Shameless (50 page)

Mine.
That was the thought that crowded out all others.

He’d never seen a woman look more beautiful in his life. Vaguely he was aware of her dress, some confection of satin and lace that she and her sisters had spent countless hours fussing over, the delicate veil that floated behind her, the pearls around her neck, the flowers in her hands. But what he mainly saw was Beth: her glorious hair as vivid as a flame amidst all that white, her lovely face faintly flushed with, he thought, happiness, her eyes bright and smiling as they met his.

He smiled back at her.

Then, as she drew near, he moved forward to meet her. She gave him her hand. Instead of being cold, as he might have expected, it was soft and warm and alive. Lifting it to his lips, he kissed it briefly, then tucked it in his arm as they turned to face the archbishop. The old man started saying some words over them, but Neil wasn’t really listening. Instead, he was preoccupied by the sudden realization that he’d just been granted his own private miracle.

All these years, he’d thought heaven was past praying for. Now he knew he’d been wrong. He’d found heaven right here, in this red-haired snip of a girl he meant to cherish for the rest of his life.