“Congratulations, dear. I knew you two would be happy together.”
The female voice came from her left, and Kristin was startled to see Beatrice kicking up her heels right next to her with an older gentleman who Kristin knew was a local widower. “Thank you,” she answered sincerely. She had to respect Beatrice’s accuracy when she’d predicted that she and Julian would end up together. The elderly woman had been correct on every Sinclair premonition she’d had about who their true loves would be.
Luck or foresight?
Kristin didn’t know for certain, but there had to be something to Beatrice’s matchmaking.
“Would you like your stone back?” Kristin asked with a smile.
“Oh, no. You keep them. I’ve already hooked Xander up with a charm of his own. That boy needs it,” Beatrice answered with a frown.
“Who has the other one?” Kristin asked with breathless curiosity.
“She doesn’t have hers yet. But she will,” Beatrice said mysteriously. “She’ll arrive here soon.”
“A tourist?” Kristin guessed, wondering how in the world Xander would ever be hooked up with a visitor. He rarely went to town.
“It might take a while, but you’ll see,” Beatrice answered as she was swept away by her energetic partner until Kristin couldn’t see them in the crowd of dancers anymore.
“I hope to hell she gets here pretty soon,” Julian commented as he smoothly spun Kristin around.
“I hope so, too,” Kristin murmured, knowing just how much Julian worried about his reclusive, scarred little brother.
She spied a few of the other Sinclairs on the dance floor, each of them wearing a tux with an elegant bride in his arms. Kristin was becoming one of the family pretty quickly, and she loved having Emily, Hope, Sarah, Mara, Randi, and Tessa to talk to like they were sisters. Being an only child, she appreciated being part of the boisterous Sinclair clan. Maybe they’d grown apart for some time while they were all busy with their single lives, but now that they were settling down, the brothers and cousins were forming an unbreakable bond that nobody would ever sever.
When the dance was over, she heard Micah’s voice on the microphone. “Can I have your attention, please?”
All the noise suddenly stopped.
He continued. “I know we had a reception for my brother and his wife, Kristin, but we thought it would be nice if they could repeat their wedding ceremony, since we all missed it.”
The crowd suddenly separated and Kristin was stunned as she saw a makeshift altar next to the stage, decorated in flowers, with a justice of the peace behind it.
Julian bent down to speak to her. “I’m ready for my ring now. I thought it might be good if you could actually remember speaking your vows this time. It’s a short reaffirmation ceremony, just something our family and friends could be here for this time.”
Kristin couldn’t stop the tears as she saw her parents and all of the Sinclairs smiling next to the JP. “You did this for me,” she said tearfully, pulling the chain from around her neck to remove the ring that she’d never seen Julian wear before.
“For us,” he corrected. “Do you mind?”
She shook her head and swiped a tear from her cheek. It did bother her that she didn’t remember speaking her vows. There was nothing she wanted more than to say them to Julian out loud with all their friends and family present. Even more, she wanted to remember her husband saying them to her.
Kristin grasped Julian’s arm as he held it out to her. “As long as there’s nothing asking for obedience in this ceremony,” she teased through her tears.
“Already took it out,” he told her in an amused voice. “I knew that wasn’t going to happen.”
It didn’t matter that it wasn’t a real wedding. It didn’t matter that the ceremony was short as the two of them spoke their vows. It didn’t matter that she was in a cocktail dress rather than being dressed as a traditional bride.
What mattered was that the vows were spoken with devotion and love that Kristin could feel reverberate through her heart as she and Julian made their pledges to each other.
Loving Julian had taught Kristin that the superficial and inconsequential things really didn’t matter.
It was all about the heart.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many thanks to the entire Montlake Romance team for their continuing support on this series, with a special shout-out to my editor, Maria Gomez, who has always been there to listen and try to work out any problems that arise.
As always, thank you to my KA team, who deal with so many of the other responsibilities of an author so I can focus more of my attention on writing.
To my street team, Jan’s Gems . . . you ladies continue to amaze me every single day with your willingness to promote my books. Thanks for everything you do.
My sincere gratitude goes out to my readers, who make it possible for me to do what I love. I couldn’t do this without all of you.
~ Jan (J.S. Scott)