Chapter 18 - No More Secrets
Their wedding was small.
Not because Alfred needed secrecy.
Because Mina wanted intimacy.
Pauly stood beside Alfred.
Sophie scattered flower petals with excessive enthusiasm.
Lev wore a tuxedo and complained about it for three hours.
Grace, now walking unsteadily, wore a tiny white dress and repeatedly attempted to escape toward the cake.
Mina walked down the aisle without hiding.
There were no fake names.
No secret entrances.
No photographers hired to create a false public story.
No powerful families waiting for Alfred to marry one of their daughters.
Just the people who mattered.
When Mina reached him, Alfred whispered, “You look beautiful.”
“You look nervous.”
“I am.”
“You've faced armed men.”
“None of them required vows.”
She smiled.
The ceremony was simple.
When it was Alfred's turn to speak, he looked at Mina.
“For most of my life, I thought love was dangerous because it gave other people something they could take from me.”
His voice tightened.
“Then I almost lost you because I treated love like something that needed to be hidden.”
Mina's eyes filled.
“I won't hide you again.”
He glanced toward Grace.
“Either of you.”
Afterward, Grace smeared frosting across Alfred's expensive jacket.
Mina laughed until she cried.
Nobody died.
Nobody threatened anyone.
Nobody checked the exits.
For the Costello family, that qualified as extraordinary progress.
Late that evening, after the guests left, Mina stood beside Alfred beneath the garden lights.
“Happy?” she asked.
He looked toward Grace sleeping in Lev's arms.
“Yes.”
“That's new.”
“I'm getting used to it.”
Mina rested her head against his shoulder.
For the first time, happiness didn't feel borrowed.
It felt permanent.
May you like
But one final piece of their old life still remained.
The safe.
