Adam knew exactly what was going on—well, maybe not all of it. But he knew that I was pregnant since he had looked at the results of the pregnancy test with me on his bathroom counter. If there was one thing that I could always count on Adam for, it was that he would always keep things in confidence between the two of us.

“We have big news,” Michael said to him with a grin. “Can we come in?”

“Of course,” Adam said as he opened the door all the way and stepped to the side.

When Michael told him that he had proposed to me, and I showed Adam the ring, Adam took my hand to look at it and smiled. Then he gave me a great big hug and whispered in my ear.

“Congratulations,” he said. “You chose right.”

After he let me go, we sat back down on the couch and I told him about the pregnancy. He looked so surprised about it that it was as if he had never really known at all. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the very subtle glint in his eyes, I might have even thought that he had forgotten about it entirely.

“I am so happy for you both,” he said as he shook Michael’s hand. “Congratulations—on both things.”

“Thank you,” Michael beamed. “I guess that we’ll have to start prodding you about getting married next.”

Adam laughed.

“It’s not out of the realm of possibility,” he said. “But Anna and I are happy with the way things are for right now. There’s no reason for us to rush anything. I’m quite enjoying the pace of life here as it is right now.”

Michael nodded and patted him on the shoulder.

“When’s the wedding?” Adam asked.

Michael and I hadn’t even had a chance to talk about that yet, so I really had no idea how to answer that question. He looked at me and waited to see my reaction.

“What do you think?” Michael asked.

“Well, I would like to get married while I can still fit into a wedding dress,” I chuckled. “But I understand if you want to wait a while.”

“Why would I want to wait?” Michael asked eagerly. “If I wasn’t ready to marry you now, I wouldn’t have asked. We’ll get married whenever you want to, just say when.”

I thought for a few moments as both guys waited on me to respond. It was already well into spring and in another few weeks the beginning of summer would arrive. I didn’t want to get too big to fit into a wedding dress, and the late summers weren’t that hot here in Canada.

“How about the end of summer?” I asked. “Right on the equinox of summer and fall. What do you think?”

“I think it sounds perfect,” Michael said in agreement. “That gives us time to arrange for the most beautiful wedding that you can imagine.”

“We don’t need to go all out,” I said. “I just want to be married to you. I don’t need a lavish ceremony in order to do that.”

“Oh no,” he said as he shook his head. “We have waited way too long not to do this up in the best way possible. I am going to give you the wedding of your dreams, and then after that, we are going to start this new chapter of our lives together.”

“Count me in!” Adam said. “I want to help with it too. I can paint you a beautiful archway.”

I was so filled with happiness that it felt as if my heart would burst right out of my chest. This was my happily ever after. My mom had been right all those years ago when she used to tuck me in and remind me that the princesses with the best stories were the ones that had been through hell and back. They were the ones that, when they finally found their happy endings, held onto them fiercely. And I had every intention of doing the same.

20

The day of our wedding was right out of a fairytale. It was nothing short of spectacular and magical. It was just past the end of summer and the autumn leaves were changing colors. We had decided to do an outdoor wedding in the cool air with the rich and colorful Canadian landscape as the backdrop to our ceremony. Adam had built and painted a beautiful archway, and Anna had helped to arrange the chairs and walkway, and all of the accommodations for our guests. The wedding ceremony was small and special, with just our close friends invited.

“Are you nervous?” Adam asked as he came to see me while I was getting ready.

“A little,” I said. “But not about getting married.”

I stood up from the chair at the vanity that I was sitting on and rubbed my fingers against my now very visible pregnancy bump.

“Maybe we should have done this sooner,” I said with a sigh as I looked at my profile in the mirror. “I look like I swallowed a watermelon.”

Adam laughed and then gently took my hand to lead me back down to sit in front of the mirror.

“You absolutely do not look like you swallowed a watermelon,” he said. “You look exquisitely stunning. Seriously, you are the most ravishingly beautiful bride that I have ever seen. And your pregnancy doesn’t take away from that. It makes you glow as if you were your own star.”

Adam always had a way with words. He weaved them together as easily as he blended the colors of paint on his palette. He had an artist’s heart.

“You’re just saying that because you used to be in love with me,” I teased.

I saw his face looking at me through the reflection in the mirror in front of us. He looked serious, and happy.

“Lisette, I am still in love with you, and I always will be. Just because we won’t be together in that way, doesn’t mean that I will ever stop loving you. You will marry Michael today, and who knows, maybe someday I’ll go on to marry Anna. But that will never change that fact that I will always still love and be here for you. Nothing will ever change that.”

I smiled at him through the mirror and reached up to put my palm over his hand that rested on my shoulder.

“I have something for you,” he said.

He lifted up a beautiful hair comb and placed it in my hair. It looked like one of the beautiful heirlooms that you’d expect to see in an ancient castle overseas.

“This was your mother’s,” he said as he secured it into my hair that I had braided and wound onto my head in an updo with a few messy pieces falling down against the sides of my face.

I was shocked that he had something of my mother’s, especially something as beautiful and personal as one of her hair combs.

“How long have you had this?” I asked him.

“Since the day that she died. Your mother had this in her hair the day that she was killed at the shelter. When I found her there in the storage room, before you or anyone else had seen what had happened, I took it.”

“Why would you take it?”

I wasn’t sure whether to be mad at him for taking and keeping something that had belonged to my mother all those years ago, or whether I should be grateful and overjoyed that he was giving it to me now.

“Please don’t be upset with me,” Adam said. “I took it because I knew that she would want you to have it and I didn’t know who would find her and who might take it from her hair. I took it to keep it safe for you. And, if we’re being honest; I took it because I had hoped that one day, I would be able to give it to you on our wedding day.”

I tilted my head down in the mirror to get a better view of the hair comb and touched the side of it with my fingertips. It was silver, and there were tiny light blue rhinestones in it that looked like tiny pieces of moonlight. I felt the tears sting at the corners of my eyes, and I closed my eyes and tried to picture my mother’s face here with me now on my wedding day.

“I’m sorry, Lisette,” Adam said quietly when he saw that silent tears were running down my cheeks. “Please don’t be upset with me.”

I opened my eyes and turned around to stand up and hug him. His arms wrapped behind my back and I let myself sink into his embrace.

“I’m not upset with you, Adam,” I said with a mix of joy and sadness. “This is the most perfect thing that you could have given me on my wedding day. Thank you.”