Kellan grinned and looked down. "That means a lot to me. Thank you."

From the expression on the D-Bags' faces, I knew they were all sticking close to Kellan during the holiday, so I didn't even ask. I wasn't sure about Justin's schedule, though; I couldn't remember where his band was at. After I asked him, he told me, "We've got one more gig tonight, then we're free 'til next week." Leaning over, he asked Hailey and Riley, "Hey, you guys wanna see Avoiding Redemption tonight? Maybe hang backstage with some rock stars?" Gavin cleared his throat, and Justin snapped his head to him. "With your permission, of course."

Since Hailey and Riley were begging and bouncing up and down in their seats, Gavin really didn't have a choice but to say yes. Pointing at Hailey, he added, "You keep an eye on your brother. And no drinking."

Hailey rolled her eyes, then turned to Kellan. "See what I have to put up with."

Kellan gave her a crooked smile. "Yeah, he's a real brute." I raised my eyebrow at Kellan's comment, but his expression was amused, not pained, so I felt okay to laugh.

While light chuckles went around the room, my gaze shifted to Denny and Abby. "What about you two? When are you heading back?"

Denny put his arm around Abby, pulling her in close. "Well, this is Abby's first Thanksgiving in the states, and she wanted the full holiday experience. She even made me promise to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with her on television." He rolled his eyes while Abby gave him a playful scowl. I chuckled at the annoyance on Denny's face, but I knew better. He was probably looking forward to giving Abby a dream holiday, parade-watching included; there really wasn't much Denny wouldn't do for the person he loved.

Denny laughed at the look on Abby's face, then told me, "We talked about it on the flight over, and we've decided to stay through the holiday."

Abby patted his chest. Her engagement ring sparkled in the rays coming through the open window, matching her personality. "Denny's taking me to see the parade in person!" She giggled, and I could tell she was truly overjoyed about watching enormous balloons traversing through the city above elaborately decorated floats.

From across the room, Griffin discretely coughed, "Wuss." Anna giggled, but respectfully elbowed him. I thought defending Denny was pretty big of her, since he wasn't her favorite person. I guess his showing up here had really impressed her.

Smiling that everyone was staying for a few days, I stood up. "Well, I have a proposition then."

Walking around to Kellan's bag of belongings on the nightstand, I rummaged through it until I found the zip-top bag holding his promise ring. Kellan watched me with curious eyes as I removed the small bag from the larger one. Opening it, I fished out his ring and showed it to him.

Gingerly sitting on the edge of his bed, I reached across him for his left hand; my shoulder ached a little with the movement, but it was already feeling much better. Heart hammering in nerves and excitement, I told him, in a low voice meant only for his ears, "Kellan Kyle, you are the love of my life. You have my heart from now until the end of forever. Will you please make me the happiest woman on earth and marry me . . . Thursday."

After I slid the ring on his finger, Kellan cinched my hand. Eyes bright, he asked, "You want to get married on Thanksgiving . . . here?" He looked around the clinical room, the mechanical bed he'd only left a couple of times so far. It didn't exactly scream romance.

Content with my decision, I nodded. "The where doesn't matter . . . just the who. I can't wait another month to officially marry you, and what better way could we celebrate a day of giving thanks than by becoming husband and wife?" I indicated the people in the room staring at us. "The most important people in our lives are already here." I frowned. "Except Jenny and the girls. We'll just have to fly them back out to us. They should really be here for this."

Evan was leaning against a wall, his face bursting with uncontainable happiness. "Not a problem. I'll have Jujube gather the girls and head on over. She wouldn't want to miss this." He twisted his lips. "And I would never hear the end of it if she did."

And just like that, the entire moment felt perfect. I looked back at Kellan. "See? This is how we were supposed to get married."

Kellan's face shifted from surprise to wonder. "You'll really be my wife . . ."

Laughing as my eyes moistened, I gave him a soft kiss. "And you'll really be my husband."

From behind me, I heard my mother loudly exhale. "Here, Kiera? Really?"

I turned to look at her. She had a rigid frown as she looked around the room. "But we already sent out the invitations. We have family coming in from out of state, cousins you haven't seen in a decade or more. And everything is ready at our church. There's going to be a potluck after the ceremony. Polly is bringing her world-famous baked beans, and Gertrude is so excited to play the organ for you. She's ninety-eight, Kiera. She's only got a year or two left in her . . ."

Baked beans? Schooling my features, I risked a glance at Anna; she was quietly dying with laughter.

Standing, I walked over to Mom and grabbed her shoulders. "Mom, I almost lost my husband yesterday. I don't want to wait another minute to become his wife. Will you please help me get married on Thursday?"

A long, fat tear rolled down Mom's cheek. "Of course I will."

I dried her skin. "Good, then find someone who can marry us on really, really short notice."

Mom immediately went into active planning mode. "Okay, I'm sure somebody around here is qualified to marry people." She started pacing. "We'll need to spruce the place up a bit, get some flowers." She looked over at Kellan's many get-well bouquets, bouquets that had been steadily growing once fans realized he was here. "Oh, well, those will work." Gently bouncing Gibson, her face fell as she twisted to me. "Oh, your dress . . . I should have brought it with me. It was perfect."

I tried to look disappointed, but I'd heard all about the puffy-sleeved fiasco from my sister. Giving Mom a consoling smile, I shrugged. "Yeah, that is too bad. But Anna and I will find something, I'm sure."

Anna sprang to her feet. "And we'll get you your marriage license." She winked at me. I suspected that both people were supposed to apply for them at the same time, but Kellan was sort of bed-prone at the moment. I had no doubt about Anna's ability to persuade people, though, especially men. God, I hoped the person in the county clerk's office was a man.

Mom did the unthinkable and handed Gibson over to someone else. Griffin took his daughter back as Mom told the room that she needed a phone, a phonebook, a pad of paper, and another espresso-pronto! Gavin left to get my mom some coffee while Dad ransacked the room to get her everything else she needed to make my impromptu wedding a reality. I was elated as I watched her get to work.

Anna tugged on my arm. There was a glow in her green eyes that matched Mom's. "Let's go find you a dress today!"

Giggling, I skipped over to Kellan and gave him a light kiss. "We'll be back in a little bit. Will you be all right here?" Kellan looked just as euphoric as I felt as he nodded. In pain or not, I knew he was the happiest that he'd ever been. I knew, because that's exactly how I felt. I was getting married!

Griffin nodded at Anna when she asked if he could watch Gibson while we were shopping. From the way he was holding his child, it was pretty obvious that he hadn't been going to give her up anyway. Anna had just fed her not too long ago, but we'd have to make this outing on the short side. At least, on the short side for my sister; she could spend an entire day in just the shoe section.

After Kellan begged me for a final kiss, Griffin murmured, "Your wedding day is Thanksgiving. That's convenient." He pointed at Kellan. "You probably won't forget your anniversary." He looked over at Anna. "We shoulda done that. I already forgot ours."

Anna smirked at Griffin while Kellan's lip twitched. "Uh, it won't always be on Thanksgiving, Griff."

He looked horribly confused. "Huh? Yeah, it will."

Kellan bit his lip. I could tell he was trying really hard not to laugh, since laughing hurt. "Thanksgiving isn't on the same day every year. It moves around."

Griffin glared at Kellan. "Don't even try f**king with me, Kell." He tapped his finger to his head. "I'm on to you."

I heard Matt and Evan snigger with Justin and Denny. My dad stared at the ceiling as he shook his head. I couldn't contain my giggle; poor Kellan had to take long, slow exhales so he didn't laugh with everyone else. "Griff, I'm not . . ."

Still laughing, I patted Kellan's leg. "You should probably just let this one go."

A laugh escaped Kellan, and he lightly held his stomach. "Damn idiot," he muttered, his face scrunched in discomfort.

Feeling like Kellan was in good hands, I squeezed his leg and headed out of the room with Anna. Once in the hallway, she whispered, "Thanksgiving really isn't on the same day every year?" I almost stopped myself from laughing at her. Almost.

I explained to Carly what we were planning as Anna called a cab. The helpful nurse seemed a little surprised, since I'd told her that Kellan and I were already married, but a romantic smile lit her face as she agreed to help us out. When Anna and I exited the hospital, our cab was waiting for us near the front doors. I was surprised by the number of fans loitering around the hospital. The window in Kellan's room hadn't given me a full view of them. Not only were they directly across the street, but they were also along the side streets, huddled at the street corners and in large clumps around the entrances. The various groups started pointing and whispering when they noticed me.

Probably remembering the footage she had watched of me accidentally being pushed into the street by a mob, Anna was immediately on edge. "Let's hurry and get in the cab, Kiera."

I couldn't stop staring at the mass of people waiting, though. They looked genuinely distraught; some were even wiping tears away. Tears. For Kellan. It broke my heart. I was sure no one from the hospital had given these people any clue as to how Kellan was doing. They had probably only asked them to leave, or at least repeatedly asked them to stay out of the way. Tory had issued a dramatic statement to the press, but a blurb from a record label wasn't exactly comforting. Maybe I could be comforting.

Feeling every muscle in my stomach tighten, I locked gazes with my sister. "I'll be right back."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "What are you doing?"

Swallowing, I looked back at the crowd. What the hell was I doing? "I just want to let them know he's okay."

As Anna and I started to cross the street, the crowd along the sidewalk seemed to simultaneously shift in our direction. My whole body started shaking. I fought down my fear and anxiety and approached them with my head high. How did Kellan conquer his nerves when he first started going on stage? Do I picture the crowd nak*d? Unfortunately, I was the only one I could picture nak*d, and that wasn't helping my anxiety any. Instead of picturing them, or me, I imagined Kellan beside me, walking toward his eager fans with a charming half-smile on his face. I thought of the symbiotic relationship he had with these people, how important they were to each other, and how I could help bridge the gap between them today. My nerves vanished.

As soon as I got close enough, the fans started speaking. And all of them were asking me variations of the same question: Is Kellan okay? I held up my hands, and they instantly quieted.

In a more confident voice than I ever believed I was capable of using when addressing a swarm of people, I told them, "Kellan wanted me to tell all of you that he's fine." Remembering his pained face whenever he stood or laughed, I added, "Sore . . . but fine." As tears pricked my eyes, I brought my hands to my heart. "He is touched beyond words that you're here, sending out your love and well-wishes, and I know he would come down and thank each one of you individually if he could. Your support means a lot to him. To us. And we can't thank you enough."

The emotion of the last twenty-four hours caught up to me. It sealed my throat shut and forced the water in my eyes to run down my cheeks. As I hastily brushed tears away, I heard the crowd murmuring grateful thank-yous. As I turned to leave, someone in the back shouted, "Are you really his wife?"