Fallen Crest Forever (Fallen Crest Series Book 7)(121)

And that, right there, broke mine.

Feeling choked up, I could only shake my head. “You want to know what I was going to say to you tomorrow?” I murmured, hoarse around the big fat lump in my throat.

“What? No—”

But I’d already started. He was too late, and I knew this was the perfect time to say these words.

“On this day, Mason James Kade, you become my future. You are already, Mason James Kade, a huge part of my past. On this day, Mason James Kade, you are my ever-living present.” I gripped his hand. “I will be side by side with you no matter where our path goes. I have walked with you. I have run with you. I have laughed with you. I have cried with you. I have supported and been supported by you. I have yelled at you, for you, and with you. I have cursed with you. I have felt pain. I have felt joy. I have felt peace. I have felt every emotion a person can experience. Some have been because of you. Some have been because of others, but it was always with you that I could feel what I felt. From the moment I met you, you took me in and loved me as family. We evolved. We became more, and we will continue to evolve, but there is no one else I would choose to have next to me. Ever.”

I had to stop. The tears were drowning my words, but he needed to hear them.

I needed to say them.

“I declare right now that I am not choosing to become Samantha Kade. I have always been Samantha Kade. It will be official tomorrow, but that’s the only difference. That’s it. I am already your wife in every sense of the word.”

I took a deep breath. I had more to say, but then his lips stopped me.

He kissed me, and I felt his tears against my face.

When we parted, he rested his forehead against mine, and before I could stop him, he spoke his own words. He said them as he lifted me onto him, and he continued as he entered me.

He kept saying those words as I gasped, cried, begged, and then screamed my release, and he didn’t stop whispering them until I finally fell asleep.



Just a few hours later, I stood at the end of a rose-strewn aisle, my bouquet in hand. My wedding dress had been fitted over me, and my bridesmaids were already waiting for me at the front of our little wooded paradise.

This was my wedding. This was my dream come true.

I’d gotten the family I dreamed about, but what I’d said to Mason last night was true: I always had it.

Today it was just legal. That was all.

The music changed. The volume rose, and everyone stood.

All eyes turned to me, some misty-eyed, some blurred with tears, and others smiling widely.

I walked past people from Fallen Crest Academy. I walked past people from Fallen Crest Public High School. There were others from Cain University, some from the country club, still others from the carnival. And even more from my family, biological or not. But this wasn’t about them. I didn’t really see them.

This was about Mason and me.

This was about me getting the happily ever after I’d always had; I just never knew it.

And then there he was. I saw the same wetness swimming in his eyes that had been there last night, but he wouldn’t shed them this time. Not in front of others. That was only for me to see.

Hi,” I whispered, swallowing back my own tears.

He laughed. “Hi.”

Then he took my hand, and I remembered his soft plea from right before I fell asleep. “Don’t leave me. Please.”

We weren’t linked by that plea. We’d been linked so long ago, and it wasn’t even a request he had to make. He’d broken down his wall for me when we first fell in love. He’d taken care of me over the last years, and I knew others sometimes forgot to take care of him back, but not me. I would never forget, and just as I had this morning, I reached out and took his hand.

I glanced down at the tattoo both of us had gotten.

As we exchanged vows and professed our commitment to each other, we each stole glances down at our fingers. The tattoos were permanent, and the butterflies stood for our sanctuary. Mason’s was sketched in black, whereas mine was colorful, but one at a time, we placed our rings over them.

We said “I do” and my fingers slid through his and clasped down. Forever.



“Okay.” Logan raised his glass, holding a microphone in the other hand. He tapped it softly against his glass to get everyone’s attention.

The room was filled with conversation and laughter, but he gave the signal, and the deejay cut the music.

“It’s that time, folks.” He dipped his mouth closer to the mic so his voice boomed, “Toast time.” He laughed. “Say that five times fast, huh?”

A smattering of laughter came from our wedding guests.

He smirked at everyone, then turned to Mason and me. He had a twinkle in his eye.