The CEO’s Unspoken Love (Eleanor and Derek) novel Chapter 232

Chapter 232

Catherine met my eyes in the reflection. “Make him happy,” she said simply, and then she was gone, leaving me to wonder if the past could truly be rewritten.

Olivia exhaled loudly after Catherine left. “Well, that was unexpected.”

I touched the sapphire gently. “Everything about today is unexpected.” A smile curved my lips. “If you had told me a year ago that I’d be standing here, about to marry Derek Wells – again – but for real this time…”

“I would have told you to stop reading those romance novels,” Olivia finished with a grin. “And yet, here we are.”

Here we are, indeed. A flower shop owner turned bookstore clerk, about to marry one of Boston’s most eligible bachelors – for the second time. But this time, I wasn’t marrying the cold, distant man who had agreed to a three-year arrangement to please his grandmother. I was marrying the man who had fought his way back from darkness, who had faced his fears and opened his heart.

The man who looked at me now as if I were his miracle.

A knock at the tent pole announced it was time. My heart leapt into my throat, and for a moment, I couldn’t move.

“Ready?” Olivia asked softly.

Was I ready? Ready to walk toward the future I’d dreamed of but never truly believed I could have? Ready to trust that Derek’s love was real and lasting? Ready to be not just a Wells in name, but in truth?

I thought of all the nights I’d lain awake in our shared home, feeling miles apart from the man sleeping beside me. I thought of the long, silent dinners and the careful distance we’d maintained. And then I thought of these past months of Derek’s laughter as we debated books, of his arms around me in the night, of the way he looked at me now as if memorizing every detail.

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