Chapter 15: The Wedding
245 Words
No ballroom. No 500 guests. No press.
Just a garden. White chairs. My mom in the front row, crying.
And Aiden waiting at the altar in a simple black suit.
No contract this time. No lawyers watching.
The officiant smiled. “Who gives this woman away?”
“My family does,” my mom said loud. “All of us.”
I walked down the aisle alone. Because for the first time, I wasn’t being sold.
I was choosing.
Aiden’s eyes never left mine. The cold CEO was gone.
This was just the man who quit a billion-dollar company for me.
The man who went live to defend me.
The man who put his hand on my stomach every night.
“Do you take Zuri?” the officiant asked.
“I do,” Aiden said. Voice steady. “To love her when it’s easy. And when it’s hard. To choose her every day.”
“Do you take Aiden?”
“I do,” I whispered. “To the real version. Not the contract.”
The rings were simple. Gold bands.
When he kissed me, no one clapped for the cameras.
They clapped because they were happy for us.
Later that night, we danced under the stars.
Aiden’s hand on my back. The twins kicking between us.
“You happy?” he murmured in my ear.
I rested my head on his chest.
“I’m home,” I said.
And for once, it was true.
- Writer
