33. Mina

Iexpected time to freeze, for my mind to race with a million questions about whether I'd made the right decision, whether I was too young, whether we should have waited to have our perfect wedding at Lachlan Hall.

But this was the perfect wedding, because my three men made it for me, and everyone I loved was here.

Because it was impossible, and yet, here we were…

Because ever since I'd walked back through the door of Nevermore Bookshop, my life had been touched by magic, and why should my wedding day be any different?

My feet moved of their own accord, practically sprinting down the aisle. I didn't care about the snap snap snap of the photographer, or what people were saying about my dress. I just wanted to get to them. I wanted to be in their arms.

I wanted to be their wife.

As I moved towards the arch, the three blurry figures standing beneath the lights resolved into three familiar, impossible men.

Heathcliff, Morrie, and Quoth all waiting for me.

Morrie stepped up and took my hand, untangling me from Oscar's lead. He leaned in and whispered something to my mother's ear that had her chuckling.

"You take good care of her, James," my mother scolded. "You may be a scallywag, but if you hurt her, I'll monogram my initials on your bollocks."

"As terrifying as the prospect is, I don't think you'll need to make good on your threats," Morrie said. "Mina is more precious to me than an entire criminal empire. Hey, gorgeous, you made it."

"We made it." My chest fluttered. Morrie pulled me in close, his lean body warm against mine as he laid a soft, tender kiss on the top of my head. I closed my eyes and steadied my pulse against his.

After everything we've been through, including a murderer trying to keep us apart, we made it.

Morrie's long fingers closed around mine. "I see you have a new dress."

"Mmmm." I leaned against his shoulder as he led me and Oscar up the two short steps of the platform usually used for giving out the prizes at the village fete. "Thanks to you and your newly forged friendship with my old boss."

"Hey, he may be a slimy weasel who wouldn't know a good thing if it smacked him around the head with a wet fish, but the man has style." Morrie ran his fingers along the studs on the corset. "I wonder if he'd make me a new suit for the honeymoon. Perhaps one impervious to dinosaur teeth…"

"He'd probably do anything you ask, since he's terrified of you."

"Of me?" Morrie said innocently. "But I'm a harmless little kitten. Here's Heathcliff."

Morrie placed my hand into Heathcliff's large, rough palm. His fingers closed around mine, and a lump rose in my throat.

"I can't believe you did all this for me," I breathed, my fingers squeezing his. His hand in mine felt like home.

He brushed his lips over my forehead, cupping my face in his hands and resting against me. His stubble grazed my skin. "I would do this a hundred times over," he whispered against me. "I would dress up in silly outfits and learn to dance and have arguments with Oliver over cake decorations for the rest of my days if it made you smile."

"Luckily for the world, I'm pretty easy to please. You make me smile, just by being you."

He smiled then, his lips moving over my skin so I could feel it. A rare, wondrous Heathcliff smile. A smile that felt like sunshine where it touched me.

Heathcliff stepped back, and there was my Quoth, his black hair brushed to a high sheen, swept back at the sides and tied with a ribbon that sparkled with the iridescent colors of his feathers.

"You are beautiful," he whispered as he took my hand and spun me beneath his arm. "I can't believe you're mine. I'm dreaming a dream that no mortal has ever dreamed before. How did I get to be so lucky to love and be loved by you?"

"You were my ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling," I said to him as he caught me against his chest. "Since we're quoting from your creator. You've always been beside me, always understood me, even when I didn't understand myself. You promised to watch over me, and you've always kept your promise, even when it tore you apart." I kissed the tip of his nose. "I'm so excited to be your wife."

"Alright now," Pax, Bree's boyfriend and our new celebrant, shoved us apart. "Let's get this wedding underway, before the gods curse us with another evil duck."

I thought that I'd be so overcome by it all that I wouldn't stop crying. I usually cried during emotional moments. But not today, not when I was marrying my three best friends. I beamed all the way through Bree's boyfriend Edward's terrible poem about love. I laughed as Heathcliff vowed to finally tell me where he kept his secret chocolate stash and Morrie vowed to occasionally let me win at chess. My face hurt from smiling as the three of them slid their ring on my finger.

My whole body glowed with warmth as each one of them took me in their arms and kissed me until I was drunk with happiness.

Reader, I married them.