by Mia Kayla
“Oh, hey. Uh … well—”
My jaw tightened. “Call them and stop the tail, all right?”
“I’m sorry,” he said, not at all apologetic. “There has been a string of robberies around the neighborhood, and I wanted to make sure—”
“Call them off, Mason.”
He sighed. “Okay. I will.”
I shook my head, and Becky laughed. This wasn’t the first time that Mason had had our security guards tail Becky or the girls. After Mary and Becky had been kidnapped, Mason had had a tail on them for a month. It was only when Becky had gone head-to-head with the security personnel following them that we discovered that Mason had hired them.
Becky was cautious, still always aware of her surroundings, still getting spooked from time to time when she heard loud noises. I guessed that was a good thing to a point, as long as fear didn’t own her.
“Your brothers …” she said, laughing and cuddling close.
“Are over the top,” I finished for her.
“In the best possible way,” she added.
We sat at the bench. I’d liked to call it our bench now because it was where we sat every time we came here. We’d watch the girls jump from the monkey bars, run up the slide, and rush to the swing.
“I can’t believe how time is flying,” Becky said absently as I rubbed her shoulder. “The school year is over, and now, summer is here.” She pushed her hair out of her face, but the wind blew it forward, causing her to huff and push it back again.
“Here.” I pulled back her hair and tucked it in the back of her shirt, which caused her to laugh.
She threw me a look—her playful, annoyed look—which made me pull her closer and into my lap.
“I’m going to have to secure you right here so that your hair doesn’t fly everywhere.”
She was in my lap, facing the front.
I leaned in closer, whispering in her ear, “Let’s get away. Me and you.” I had a secret plan on proposing to Becky, but we hadn’t had the opportunity to get away, just the two of us.
A small smirk tugged at her lips. “Where?”
“Anywhere. I haven’t planned anything, and it’s about time we got away, just us.”
Her eyes shone with an inner glow. “What about the girls?”
I shrugged. “The guys can watch them for a week.”
She sat up straighter, facing me fully this time. “But I want to take them. I want our first trip to be as a family, all of us—Brad and Mason and Janice if they want to go too.”
I held back my grimace at the mention of Janice. And the idea of my brothers tagging along didn’t appeal to me, not when I wanted to be alone with my girl for once.
Becky’s stare flickered back to the girls, now on the seesaw, and then back to meet my eyes. “We’ll have so many opportunities to take trips with just the two of us. But, I’m still getting to know the girls. My first vacation … I really want it to be all of us.”
I sighed, feeling myself giving in to her even though I wanted her all to myself.
This woman. I didn’t think I could love her any more than I already did.
I raised a dubious eyebrow. “You know where they’ll want to go, right?”
We both responded at the same time, “Disney World.”
She sighed into me. “I’ve never been even though I lived in Florida.” Her smile widened. “We can even take Patty. She doesn’t live far from Disney.”
I took her chin and angled it closer to me, kissing her. “Disney it is.” Because I couldn’t help but give in to her. Her hold over me was powerful in the best possible way, and I vowed to give her whatever she wanted for the rest of our lives together.
She jumped out of my arms, as though the news were a burst of caffeine in her veins. “Girls! We’re going to Disney!”
Mary stilled mid-climb up the slide. Sarah dropped her feet, stopping the swing. And then they both screeched with excitement and ran at warp speed toward us, hugging Becky and jumping and cheering as though they’d won a real, live unicorn.
I shook my head. The girls had been four times already, but they clearly never got sick of it.
Mary bum-rushed me, and I bent down and took her in my arms. Her small hands squished my cheeks, forcing me to make a fishy face. “Thank you, Daddy!” Then, she kissed my lips.
Mary motioned for Becky and Sarah to come closer. “Bubble. I want my bubble.”
“Dad,” Sarah said, her cheeks red with excitement, “are we really going to Disney for summer break?”
I smiled down at her. “Yep.”
“Well, it is the happiest place on earth,” Becky added, her own glow spreading over her beautiful face.
I held out my free arm, bringing the rest of my family in. I was now surrounded with everything I would ever need in life. “No, this, right here”—I pulled them into our bubble of love—“is the happiest place on earth.”
Epilogue
Sweat lined the top of my brow, and as I swiped my forehead with the handkerchief Mason handed me, I knew it wasn’t the summer weather that was causing my perspiration. Plus I was inside, seated in the dining room, watching the waitstaff I’d hired move about the house, getting the food ready for the reception.
I was afraid to move, let alone undo my bow tie.
"You look nervous." Mason laughed, standing right beside me.
"Me? Nervous?" I shifted, placing my elbows on my thighs. I hadn't done this in a while. And if it was up to me, it would be the last time I ever did.
“This is what you wanted, Charles. This is what you need,” Mason said.
"Yeah, I’m just excited to get all the formalities over. I need to get to the kiss-the-bride part, then the drinking part.” I smiled, though nothing could calm my nerves.
Standing in front of the boardroom was different than standing in front of three dozen people, with them watching you proclaim your love to the woman you were going to spend the rest of your life with.
I should have nixed the idea of inviting more than a handful of people, but I relinquished all wedding planning to Mason, who was more than up for it with his type A, organized ways.
“It’ll be fine.” One strong hand landed on my shoulder. “It’s a quick ceremony by Minister McKinnley. No more than fifteen minutes. I’ve timed his recorded ceremonies on line.” He squeezed my shoulder. “Give or take a few minutes.”
Mason glanced at his watch. “Speaking of the minister, he’s five minutes late.” He plucked his phone from his back pocket, then dialed. He walked away, with one hand on his hip.
“Hey, groom-to-be. Again.” Brad strolled in with a bacon-wrapped asparagus, half hanging from his mouth and another in a napkin in his hand. “I’m here to tell you that the girls are ready and waiting upstairs. Twenty minutes till go time.”
“I specifically told the waitstaff to keep the food from you until after the ceremony,” I said.
He laughed. “That would only work if your staff wasn’t predominantly female.” Brad wiggled his eyebrows in a playful manner. “Let’s just say, I have my ways.”
“What?” Mason’s heightened tone had us turning in his direction. “This is bullshit. You couldn’t find a replacement? This is your one job. Whatever. I’m done.” Then he ended the call and turned to face us, eyes wide.
“Minister McKinnley is sick.”
I jolted up and stood. “What?” I swallowed, then ran both hands through my hair. Bad idea, since my hairstylist was one of the guests invited. No officiant. Shit. Shit. Shit. Now what?
Mason rubbed at the back of his neck and glanced at his watch again. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of this. I had a backup for the food, a secondary waitstaff on call. Not once did I think the officiant wouldn’t show up.” When Mason let out a jagged sigh, Brad laughed.
And the look on Mason’s face told me, now was not the time to mess with him. He was out for blood at Brad’s simple reaction. “You think this is funny?” Mason said, his tone menacingly low.
/> “Yes.”
When he took a step forward, I placed myself between them.
Brad shrugged his shoulders, unaffected. “I wouldn’t be laughing if I didn’t already have a solution.”
Mason scoffed. “Do you have an officiant up your sleeve that’s readily available? Do you? Do you!”
Mason’s voice turned frantic.
Brad’s smiled widened. “Actually I do. Up my sleeve. In my pants. In this tux.”
I couldn’t read between the lines. I needed it spelled out. “What have you got, Brad?”
“I’m an ordained minister.”
“What! When?” Mason and I spoke at the same time.
“Remember when Jimmy got married a few years back?”
His question was returned with blank faces. Jimmy was his high school friend, but I had no clue the guy was even married.
“Anyways, Jimmy had to get married a few years back. He needed a shotgun wedding.” Brad patted his chest. “It took an hour to get legally ordained online.”
My mouth slipped ajar. I could hug him but it was too late, Mason had jump-hugged him first. “For once, I thank God for your crazy antics.”
Brad was so shell-shocked into surprise, his arms stayed glued to his side. “You’re welcome.”
Mason cleared his throat, without looking at any of us, obviously embarrassed. “I’ll make sure everything else is running smoothly. Got to check on the waitstaff and the guests … and the girls.” His voice trailed off as he continued listing who he needed to check in with.
“Well, that was awkward,” Brad said.
“You liked it. I could tell,” I joked.
“So, should I print something out and read it or just wing the whole thing.”
He asked the question as though he hadn’t already made a solid decision.
He slipped an arm over my shoulders. “Ready to get married?”
After flattening out my disheveled hair, I nodded. I was still in disbelief that Brad, of all people, would be the one officiating the wedding.
Becky:
The dress was a slinky stretch slip white gown with baguette-encrusted halter straps that led to a low back. The gown hugged my hips and accentuated my slim figure. It was simple, yet flattering and perfectly me.
When Mason had set me up with one of the wedding planners to look for a dress, I’d felt like Cinderella. They’d picked me up from the Brisken estate in a limo, whisked me away for high tea at the Peninsula to discuss my perfect wedding dress and then off to designer bridal boutiques to pick the dress of my dreams.
The lights flashing from the photographers could not have caught a more perfect picture.
As I peered at myself through the floor-length mirror with my two girls beside me, holding my hands, my throat closed up and I blinked back tears, afraid to ruin my makeup.
I couldn’t believe that this was my life now. I’d come from nothing, hadn’t known my father and had lived with my deadbeat mother until she went to jail, I was in and out of foster care. Just thinking of my life before and my life now had the first tear falling down my cheek.
“Becky, your makeup.” Linda, one of the wedding planners, approached with a pressed compact, ready to touch up my cheeks but I raised a hand to stop her.
“I’m fine.”
“I’m sure you are, but your makeup is not.” Her voice was stern, her eyebrows narrowed.
Mary squeezed my hand and in the next second she tugged me forward, placing both of her tiny hands on my cheeks. “Why are you crying? Aren’t you happy?”
“Mary, careful of Becky’s makeup.”
I didn’t appreciate the tone in Linda’s voice and I shot her a look. “Can you please give me and my girls a few minutes?”
There must have been something on my face that told this woman there was only one correct answer to my question, because without another word, Linda and her team of five—yes five—were out the door.
My attention was back on Mary as soon as the doors shut and I bent down and rested my elbows on my knees to get into her line of sight. “I am happy. These are happy tears. I promise you.” I turned my attention to Sarah who had this blinding smile that lit up my insides. I cupped her cheek. “You just don’t understand. From someone who didn’t have much of a family before to having you girls …” My words got stuck in my throat from all the emotions running through me.
Sarah placed her hand on top of mine on her cheek. “And Daddy.”
More tears.
“And Daddy,” I repeated, my voice soft and full of emotion.
“And don’t forget Uncle Brad and Uncle Mason,” Mary added, wrapping her arms around my center.
“I love you, Becky.” Mary full-on crushed me, followed by Sarah.
I couldn’t get out the words I repeated before bedtime, before we hung up on the phone, before I dropped them off for school. Not because they weren’t true anymore or that I didn’t mean them with every fiber of my being. Simply because the emotions of uttering those words were so overwhelmingly powerful that I was a nanosecond from washing away all of my makeup with even more tears. “You girls …” I swallowed and tried hard to make the tears cease. “Are my whole world.” Now and forever, I silently promised them.
The knock on the door had us peering up to see a not-so-happy Linda. “It’s showtime.”
After we all stood from—as Mary would call it—our bubble of love, Linda came over and fluffed out the girls’ white tulle bridesmaid dresses. They seemed more like flower girl dresses to me, but Sarah noted that they were my bridesmaids since I didn’t have anyone else standing up.
After Linda retouched my makeup, my fingers intertwined with my two little girls. Because they were mine now. Today I would claim them in front of an audience, even though I’d already claimed them long ago in my heart.
We walked hand in hand down the stairs, passing some of the waitstaff and other coordinators. They oohed and aahed at my dress, at my hair done up in a ponytail of flowing curls. I felt like a queen, but more than that, my heart was so filled to the brim with joy that I’d thought it would burst.
I closed my eyes briefly, lifting my face to the skies, taking in the summer sun on my cheeks, the breeze from the light wind against my skin. When I opened them and walked further into the backyard, I took in the decor, the flowers, the guests.
Long tables were set at the outskirts of the pool and the pool? For tonight, it was a lit dance floor. Mason had hired someone to place a covering on top of the pool so we could dance on it. It still freaked me out to think that at any moment we could fall, but Mason assured everyone that we’d be fine. Knowing him, he’d done the research on the reputability of the company that had installed it.
The Brisken brothers went above and beyond to make this the wedding of the century. A champagne wall was set up to the right of the pool. A donut wall right next to it. Candles were everywhere. On pedestals in every corner. On top of the tables. On top of the highboy tables toward the far end of the backyard. And the flowers were intense. Pillars of pink and purple roses and hydrangeas were stationed every few feet and scattered throughout the backyard.
Mary practically pulled me past the pool, where there were rows of white chairs. I knew when we’d reached our destination when not too far past the tree house, I spotted a wall of roses with our initials.
With all the guests standing on either side of me and holding my girls’ hands, I walked down the aisle, over the rose petals that were made into a swirly pattern, toward my forever and final destination—Charles. He stood tall, powerful, and insanely handsome in his classic tuxedo. Right beside him stood his brothers, the ones who took me in as their own, the ones I knew I could count on.
And when our eyes locked, my breath caught because I could read all the emotion and love swimming through his chocolate-brown irises.
It was only after Sarah and Mary had hugged their father and he took my hand in his hand that I realized I’d been crying.
He cupped my face
and leaned in, brushing my tears with his thumbs. “Don’t do that, beautiful. I hate it when you cry.”
I pulled his hands down and smiled. “It’s happy tears, I promise.”
“Good.” He angled closer, his lips a millimeter from mine, when Brad placed his mic in between us.
“Not yet, big bro. I didn’t say kiss the bride.” He cleared his throat and motioned with his hands behind us.
In the heat of the moment and run by emotions, I almost forgot that we had an audience.
Most of the guests were the Brisken family’s friends but front and center and seated next to Mary and Sarah was Patty, all dressed in an elegant summery floral chiffon dress.
Brad tapped the mic to get everyone’s attention. “Hear ye. Hear ye.”
My eyes flew to Charles who was grinning.
“The minister didn’t show up, so guess who is officiating this wedding?” He tapped his chest with a light hand. “The one and only—me.” He took an overexaggerated bow.
My eyes widened and I expected Brad to drop the mic with those mic-dropping words, but he continued.
“Don’t worry, I’ve done this once before and the couple is still married.” He laughed at his own joke, while the guests were still in awe. I knew the feeling.
Mason rubbed at his brow, then his hair, then his arm, then repeated the motion again.
“So I tried to pick a quote to begin this ceremony. Well, that’s what Google told me to do, so I did. I was searching for the perfect line and the first that popped up was, ‘Marriage is like a walk in the park …’ ” He paused for a dramatic effect. “Jurassic Park.”
The audience laughed. “The Jurassic crazy part happened before today, so technically they weren’t married yet.” He blew out a long breath and the smile slipped from his face as he eyed the room, his gaze landing on Mary before sweeping back to ours. “We’ve seen enough craziness for a lifetime. Although Becky and Charles’s start was a rocky one—one plucked straight from a horror film—that’s okay, because right here, right now … this is their new beginning.” His eyes grew soft and he pressed his free hand to his chest. “And I see years and years of happiness, of joy and lots of nieces and nephews in my immediate future.” He focused all his attention on Charles, then. “You deserve this, this love. Because you are one of the greatest men I know. And you deserve an epic love story made for the movies because you have given up everything for this family and now it’s your turn to be happy.”
