“It’s perfect.” He held out his arm for me to take. “Ready to do this?”

A wave of nerves swept through me. “Are you?” This wasn’t a sacrifice for me. I had no plans of marrying…ever, so I wasn’t giving anything up. But Mason? He practically had wife and family tattooed on his forehead.

“Anna. I want to do this.”

The why dangled in my mind again. Something in his past had led him here, and I still didn’t know what that was. But it was unfair of me to push when I wasn’t ready to unpack so many things for him, either. So, instead, I slipped my arm through his. “Here we go.”

“Wait.” He handed me a gold band. “Thought rings would help.”

I hadn’t even thought about that detail. “Oh.” It was all I could muster.

Mason gave me a reassuring smile. “Now, we’re ready.”

The walk up the steps to City Hall seemed to take forever and be done in a flash at the same time. Mason pulled open the door and held it for me. My hand shook as my arm slipped from his steady hold. I flexed my fingers. I wouldn’t tremble. Not for anyone, not anymore. I’d been through hell and had come out the other side. I wouldn’t let anyone take the beautiful life I’d built from me, and that included having my niece and nephew safe and cared for. They would never experience what I had.

“Anna, you look gorgeous.” Kennedy beamed as she hurried over to me, pulling me into a tight hug. “Are you sure about this?”

There were a million questions contained in her simple query. But I appreciated that she didn’t voice them. I hugged her back. “I’m sure.”

Her eyes bounced from me to Mason and back again as she released me. “You two make quite the pair.”

“She’s not wrong,” Cain said as he wrapped an arm around his wife’s shoulders.

A woman who looked familiar but whose name I didn’t know, bustled up to our group. “Mr. Decker? The judge is ready for you.”

Mason threaded his fingers through mine. “Thank you.”

The heat of his palm against mine was more comforting than I wanted to admit. The first time his fingers had locked with mine had been a jolt to the system. It had been forever since I’d had the simple contact of holding someone’s hand. There was an innocent intimacy in the gesture. More so than even sex in a way. It was claiming. And I liked it too much.