

Jack took his hand and kissed his fingertips.

“Just legalities, kitten. The thought of something happening to you and me not being able to…” Jack trailed off, biting his lips between his teeth.

Callum looked at him sympathetically, fully understanding the myriad of feelings Jack had been dealing with since earlier in the morning because Callum had ran through them himself in July during Jack’s hospitalization.

“Do I still get to have a proper wedding?” Callum asked. When he closed his eyes, he saw the wedding Jack had promised him. The sky, the stars, it was what he’d wanted since the first time he’d realized he loved Jack.

“I’ll give you anything you want,” Jack swore.

“Okay, then. I’ll marry you.”

“I’ll let you two save the good stuff for when everyone is healthy.” Verity cast a sidelong glance at Callum. They didn’t blink or shy away and Callum appreciated that. He appreciated everything Verity had done for him in the past twelve hours.

“Verity,” Callum interrupted. “Thank you.”

“What for?” they asked timidly.

“You know,” he answered.

“I did what any friend would do,” Verity surmised.

Jack took Callum’s hand and looked quickly to Verity with a small nod of his head.

“Do you, Jackson Martin, take Callum Jardine to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do.”

Jack squeezed his hands and smiled.

“Do you, Callum Jardine, take Jackson Martin to be your lawfully wedded husband?” Verity asked him next.

“I do,” Callum rasped.