Both Tom and Edward placed her hand in his and the rest of the ceremony went by in a haze. Kyle pushed the platinum band onto her finger until it slid home against the ring she already wore and spoke the words that bound their lives together under civil law. She spoke the same words back as she slid a matching band onto his finger.

The minister, who’d married Polly and Edward and presided at the baptisms of each of the Chase children, smiled at Maggie and Kyle and gently turned them to face the crowd of friends and family. “I’d like to introduce Kyle and Margaret Chase.”

Kyle’s arm encircled his wife’s shoulders and he steered her back into the house for a few brief moments of silence and solitude. “I love you, wife,” he said, kissing her lips.

“And I love you, husband,” she murmured back.

Epilogue

Six months later

It was a Friday night and Maggie, Liv and Dee were all at their usual table at the Pumphouse. Dee was drinking a Perrier because she was six months pregnant with the child she and Arthur conceived the night of Maggie and Kyle’s wedding.

Maggie watched Kyle as he bent over to take a shot, hooting as he made it and smacking Shane in the head with the tip of his pool cue. He turned around, feeling her gaze and shot her a look of total unadulterated lust and longing. Her pulse quickened and she smiled wickedly, raising her glass to him in promise.

“Oh god, the two of you!” Liv muttered.

“What?” Maggie asked, laughing. “You expect me to have that in my bed and not have this look on my face?”

“Point taken. I should go, my sister is coming in from Crawford in an hour and I want to pick up my house a bit.”

Liv’s sister Bea was coming to stay with her for a while, licking her wounds from a bad break up and a lost job. Maggie smiled when she saw Matt c**k his head and give Liv a wave and Liv blush and wave back.

“Night then, Livvy. You know, Matt isn’t dating Nancy anymore.”

“That so? Huh. Perhaps you and Kyle should have a barbecue, you know, a Thanksgiving thing. Give Bea a chance to get back into the swing of things in Petal again.”

“And you a chance to hang out with Matt?”

“Something like that.”

“All right. I’ll call you with the details.”

Dee shoved herself out of the booth and Liv helped her stand up. “Arthur is here to pick me up, I’ll see you later.” She kissed them both and went to her husband who was waiting patiently at the door.

Maggie turned and walked through the crowd to where the pool tables were. She hopped up on a high stool, watching Kyle who tossed his cue to Matt and grabbed her. “Night all. See you Sunday,” he called out and pulled Maggie out the front door and practically shoved her into the car.

“Now, I was thinking, Red, that there was a back road with our name on it. I just happen to have the sleeping bags in the back, along with a picnic basket full of food and some sparkling cider. What do you say, wanna neck under the stars?”

She leaned in and caught his lips with her own, pulling his bottom lip between her teeth. “Mmmm hmmm. I’ll follow you anywhere. I might even let you get to second base.”

He threw his head back and laughed and they drove off, heading for that country road.