Gansett After Dark by Marie Force Page B

I was in for a world of trouble.”
    Carolina and everyone else laughed at his opening line, as he’d hoped they would.
    “You have led me on a merry chase, my love, and there was many a day when I thought we’d never get to this day. And before I pledge my eternal love and devotion to you, I want to say to your beloved son, Joe, that I thank him for welcoming me into his family and for trusting me with his mother’s heart. I promise I’ll be careful with it. I might be only a couple of years older than you, Joseph, but that doesn’t mean I won’t do my best to be a fine stepfather to you.”
    “Ah jeez,” Joe laughed and muttered as he dealt with a flood of tears he clearly hadn’t been expecting. “Crazy Irishman.”
    Carolina smiled brightly at him, seeming pleased with what he’d said to Joe.  
    “My beautiful Carolina, there are no words to adequately tell you what you mean to me, how much I love you or how much I’m looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you. So I’ll simply vow to love, honor and cherish you all the days of my life and thank you for taking this journey with me. There’s no one else I’d rather travel with.”
    Caro had tears on her cheeks by the time he finished, so he leaned in and kissed them away.
    “Not yet,” Frank said, making everyone laugh. “Caro?”
    She took a deep breath and gave Seamus’s hands a squeeze. “You, Seamus O’Grady, have been the source of my greatest vexation as well as my greatest love. You drive me crazy most of the time, which I think is deliberate on your part.”
    Grinning, Seamus shrugged. “You’ll never get me to confess to that.”
    “I had no idea how empty and bereft my life really was until you came swooping in and forced me out of my comfort zone in every possible way. You won me over with the force of your belief that we absolutely belong together and nothing, not even a few years between friends, could keep us apart when we were meant to be. It took me a while to come around to your way of thinking, but once I finally gave in to you, I’ve been happier than I ever imagined I could be. So thank you for not giving up when the going got tough. Thank you for making me laugh and for sticking around long enough for me to figure out that since I can’t murder you, I should probably marry you.”
    “Is that the first time the word ‘murder’ has been used in wedding vows?” Seamus asked Frank.
    “Definitely a first for me,” Frank said with obvious amusement.
    “Excellent.” Seamus beamed at his bride, pleased with every word she’d said to him, because he had no doubt whatsoever that she loved him with everything she had to give.
    “I love you,” she said, “and I will honor and cherish you and what we have together for the rest of my life. And when you do finally drive me crazy, I’ll go happily, knowing I was fully and completely loved by the most amazing man.”
    Damn if she didn’t reduce him to tears with her heartfelt words. He leaned his forehead against hers, dying for the moment when Frank would tell him she was his wife and he could kiss her.
    “Rings?” Frank asked.
    Seamus reluctantly released one of Carolina’s hands and withdrew the rings from the pocket of the khaki pants he’d ironed for the occasion. They’d gone to the mainland two weeks ago to buy the matching platinum rings. He held them out in the palm of his hand, and Carolina took his.
    He slid hers onto her finger, and then she returned the favor, the cool metal wrapping around his finger, the awareness of what it represented humbling him like nothing else ever had.
    “By the power vested in me by the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,” Frank said, “I’m pleased to pronounce you husband and wife. Seamus, you may kiss your bride.”
    Seamus wrapped his arms around her and planted a deep wet one on her as their friends and family cheered.  
    She held on to him for a long moment that belonged only to them, and when