Face-Off at the Altar

by Toni Aleo

  But it scared him since he wasn’t sure for how long.

  Sitting in his chair, Markus looked around as the room filled up. If he had thought the room was gorgeous the other day, it was nothing compared to how it looked now. Candles illuminated the space, and it gave a romantic, subdued feel which was heightened by the fact that it was gloomy and chilly outside. The altar was decorated to perfection along with the aisle which was covered by a really pretty lace runner with Lucy’s and Benji’s names written in the middle. Flowers were everywhere, and all Markus could do was think that Benji had paid out the ass—and Grace Justice designed that ass off.

  It was gorgeous.

  Leaning back, he smiled as he made eye contact with Elli Adler as she came down the aisle, her five kids behind her and Shea bringing up the rear. It was striking how much the kids resembled their parents and how sweet they all looked in their matching dresses and suits. “Are these seats taken? I have a crew,” she said, and he laughed as he moved all the way down.

  “For the Adlers? Of course not, have a seat.”

  She smiled a thanks as she wrangled everyone into the row before sitting down beside Markus. “Goodness, Grace outdid herself. This is way better than our wedding.”

  Shea laughed. “And more expensive.”

  “Ours wasn’t that much!”

  Shea scoffed. “Even with my sibling discount, we’re still paying my money-hungry sister.”

  Rolling her eyes, she looked over at Markus. “He’s lying.” Markus laughed as she went on. “Excited for Wednesday?”

  “Really excited. Did you get my email about the tickets?”

  “I did, they’ll be waiting for Lamar and Yolanda Reeves.”

  Markus nodded. “Thank you.”

  “Of course! It will be a special day, for sure.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Everyone is excited,” Shea said over to him, and he grinned.

  “Me too. Nervous.”

  “Don’t be, you’re my clutch player, I just know it!” Elli cheered and Shea smiled.

  “She’s a bit excited for you.”

  “Wow, thanks, Elli,” he beamed, and Elli grinned back just as his phone chimed. “Jeez, my bad. I thought I shut that thing off.” Digging in his pocket, he pulled out his phone to see he had a text from Lucy.

  Lucy: I need you.

  His brow rose.

  Markus: Lucy, I’m a taken man. We can’t run away together.

  Lucy: Damn it, Markus, get back here.

  He almost laughed, but then he got worried. Was she okay? Getting up, he said, “I’ll be back.”

  “Okay!” Elli said, placing her purse in his seat. “I’ll hold your spot.”

  “Thanks.” He headed down the side of the rows to the stairs at the back of the building. He knew where the dressing rooms were since he had brought beer back earlier for the guys. But before he could even get there, he saw Lucy standing outside with Mark and Autumn. While he was curious as to what was going on, he was stunned by her beauty. Her dress was fitted, a beautiful ivory color and was made almost entirely of lace. The top was off the shoulder, framing her cleavage perfectly and hugging her in all the right ways. Her hair was up in a bun with braids, and her veil was attached at the back and draping down her shoulders. As she looked up, relief filling her face, he smiled at her soft makeup choices overall which were offset by her bright red lips.

  It was so Lucy, stunning.

  “Hey, Hottie McHot!” he called, and she rolled her eyes.

  “Oh, thank God,” she said, coming to him, the dress whooshing with each step.

  “I didn’t get the car for a getaway,” he said, and she smacked him.

  “Shut up,” she laughed. “I need a favor.”

  “What?”

  “Can you walk Mom down the aisle, so that I can have River and Dad walk me down?”

  There was no hesitation. “Duh, I’d love to.”

  “You rock, thank you,” she said before turning and nodding her head. “Mom, get River.”

  Her mother beamed back at Markus, and he smiled as she opened the door, calling River’s name. When he came out, his brows were pulled together as Lucy came toward him. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah,” she said, reaching for him and wrapping her arms around one of his as he looked around, confused. “I need to ask you something.”

  “Okay?”

  “You’ve been a big part of my life, a wonderful stepfather to me and stepgrandpa to Angie, and I want nothing more than to have you walk me down the aisle.”

  It took a moment, but then River’s lips curved as his eyes dusted with tears. Looking to Mark, he cleared his throat. “And you’re okay with this?”

  “You were there when I wasn’t. Figure we both deserve the honor of giving this beautiful woman away.”

  Mark held out his hand, and River glanced down at it before looking back up at Mark. Nodding his head, he took it. “Couldn’t agree more.” He turned to Lucy, wrapping her up in his arms. “I would be honored.”

  When Autumn wrapped her arms around Markus, he smiled over his shoulder at her as she leaned her head into his. “I’m so happy.”

  “Me too,” he agreed as Lucy hugged and kissed her two father figures. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mekena shooting away, getting every image of the special moment between Lucy, Mark, and River. When she glanced over at him, a sneaky and sexy grin on her face, his heart stopped. Her hair was up in a braid and out of her face. She wore a black dress that was modest, covering every inch of her, yet he still found her so damn sexy.

  Holding Markus tight, Autumn fought back the tears. “This is going to be a beautiful day.”

  “It sure as hell is,” he agreed, hugging her tightly to him before kissing her forehead.

  She stole his attention as she smiled. “You good, Markus?”

  His gaze went back to Mekena as she smiled, holding her camera up and snapping a picture of them together. Lowering her camera, she smiled as she blew him a kiss that he swore he felt in his soul. He nodded as his gaze held his girl’s and he whispered, “I am, Mom. I really am.”

  Mekena never cried at weddings.

  She did really well holding back her tears, but she was starting to think that was a thing of the past. Or maybe she had never experienced a Sinclair wedding.

  Mekena stood to the left of Lucy as she fought back the tears and snapped pictures left and right as Jace, Jude, and Jayden stood around their big sister, all of them with all the love in the world for her.

  “You’re sure? I can go get the car,” Jayden said, and Lucy laughed.

  “I’m already married to him!”

  “So? We can draw papers up in a jiffy,” Jace said, and everyone chuckled as she rolled her eyes.

  “I can have him killed,” Jude offered, and Lucy snorted.

  “Please, you can’t even kill a spider.”

  “Um, they have billions of babies,” he protested, and she giggled before wrapping her arms around her brothers. Snapping the photos, Mekena moved around them, hoping to catch each of their faces as they hugged each other, their eyes closed, the love radiating off them.

  Clearing her throat, Lucy whispered, “I love you guys. So much.”

  “I love you,” all three said before they pulled apart and she kissed each of them.

  “Okay, let’s do this. Everyone is waiting,” she said, ushering them out. But when she got to the door, she paused as Angie came to her, wrapping her arms around her waist.

  “Mommy, you’re so pretty.”

  Grasping her baby’s face, Lucy beamed. “Me? I can’t get over how gorgeous you are!”

  And she was. Angie wore a pale purple dress that looked more like a frothy cupcake than a dress. She looked like a sweet little young lady with her hair down in curls and wearing a crown to boot. She was beautiful.

  “Daddy is excited. He’s cried twice!”

  Lucy grinned. “Really? Well, you just watch. I bet you five bucks he’ll cry ag
ain.”

  “Duh! You’re so beautiful!” she said before wrapping her arms around her mother and kissing her on her cheek as Lucy leaned down. “I love you, Mom.”

  “I love you too, baby. Now go on, Jace is waiting for you.”

  Lucy let Angie go, and she ran to Jace as Lucy came to the doors, holding on to the doorframe as she took in a bracing breath. “I guess I need to get out there, huh, Mekena?”

  “Yup, everyone’s waiting.”

  Lucy nodded before gathering her skirt in her hand and heading out, Mekena snapping photos along the way. The hall they walked down was so long that she waited until Lucy was almost to the end before she took the picture, already seeing it in a black-and-white hue. As Mekena ran down the hall to catch up, she found Lucy with a grin on her face as she met River and Mark, who were waiting for her at the door. Everyone had already started down the stairs, Libby shooting those images since Mekena’s main responsibility was Lucy and everything she did. The doors were closed as Lucy took her bouquet from Grace and laced her arms with the two men.

  “We can run,” River suggested, and Mark nodded.

  “I can have a car in two seconds and divorce papers right behind that.”

  Lucy choked on a happy sob as Mekena grinned. “I want to marry Benji. Again.”

  “Good,” Mark said with a wink.

  “Yeah, the dude’s already crying. I think he wants to do this,” River said, and Lucy smiled as Grace held up her fingers, counting down.

  Right as the doors opened, Mekena heard the soft playing of a piano before she saw Avery at the instrument by the altar as she sang “I Get to Love You” by Ruelle.

  But Lucy’s gaze wasn’t on Avery for long before she saw Benji’s face. It was full of pure bliss as he started to tear up, bracing himself against his thighs, his jaw essentially on the ground as Lucy started down the stairs. It was by far the sweetest thing Mekena had ever seen.

  As Avery sang, the whole room was in tears as Lucy made her way down. The lights sparkled, and everyone was in complete awe of her. The dress she wore had a long train that added extra drama to the photos Mekena took. She wanted to say it was the moment that had her eyes misting, but it wasn’t. It was the lyrics to the song Avery sang that had Mekena struggling for breath as she snapped picture after picture. She wanted to look at Markus; she wanted to find him and wrap her arms around him because the song was everything she was feeling.

  Because loving Markus was the best thing she could ever do.

  She swallowed hard, hiding herself as she snapped pictures and the minister started the wedding. Benji was a mess, and it was a beautiful thing, especially when Lucy started to cry. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house, and if there had been, that changed as soon as Lucy opened her mouth.

  “I get to love you. For the rest of my whole life. That’s why I picked that song to walk down the aisle that brought me to the rest of my life. I never thought I would find someone who would love all this crazy, who would be so patient and understanding, but I did. I found you. And you love me, you love Angie, and you give us the world. I will never ever be able to thank you enough for all you do, for all the love you give. But I can promise you this,” she said, her voice breaking as Benji stared deep into her eyes. Wiping her own tears, Mekena held the camera up as she snapped a series of photos before Lucy continued. “I will love you unconditionally, even when you tell me I’m crazy. I won’t make fun of your collectibles, even when I know they’re just man toys.” He snorted with laughter along with everyone else in the room. “I’ll let you love me. I won’t fight what is perfect between us, and I will forever be yours. I love you, Benji Paxton, and in no way, shape, or form will that ever change.”

  Squeezing her hands, Benji grinned as he cleared his throat. “Lucy Lane Paxton…God, I love saying your last name,” he said, his voice clouded with tears.

  “Well, it’s yours, I’d hope so.”

  He laughed. “I love saying it with your name is what I mean, and I know this isn’t a surprise, but I’ve had these vows written and memorized since the day I asked you to be mine.”

  Lucy’s face broke into a grin as she nodded. “Nope, that is not surprising at all.”

  It blew Mekena away. She knew she was supposed to be working, but it was hard. It was just so amazing witnessing this beautiful union between the two of them. It was like neither of them knew they were in a room full of hundreds of people. It was just them—Lucy and Benji—and that made Mekena’s heart flutter.

  It felt like that when she was with Markus.

  “But that all changed last night,” he said, and her brows came together. “I sat at the rehearsal dinner with our daughter in my lap as your father stood across from me, saying all these wonderful things. Like how I stood beside you through all the fire in your life and I make you this beautiful person. And don’t get me wrong, I truly appreciated everything he said and I took it all to heart. But I don’t think they realize how much you saved me.” When his voice broke, Mekena’s tears started to flow like a river, as did his own. “I was walking this earth because I had to. I had no purpose, I had no reason. I was a lost soul, lonely and pathetic, but then you looked at me, this passion and anger in your eyes, stubbornly telling me you didn’t need me because you had YouTube, and you brushed me off. I should have walked away, my tail between my legs, but I’d never wanted to be needed by anyone in my life the way I wanted you to need me. But truthfully, you still don’t need me. You’re the strongest woman I have ever met in my life, and I’m completely okay with you not needing me because, damn it, you want me.”

  Lucy’s lip quivered as she nodded. “I do.”

  Bringing her in closer, he cupped her face as his eyes bored into hers. “While I have stood next to you—and I will forever stand next to you—I need you to know I am in debt to you for saving me. For giving me a purpose in this thing called life. For giving me a chance to love you and be the father and husband you two deserve. I messed up the first time and lost everything. I will never, ever mess up with you. I doubt you’d let me, plus, I don’t want to fail either of you. I want to be a great father, someone Angie will love and look up to. I want her to see what love is, and I want her to know how to be treated by a man. But I also want you to know. I want you to wake up every day and be happy—even when it’s hard. I want you to know that I’ll always be there, that I will want and need you, both of you, because you both complete me. I love you, Lucy. I always will.”

  Wiping her face, Mekena swallowed hard as Lucy leaned her head into his and Angie ran to him, wrapping her arms around him. “Daddy, I love you too.”

  As an audible aww went through the room, Benji wrapped an arm around Angie, along with Lucy, holding his girls close to him as the minister said, “Beautiful just beautiful. Now, I think I know the answers, but it’s part of this, so Lucy Lane Paxton, do you take Benjamin Walter Paxton to be your husband? Again?”

  “I do. A thousand times over, I do.”

  Benji beamed as the minister turned to him. “And do you, Benjamin Walter Paxton, take Lucy Lane Paxton to be your wife, once more?”

  “I always do.”

  “I do too,” Angie said then, and everyone laughed as Benji hugged them closer.

  With a wide grin and tears in his eyes, the minister said, “Well, all you gotta do is kiss the girl now—both of them. They’re yours, Benji.”

  “Hell yeah, they are,” he said, crushing his mouth to Lucy’s as the room erupted into cheers.

  But Mekena wasn’t cheering, she was crying.

  Happy tears.

  Because she wanted the same thing Lucy and Benji had.

  She was supposed to be taking pictures, and she prayed Libby caught what she missed since she just had to look at him. But when she found him at the front, sitting next to Lucy’s mom, Markus wasn’t watching Lucy and Benji kiss.

  He was watching her.

  And with a wide grin, he mouthed, “I love you.”

  Right then, she knew h
er world was complete.

  After cleaning up her face and shooting a ton of family pictures, along with photos of just Lucy, Benji, and Angie, Mekena leaned against the door while she waited for Benji and Lucy to come out of her dressing room. Lucy had to change into her reception dress…or at least that’s what she claimed she was doing. But that was fine, it gave Mekena a moment to just breathe.

  The wedding had been overwhelming.

  Lucy was so happy, so in love, and Mekena knew she felt the same. The overpowering love for another person knocked the breath out of her. She knew she loved Markus, she knew she always would, but when he wanted to give up his family for her, it had never rung truer. He was an all-or-nothing kind of person, they both were, but it overwhelmed her. It was all happening so fast. She was happy, she was, but she was also scared.

  What if his parents still hated her, and he decided he couldn’t let them go once more for her? She had heard him on the phone and his conditions, but was that fair of her? He loved his parents—though, they were more full of themselves than of him, but that was beside the point. He shouldn’t have to have one or the other; he should get it all, the whole world.

  Did that mean they wouldn’t make it?

  Wait, no, she wouldn’t put a time limit on them. She wouldn’t wait for the other shoe to drop. No, she would be fucking happy because she loved him. She wouldn’t be a Libby. She would be a Mekena, and while she was usually a very planned-out and cautious person, she was done with that. She’d throw all caution to the wind, she would live each day to its fullest because she knew he loved her and she loved him. If she didn’t get the job, she didn’t care. They’d work it out. And if she did and he was sent back to Florida, that was fine, too. They would make it work because he deserved everything that made him happy, and that was Mekena.

  She was his happiness as he was hers.

  Leaning her head against the wall, she heard Lucy laugh and she smiled. She wanted to be a Benji and Lucy, and damn it, she was going to make that happen.

  “I haven’t seen you this happy in a long time.”