It wasn’t quite warm enough for an outdoor wedding in Utah, in April. The peaks surrounding Brush Creek still had snow on them, and the trees were just starting to bud. But it was the best time for Cora to get married, and since Brennan was sick and tired of living in his lonely apartment by himself, he’d do anything to make Cora his wife.

Even wait for her at the end of an aisle in fifty-degree weather, while the wind tried to shake all the newly budded leaves free behind him.

His classes had ended the week before, and she’d been given a week of absence time from her crew for their wedding and honeymoon. It had taken months for the official paperwork to be pushed through the National Forest Service, but she’d just signed her permanent apprentice firefighter contract with the Del Rosa Hotshot Crew. It was a good salary for them, and a dream come true for her.

She was his dream come true, and he wanted everything to be perfect for her today. So when it started raining and a general cry of dismay went up from the crowd, Brennan looked at his mother helplessly.

She stood, along with his father, and approached Brennan. “I know she wanted to be married here among the trees,” she said, gesturing to the wildly waving limbs just a few feet away.

“She did.” Oxbow Park was right across the street from the fire station, and it had trees like her beloved National Forests in California.

“What if we just moved over to the fire house?” his dad suggested. “If we got them to move the engines out, I bet there would be enough room to set up inside the bay.”

Brennan twisted toward Station Two, wondering how much time they had before the sky opened and ruined the arch, the altar, and the balloons his sisters had set up with Helene and Laura that morning.

“Let’s do it,” he said, making an executive decision. Cora wouldn’t see him anyway, citing the wedding tradition that it was bad luck for the groom to see his bride before she walked down the aisle.

“I’ll call Laura,” his mother said, and his dad started barking orders at everyone in the near vicinity.

Brennan turned to find Kent, glad his friend waited only a few paces away. “Can we get the firetrucks out of the bay? We can put the chairs in there and have some shelter from the storm.”

Kent looked at Station Two and then back to Brennan, a grin spreading across his face. “Yeah, let me call Jorge and Charlie.” He pulled out his phone and strode across the street while Brennan went to the nearest chairs and picked them up.

It felt like chaos, with people moving as quickly as possible in their finest dresses and best suits. But with everyone helping, it didn’t take long to relocate the chairs across the street. Charlie and Kent pulled the fire engines out and into a V, creating a narrow walkway for Cora to walk through before she’d enter the now-empty bay.

The chatter sounded twice as loud indoors as it had outdoors, and Brennan adjusted his bowtie just as his mother ran into the bay and the pounding sound of rain hit the roof.

She took a moment to brush her hair back before she came to meet him near the altar. “Laura’s taking care of getting Cora over here. We should be all set.”

The reception would be in the little red brick church Cora had grown to love, so at least that didn’t need to be re-coordinated. Brennan’s nerves stretched and vibrated with every passing minute where Cora didn’t walk between the two fire engines outside.

Finally, finally, Helene appeared, a teary smile on her face. She moved quickly down the aisle to sit alone—her husband still not with her. A pang of sadness pulled through Brennan when he realized she’d come alone. Cora had been trying to get the story out of her sister for months, but Helene wouldn’t tell.

But her husband’s absence surely said it all, as did the way she twisted and tearfully watched as Cora’s nieces and nephew started the wedding party down the aisle.

The little girls threw rose petals and blew bubbles. Her one nephew carried the ring, his head held so high, Brennan thought his neck must hurt terribly.

Then Cora appeared, her dress mushrooming out from her waist to make a five-foot circle along the ground. Brennan went completely still at the sight of her, his blood heating to lava temperatures and she hadn’t even taken a step toward him yet.

Her dad came to her side and offered her his elbow. She beamed at him and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before focusing on Brennan. They stepped forward so slowly Brennan thought he’d explode.

Finally, Chris passed Cora to Brennan, and he tucked her arm right against his side.

“Hey, you,” she said, smiling at him with her gorgeous red lips and those mesmerizing eyes.

“My love.” He bent down and traced his lips over her temple before facing the pastor. He’d attended three of his siblings weddings, and never had he felt this level of happiness and bliss before. He wondered if Kyler was bored, or Berlin was on her phone. He simply hadn’t realized how big of an event it was to marry someone he loved. A soulmate. A forever friend.

He understood now, and as Pastor Peters began reciting the vows they’d written for each other, Brennan couldn’t help feeling a little impatient.

The click, click, click of the wedding photographer sounded in his ears, indicating that it was almost time to do what he wanted to do most: Kiss his wife.

“Do you, Cora Michelle Wesley, take this man, Brennan Cody Fuller, to be your legally and lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health, for better or worse, for the time you both shall live on this earth?”

“Yes,” she said in a clear, loud voice that echoed off the concrete and the high ceilings.

Brennan’s whole body buzzed, and when it was his turn to say “Yes,” he did so in his proudest voice too.

“Then I pronounce you husband and wife.” The pastor smiled and stepped back. “You may kiss your bride.”

Cora giggled and traced those delicious fingernails along his neck and into his hair as he claimed her mouth with his.

“I love you,” he whispered among the cheers.

“I love—”

The rest of her sentence was cut off as both fire engine sirens wailed to life, deafening Brennan and startling him away from Cora. With his heartbeat racing and adrenaline pumping through him, he found Kent behind the wheel of one engine while Charlie was laughing behind the wheel of the other.

He looked at Cora, and they burst into laughter too. Laughter which filled his soul long after the sirens had quieted and they’d been ushered down the aisle and into a waiting limousine.

With the doors closed, Brennan brushed the rain from his shoulders and looked into his wife’s eyes.

“I got it all,” she said, shaking her head and smiling. “I didn’t think I would, but I did. I got you. I got the job. I got it all.”

He kissed her and tucked her into his side. He’d gotten her, and the possibility of a new future, with a new job. “I did too,” he whispered, sending a prayer of thanksgiving and gratitude heavenward for such blessings.