Page 73 of Bossy Bride: Emma and Jesse

“It took all day to plan,” Mila says.

“And the dress the mean Russian lady was supposed to make for me?” I ask.

“It’s ready,” Fingers says. “If you are.”

“We’re going to get married inside the aquarium?” I ask.

“You’re going to get married inside the aquarium.” Hannah laughs. “And we get to be mermaids!”

“But…” I’m still confused. “How did you guys even get here?”

“Listen,” Mila says. “I never thought we needed the Bright Berry Monster jet. You know how I put up a fight over that thing. But right now, I’m very glad we have it! It’s almost like that jet was waiting for this moment to prove itself worthy.”

I just laugh.

“OK, then!” Fingers claps his hands. “Places, everyone. We have two hundred guests in front of the aquarium waiting on you!”

“Two hundred what?” Jesse exclaims.

“You’ll see,” my father says, taking Jesse by the arm and leading him away. “You’ll see.”

CHAPTER NINETEEN - JESSE

Jack Dumas keeps his massive, fatherly hand firmly on my shoulder as he directs me down a long, narrow hallway. We stop in front of a closed door and Jack kinda spins me around to face him. Both massive hands are now both gripping my shoulders as he looks down at me from his superior height.

He’s a big dude and I have to tilt my chin up pretty high to meet his gaze.

I feel like we’re about to have a moment.

About his daughter. Or about me. Or about his wishes for her future. Or my level of commitment.

Something to make this event… I don’t know. Worthy, maybe.

I proposed to Emma last summer. I didn’t hide a ring in a cupcake, or drop it into a glass of champagne. I didn’t have a plane write it in the sky or do it in front of a restaurant filled with people. I didn’t make up a dance or recite her a poem. I didn’t do it in front of her family.

In fact, the entire event—important as it is in the grand scheme of my life, and her life, and many other lives surrounding ours—was a small, nearly wordless moment that involved a sailboat and a stretch of sand in the middle of the water, and didn’t even come with a ring.

Because I didn’t know I was gonna do it.

We had taken Luke’s trimaran out for an afternoon sail just after Johnny got back from his failed attempt to find Charlotte Kane. It was a warm, sunny day with clear, bright-blue skies. The water was calm and there was just a little hint of wind. We rolled out the sails after motoring a few miles west, but the wind wasn’t catching them. So we just drifted, and talked, and enjoyed the sun and the break from all the crazy that comes with the last name Boston.

It was just… a nice day. A really nice day.

Emma was in a new yellow bikini she had bought the day before from her family dive shop and the way it contrasted against her long, dark hair just kinda took my breath away. She was standing on the deck gazing out at the seemingly endless horizon, dark sunglasses shading her eyes, and smiling.

That’s what I remember most about that day.

Emma was smiling. Happy.

And I was thinking, How does she do that? How does she just… live in the moment and let the stress and worry of the wider world slip away?

Johnny came home from his trip. He brought a girl with him and she seemed cool. He seemed satisfied with her, at least. And he told us things were gonna change, but he couldn’t tell us why. He told us he failed. He told us that there’s a lot more to this story. And then he dropped it. Joey and I were confused, but also relieved.

Relieved that Johnny was handling things, I guess.

But the stakes were still high, the danger still real. And Emma had had no idea that I came with all this baggage. So how could she possibly be happy?

But then I thought, Well, I’m happy. So why can’t she be happy?