There were thousands of people out here, holding bottles of wine or confetti cannons, wearing plastic tiaras and veils and shrieking with excitement. They reached toward Sam, shouting questions about the wedding and who had designed her dress and was she single or not, and, to her shock, they were smiling.
The same crowds that had always been indifferent toward her at best, and actively disapproving at worst, now seemed delighted that she’d shown up. They waved American flags and set off noisemakers and threw shiny silver confetti. Most of the posters were about Jeff and Daphne—Sam saw one that read Jeff Will Always Be Prince Of My Heart!—but a few of them were actually about her: I’m on #Teamsam and Just Try to Samcel Me!
Her eyes were drawn to a little girl holding tight to her father’s hand, wearing a pink peacoat over a T-shirt printed with Jeff’s face and cartoon hearts.
The girl tilted her head, curious. “What are you doing out here? Aren’t you supposed to be taking wedding photos right now?”
“We got a little behind schedule this morning, so I came out to say hi.” Sam knelt down to the girl’s level and winked. “I like your shirt. I need to get one of those for my brother.”
“Oh, my dad designed it!”
Sam glanced up at the girl’s father, who visibly reddened. “I have an online merchandise shop.”
“We make some amazing gear about you, too!” the girl told Sam eagerly. “My favorite is our Spare Me the Drama shirt. We’ve sold thousands since you came back to town!”
“Michaela,” the dad said warningly, but Sam chuckled.
“Spare Me the Drama? I like it.” Because she’d been born the spare—and, she had to admit, she did have a flair for drama.
The crowds erupted in another roar of noise. When Sam heard the direction of the cheers, and saw everyone’s eyes darting behind her, she realized that someone else had walked out of the palace.
She turned around slowly, a part of her already knowing who she would see.
Marshall looked achingly handsome in his tails and waistcoat; even his white gloves were clasped with a gold button at the wrist. Then Sam saw the telltale gleam on his lapel—the grizzly bear pin that was the symbol of the Dukes of Orange.
He started walking toward her, and Sam was hit by a crippling mixture of fear and longing.
“Marshall—what are you doing?” she whispered. Now a showdown with his family would be inevitable. Now everyone in the entire world would know he was here.
With that very first step outside the palace doors, he had thrown away his chance at going back to Hawaii.
“I’m coming to the wedding. If you’ll let me, I mean.” Marshall looked at her with a tentative smile. “I believe they call this a grand gesture? A way to show someone you love them, when telling them isn’t enough.”
Vaguely, Sam was aware of the thousands of people staring at them, the lights of flashbulbs exploding over her skin. It all felt inconsequential compared to Marshall.
“I love you, too,” she told him. “But nothing has changed. We still want different things.”
“I want you, Sam. None of the rest matters.”
The roar of the crowds seemed to retreat behind a curtain as Marshall went on: “Hawaii wasn’t the same after you left. I loved the people I met there, and the things I learned about myself. But paradise doesn’t really feel like paradise if you’re not there to share it, Sam. I kept hoping you would come back soon, but the longer you stayed away, the lonelier I got.”
“Marshall, I was lonely too. I needed you just as much as you needed me.”
His lips pressed together in regret. “I’m sorry, Sam. I realize now that even though Hawaii was great, it wasn’t real life. It was a form of avoidance—hiding out and hoping the world would have magically changed when I came back. But the world doesn’t fix itself,” he added softly. “A very smart girl once told me that if we want things to change, we need to change them ourselves.”
She took a step toward him, her body acting of its own volition, and Marshall’s breathing caught.
“I love you, Sam. I have loved you from the moment I saw you on that museum balcony, kicking the iron railing like you were going to destroy it through sheer force of will. I fall more in love with you every day, if that’s even possible.”
Sam took one last step forward, and then her head was on his chest and she was breathing in the scent of him, letting his arms close tight around her. The sheer joy of touching him after all these weeks apart sent a jolt of electricity through her body, as if she’d been sleepwalking and now every inch of her was suddenly and brutally awake.
With her face still muffled in his tuxedo, she asked, “What does this mean for us?”
“I don’t know what the future holds,” Marshall said gruffly. “All I know is that I don’t want to face it without you. It’s no use building a life in Hawaii if we aren’t building it together. Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be.”
Sam felt her fears evaporating in the face of this—their history, and, more importantly, their future.
She tipped her face up to kiss him. Her body flooded with heat despite the freezing temperatures, her hands reaching up to grab the lapels of his jacket and clutch them tight.
When they pulled away, Sam became aware of thunderous applause, plus a few scattered whoops of approval. She smiled against Marshall’s chest, laughing. She’d forgotten they had an audience.
“I can’t believe you went full-on grand gesture.”
“I took a page out of your playbook,” Marshall teased. “Remember when you pulled me into the imperial state carriage and informed me that we were dating?”
“That’s not how I remember it!” She stared at him, suddenly realizing that his tuxedo looked a little snug around the shoulders. “Is that your tux?”
“Oh, um, I borrowed it from your family. I didn’t pack mine,” Marshall admitted. “Anju helped me track one down.”
“What about your pin?”
“I got it from my grandfather. He’s been carrying it around ever since I left it in Bellevue, that day we ran away.”
“You saw your grandfather?” Sam nearly screeched, but Marshall didn’t seem worried. “Why didn’t you say that sooner? How did it go?”
“As well as could be expected. I’ll tell you everything later,” he promised. “Should we head back?”
Sam laced her fingers in his, then turned to wave one last time at the wedding crowds, who cheered in approval. Camera flashes went off around them like the blinking lights of fireflies.