Page 111 of See It Through

Before I knew it, the doors opened, revealing my future husband at the end of the aisle. By his side stood Caleb and Cormac, and on the other side, Phoebe and Camille. Their smiles registered, but that was it. My focus was locked on Remington.

I glided to him, barely feeling the chapel’s wood floor beneath my cowboy boots. Remi rocked on his heels, grinning, starbursts for days and days.

I laughed when I got to him, my father placing my hand in his.

Remi chuckled, his eyes darting over me like he couldn’t drink me in fast enough. “What’s so funny?”

“We’re doing this.” I lifted up on my toes. “I’ve never been so excited in my life.”

“That’s good, beautiful woman.” Remi stepped closer, enveloping both my hands in his. “Because this is for keeps.”

“No take backs.”

“Nope.” He grinned, bright and just as eager as I was. “Should we do this thing?”

“Never been more ready in my life.”

“Me either, sweetheart.”

Together, we turned to the chaplain, and on a lovely, clear afternoon inside the Sugar Brush River Ranch chapel with our family surrounding us—including Henry, who’d donned a suit for the occasion—we promised each other forever and became husband and wife.

We danced and celebrated into the night. My hair had gone up in a ponytail, and my dress had been switched out for a light, airy sundress. By midnight, Remi was down to his white undershirt and dress pants.

In the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by the most important people in our lives, we held on to each other. I tipped my head back, singing along to the music while Remi smiled down at me.

“My wife,” he mouthed.

“My husband,” I mouthed back, excited goose bumps blooming along my skin. “I’ve never, ever been happier.”

He leaned down, his forehead resting on mine. “I haven’t either, but I have confidence in us, sweetheart. We’ll top this a hundred times over through our lifetime together.”

My heart slammed and bounced inside my chest. “You…Rem…ahhh! This is why I married you—the things you say. You’re right, though. You and me and the beauty we’ll have.”

“Our little family,” he murmured, letting his hand drift down to my belly.

“Little bean.” A surprise but so very wanted. The secret we’d found out four weeks ago and were keeping just between us. Although, from my mother’s “glowing” comment earlier, I wondered if she had an inkling.

“Are you tired?” he asked.

“Yes, but I don’t want this night to end.”

“We’ll have so many more of these nights, Han.” Remi took my hand in his. “Right now, we’re going to say goodnight to our guests and I’m taking my wife to bed.”

I had no arguments in me, not when he said things like that. “I love when you call me your wife.”

“Feels right, doesn’t it?”

“So right.”

The morning after our wedding, I woke to find Remi sitting up in bed, working on his laptop. I lay there quietly, watching him type, listening to the distant sound of our three horses neighing.

Over the last year, Remi had worked on his book tirelessly, and his agent had quickly found it a home with a publishing house. He was now on his second round of edits, and though he claimed it to be grueling, the spark in his eyes told me everything I needed to know. He loved it and found creative fulfillment in the process. I had a feeling he had more books in him after this one, but he always said he was taking it one book at a time.

He liked having the freedom to work with Caleb at the ranch a couple days a week and the time to take photos. Over the last year, we’d traveled to the surrounding states together, Remington capturing the natural beauty, me cheering him on. Watching him work filled me to the brim with satisfaction. And god, did it turn me on. My husband was so damn competent. And not just with a camera. He was an incredible writer, but he could also repair a fence on the ranch like he’d been doing it all his life and had retiled our powder room all on his own.

I’d yet to find anything Remington Town wasn’t good at. So far, he was doing a bang-up job of being my husband, and in about seven months, he was going to excel at being a father. He’d had a brief moment of doubt, where he’d worried he’d screw up like Graham had, but we worked through it, just as we did every obstacle.

Our family motto was “no way out but through.” We’d repeated it to each other during Teller and Brady’s trial and sentencing, when we’d reached the one-year anniversary of Remi’s accident, and a month later, losing Graham. During nightmares and moments of fear, we held on to one another and whispered those words. We always made it to the other side. All we had to do was see it through.