Gage watched as Meredith walked down the aisle, followed by Sarah, her one attendant.

She hadn't wanted white. She hadn't wanted a veil.

She was beautiful. She always had been to him, but never so much as at this moment. Her eyes were luminous. A sky blue princess-style dress floated around her body as she walked toward him.

He couldn't bear to think how close he had come to losing her.

When she reached him, her hand folded into his, and she turned to watch her sister, who started down the aisle on Dom's arm.

Holly was struck-blind gorgeous. Gage watched with amus.e.m.e.nt as the groom next to him blinked several times. Gage had come to like Holly very much, particularly her wonder at everything and her total lack of awareness of her own beauty.

Yet it had always been the p.r.i.c.kly attorney who made his heart race and his blood turn warm. Warm, h.e.l.l. Hot. Steaming.

His hand tightened around hers and they exchanged secret smiles. As always, they seemed to know what the other was thinking.

He'd moved into her house, renting his own to Clint. The rent was darn little in the beginning, but now Clint had stayed in his job in computer troubleshooting for six months, had even been promoted already, and spent his spare time at Dom's shelter, helping kids.

He was going to make it.

The minister spoke the words. Gage knew them. He had been to weddings. But the words had never really meant anything to him.

Now they did.

"In sickness and in health ..."

"For richer or poorer..."

"Til death do you part."

And then came the best part. "You may kiss the bride."

'His'. She was now his. And he was hers. That was the best part. They were friends, lovers, partners.

His lips took hers possessively. For a long moment. Maybe two.

A few twitters came from the congregation.

He glanced at the couple next to them. They had not quite finished their kiss.

Well, he had always been compet.i.tive.

He returned to the kiss, still wondering how this miracle had occurred, how one person could be so supremely happy and content. It had all started with violence and deception followed by more of the same. He knew there would be future obstacles. There always were. But for the first time in his life, he believed in happy endings.

The twitters became louder and he reluctantly drew away, just as Doug did. They glanced at each other and grinned. Doug lifted Harry up in his arms, and Jenny and Marty hugged Holly, then Meredith.

It was done.

There was a celebration waiting. A huge one.

A celebration of love and life and family.

He offered his hand to Meredith.

An ending. A beginning.

He was ready.

In 1988, Patricia Potter won the Maggie Award and a Reviewer's Choice Award from 'Romantic Times' for her first novel. She has been named Storyteller of the Year by 'Romantic Times' and has received the magazine's Career Achievement Award for Western Historical Romance along with numerous Reviewer's Choice nominations and awards.

She has won three Maggie awards, is a three-time RITA finalist, and has been on the 'USA Today' and Walden's bestseller lists. Her books have been alternate choices for the Doubleday Book Club.

Prior to writing fiction, she was a newspaper reporter with the 'Atlanta Journal-Const.i.tution' and president of a public relations firm in Atlanta. She has served as president of Georgia Romance Writers and as a board member of River City Romance Writers, and is currently president of Romance Writers of America.

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