Chapter 23

twenty-three

KASH

The chaos of the courthouse took some of the romance out of the afternoon. Their appointment was for four o’clock, and there were sixteen other couples ahead of them getting married. They also weren’t the only ones who brought a whole party with them.

One woman was even in a full ball gown with a bouquet, so Kash felt a little less silly in his suit that matched Adele’s. The guys had all dressed up too, and Rex had given them all matching corsages for their lapels.

He walked around puffed up and proud, nodding his approval at everyone, and then he dragged Frey over to meet the well-dressed bride so his dad could interpret his approval of her too. It was nice. It was more than nice.

Kash stood next to Adele, clinging to his hand, his other palm sweating on his cane handle, and he tried not to stress about the time. His legs were feeling a little uncooperative, but he’d attempted to bargain with the universe about letting him have this one day. He could be as sick as the gods deemed necessary tomorrow—or maybe the day after since they did have to move .

For now, he was okay. He was sitting in the one open spot on a bench in the hallway, waiting to be called in as he watched couples go in, then come out. Most of them looked no different, but a few were a little weepy, and that’s how he felt.

Would he cry? Likely not, but that didn’t mean the moment had no weight to it. He looked up at Adele, who was staring down at him, and he mouthed, ‘Love you so much.’

Adele’s eyes shone as he leaned over to kiss him.

“Save it for the judge!” Frey said.

Adele didn’t stop, but Kash could see him flipping his friend off behind his back.

Eventually, it was their turn. Kash’s knees were shaking as he stood, and the judge had all the witnesses come in first, arranging them on the seats in front of his desk. The signing witnesses were next. Gage looked nervous as he stepped up to the table beside Bowen, fiddling with his flower and his tie, then the hem of his jacket.

Kash caught his eye and winked, and Gage settled a little.

“Give me a sec with the judge,” Kash whispered, then let him go and beckoned for the older man to speak with him in the corner of the room. It took him a minute to find the courage to lay out his plan, and he was terrified the judge would tell him it wasn’t allowed. But he didn’t. The older man smiled and nodded, then gestured for Kash to take his place beside Adele.

“What was that?” Adele asked as he pulled Kash close.

“You’ll see.”

Adele would find out in a moment, once the formalities were out of the way.

“Thank you for coming today. Today, we’re here to witness the marriage of Adele Galanos and Kasher Foy…”

Kash lost the rest of the plot as the judge carried on with his speech. He was pretty sure the man talked about love and quoted some Bible verse he vaguely remembered hearing about as a kid, then asked them to hold hands, everyone laughing because he and Adele hadn’t let each other go for more than a minute that day.

They recited their vows—simple and sweet. He didn’t say until death did they part, and for some reason, Kash was unreasonably thrilled about that. He wasn’t sure what he believed about what came after, but deep down, he knew Adele was his forever in the literal sense.

They were two halves of one soul.

“Now, the rings,” the judge said.

Adele turned to Rex, who stepped up to present them with a flourish. ‘Thank you,’ he signed. ‘Perfect.’

Rex made a happy noise and rushed back to his dad, jumping into his arms between him and Renato. For a moment, Kash allowed himself to look at the sea of people surrounding them. Most of them were partnered up and in love. All of them were family, even if he hadn’t quite let himself get to know them as well as he would have liked.

But that was going to change.

They were his now too.

Bowen winked at him. ‘Ready?’ he mouthed.

He was pretty sure Bowen had been waiting for this day as long as he had been.

His fingers shook when he took the ring from Adele’s palm and slid it on his finger, and his tongue fumbled over the words, but he got them out. His heart beat almost too loud to hear Adele repeat them back to him, but the next thing he knew, there was a weight on his ring finger, and he curled his hand around it.

“And now, Mr. Foy has something to add.” Instead of pronouncing them husbands, the judge didn’t. He looked over to where Bowen and Gage were standing and then said, “Gage, if you would join us, please.”

Gage stepped forward, looking nervous as hell. Kash’s heart sped up faster. “Me?”

“You,” Kash said. He cleared his throat when his words felt too tight on the back of his tongue. “I know you’re too old for me to adopt, but I’d like to be more than just your dad’s husband. If you’ll have me.”

“Um…” Gage said. He blinked and looked at Adele, who seemed as shocked as him. For a moment, Kash panicked like maybe he’d done the wrong thing, and then Gage took a breath. “Um…can I cuss?” A few people laughed, but most of them were sniffling.

Adele rolled his eyes, which were openly leaking down his cheeks. “I suppose. You’re eighteen now.”

Gage grinned and looked back at Kash. “Hell yeah. Dad .”

Kash cracked in half as he pulled Gage close and whispered in his ear, “I’ve always loved you as much as I could ever love a child I raised. Nothing is changing. And I mean that in a good way.”

“Great. Now I’m crying. You suck,” Gage whispered back. He wrenched away and hurried over to Lucas, who was waiting to hug him.

Adele tugged Kash in by the front of his shirt. “Sneaky,” he said thickly.

“I hope that was okay.”

Adele let him go and cradled his face. “It was perfect. But we have one more part to get through.” He turned to the judge and made a go-ahead gesture.

The judge looked a little misty. “By the power vested in me by this county…”

“Here we go,” Adele whispered. “You ready?”

“Born ready,” Kash murmured back.

“I now pronounce you husbands. You may kiss to seal your union.”

Adele’s lips met his, and for the first time, Kash understood when all the romance novels said time stopped. Because it did. It was this moment between them.

Forever.

And ever. But not the end. Not yet. Not for a long, long time.