“I love you,” she said, “and I will honor and cherish you and what we have together for the rest of my life. And when you do finally drive me crazy, I’ll go happily, knowing I was fully and completely loved by the most amazing man.”

Damn if she didn’t reduce him to tears with her heartfelt words. He leaned his forehead against hers, dying for the moment when Frank would tell him she was his wife and he could kiss her.

“Rings?” Frank asked.

Seamus reluctantly released one of Carolina’s hands and withdrew the rings from the pocket of the khaki pants he’d ironed for the occasion. They’d gone to the mainland two weeks ago to buy the matching platinum rings. He held them out in the palm of his hand, and Carolina took his.

He slid hers onto her finger, and then she returned the favor, the cool metal wrapping around his finger, the awareness of what it represented humbling him like nothing else ever had.

“By the power vested in me by the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations,” Frank said, “I’m pleased to pronounce you husband and wife. Seamus, you may kiss your bride.”

Seamus wrapped his arms around her and planted a deep wet one on her as their friends and family cheered.

She held on to him for a long moment that belonged only to them, and when he reluctantly ended the kiss, they were both in tears as the magnitude of what they’d just done seemed to register all at once.

“Mrs. O’Grady.”

“Mr. O’Grady.”

“We have a party to get to.”

“So we do.”

“Thank you for this, Caro. You have no idea how happy you’ve made me.”

“I think I know.”

Seamus hugged her again, holding on for as long as he could before others demanded their attention. He let her go reluctantly, counting the hours until he could be alone with his new wife.

“What a fantastic surprise this was,” Maddie McCarthy said to the group of friends and family sharing four picnic tables pushed together as they enjoyed lobsters and clam chowder.

Under normal circumstances, these were Laura’s favorite times—surrounded by her cousins, their significant others and the friends who’d become like family to her since she moved to the island. But there was nothing normal about a day when Owen was sitting next to her but a million miles away, lost in his own troubled thoughts.

To her sister-in-law Janey, Maddie said, “Did you guys know about it?”

“We found out an hour before you all did.”

“Such a cool way to do it,” Grant McCarthy said, glancing at his fiancée, Stephanie. “Don’t you think, hon? No muss, no fuss. Just get married.”

Stephanie shrugged. “I guess.”

“There’s a lot to be said for no muss or fuss,” Laura said.