The pipe organ changes to Here Comes The Bride, the vibrating notes filling the room. Everyone stands. Taryn and Laura take their places across from us.
Annie appears, her hand resting on her father’s arm. My heart leaps into my throat at her beauty, the small flowers framing her face like a crown. Her eyelashes flutter and she looks at me, biting her bottom lip in a sweet smile. I walk down the steps to meet her, and see for the first time her mother behind her, fidgeting over the train of her gown. “Mom!” she whispers.
Mrs. O’Brien rises and rushes up to stand in front of Laura and Taryn.
Mr. O’Brien takes Annie’s hand from his arm and hands it to me. “You take care of my little girl.”
“I will, sir.” I bow to him and look at her. The room disappears as I stare at the mother of my child, my beautiful bride, the one I almost let slip away. Somewhere in the back of my mind I know I’m supposed to lead her up the stairs now, but I can’t think of anything but kissing her, so I pull her to me and give her a long, slow, kiss. The room goes into uproarious applause with some crying out in laughter, “Hey! NOT YET!!” and others, “BRAVO!! BRAVO!!”
Annie’s laughing against my lips and I take her hand and turn, walking up the steps to face the priest. He’s looking at us like he hasn’t seen that before. “Well, now! Let’s begin!”
Chapter Sixty-Five
Annie
Please, if I’m dreaming, don’t wake me. If you do, I’ll seriously kick your a**. (I had to curb the language out of respect to the location I’m standing in. But I have a feeling God thinks my sense of humor, and swearwords, are funny. (S)He did invent them, and me, after all.)
As we go through all the nuances and speeches of the ceremony, Brendan and I clasp each other’s hands, casting sideways smiles to each other. When we finally get to the vows, the priest asks us to face one another. I look up at Brendan, so handsome, smiling at me in his tux. He reaches out, touches my protruding belly and whispers to it, “You get to be here for this, Jacob.” That’s when the first tear escapes down my cheek.
“Annie and Brendan have their own vows they’d like to share with us today,” the priest announces to the room.
Into my lover’s eyes, I smile. “Brendan, I vow to be yours and only yours. I vow to tell you I love you, even when we argue. I vow to make space for you to be the man you are, and to be a part of your team, to hold my space proudly beside you. Us against the world. I vow to be loyal to you in words and action. To support you as you grow and change through the years. I vow to love you until death do us part, and even way after that!”
He smiles at my addition, but then gets very serious, looking into my eyes with earnestness and presence. “Annie, I vow to be yours and only yours. I vow to tell you I love you even when we argue. I vow to spend my days making you smile until your cheeks hurt. I vow to stick by you as the years pass and as we grow old. I vow to be loyal to you in words and actions. I vow to hear your take on life, treasure your opinion and contribution as you always treasure mine. And Annabelle, O’Brien soon-to-be Clark, I vow to love you until death do us part and way the fuck after that, too.”
I laugh, tears blurring my vision. “Don’t swear in front of the baby.”
He grins. The priest chuckles and asks, “Do we have the rings?”
Mark steps forward and presents them to us. We both take each other’s ring. Brendan slides mine slowly onto my finger as I stare into his proud eyes. “With this ring, I’m yours.”
I take his and slide it on his finger. “With this ring, I’m yours.”
The priest declares, “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.” Then he adds, quickly, “Again.”
Everyone applauds as Brendan grabs me and kisses me in a way that would have made past generations blush. He finishes with a dip, holding me firmly under my back as I laugh and receive a million tiny kisses all over my face.
He stands me up and takes my hand to face everyone.
They all go nuts. Nicole, who I’ve come to love, cheers louder than everyone else and I throw a grin her way and mouth, you’re next. Her eyes go round and she shakes her head really quickly.
“Ready?” Brendan asks me.
“Yep!” He guides pregnant me down the steps and brings my hand to his lips as we pass by our applauding friends and family. “I trapped you, Freckles. You’re mine now”
We head for the limo Mark and Bobby have covered with whipped cream and beer cans. In soap, it says, Another One Bites The Dust. As Brendan opens the door for me, people are running out behind us, throwing birdseed. I climb in, carefully, and gaze up at him, outlined above me by sunlight. “No, Brendan Clark. I trapped you. Aren’t I the sly one?”
“What are you going to do with me now that you’ve got me, Mrs. Clark?”
I shrug, and adjust my dress around my ankles, dragging the long train into the car and tucking it near my ankles. “Well, Mr. Clark, I guess I’ll just have to love you forever.”
“I guess you will,” he grins and closes the door, bowing to the audience standing outside the church. “We’ll see you at the reception!” They applaud as he runs over and jumps in the other side of the limo.
The driver asks through the open divider. “We’re going to reception hall first. I’ll make myself scarce until you call. But, after that, where are you headed?”
“After that?” Brendan kisses me with no signs of stopping. I laugh and peek over to see the driver smile and close the divider.
I respond to his kiss, joy filling my heart. “Where are we headed after that?”
He puts his hand on my belly, rubbing it as he whispers against my lips, “To a life now worth living.”
THE END.
Thank You.
Thank you for purchasing Reaching For You, book two in the “Anything For You” series. If you enjoyed the Annie and Brendan’s love story, please consider leaving a review to help other readers like you, find them.
To read an excerpt, the first chapter of Searching For You, please turn the page. Love and light, Faleena
Brendan - from “Searching For You” - Finale
Married a few months. Wife: not happy.
My wife looks up at me with a disapproving frown. “It’s too small. I need a bigger one.”
I manage to keep a straight face. “Honey. Never say that to me again.”
Annie blinks, then bursts out laughing, her bright blue eyes sparkling under the lights of the converted parking lot on Castro Street as she points to another Christmas tree further down the aisle, an eight foot tall fir dangerously being admired by another couple. “I want that one.”
“Uh-oh.”
She grabs my shoulder with both hands, whispering, “Steal it before they get it!”
“Now there’s the holiday spirit,” I chuckle, to which she gives me a playful grin.
“You can do it, honey!”
Clearing my throat and disengaging my hands from my coat-pockets, I hastily head over to the couple, side-stepping two children running by in San Francisco winter-wear, little boots crunching along fallen pine needles, and of course, no snow.
It’s only two days before Christmas so the lot isn’t as plentiful as it once was, but we’ve just now gotten around to shopping for our first tree since this is the first time either of us has done this since we became adults. I guess we were procrastinating out of inexperience. Mark and I never bought a tree when we were roommates for the five years after college. Sara and I had one in college but I have chosen to forget that. Annie, having been a full-on Goth girl back then, celebrated Halloween more than Christmas, and when she left that darkness behind her and went to Italy, she celebrated at her ex-boyfriend’s mother’s house. She and Christiano didn’t get a tree of their own. He was older and she told me he felt it was something meant for children.
Well, I’m giving her one of those. And I’m going to give her her first tree, too.
As I walk up to the nice, normal-looking conservative couple in t
heir late thirties, I’m determined, to say the least. “Excuse me!”
The man’s thick coat is faced away from me as he discusses the tree with a tight-lipped brunette. He turns to look at me from underneath a green beanie hat pulled tightly over short red hair. “Yes?”
His wife–or girlfriend?–stares at me with half curiosity, half thinly disguised annoyance.
My left hand rises up to indicate the fir in a possessive yet apologetic manner, palm up. At least, that’s the effect I’m going for. “That tree’s already sold. I’m so sorry.”
“It is?” the brunette frowns. She scans the tree. “It doesn’t have a sold tag on it.”
Annie, who’s a little slower lately, arrives with smiling condolences for their loss. “Oh, isn’t that awful? I know. I told them they should put a tag on it, but they said since we were taking it right away, there was no need.” She looks at me.
I quickly glance from her to them. “No need. It’s true. That’s what the guy said.”
The woman regards us with dripping skepticism, pursing her lips even tighter. Her boyfriend–I just noticed, no ring–starts to bend. “That’s fine, we can get another…”
But she cuts him off. “I just saw you at the other tree over there. Why were you looking at it if you’d already bought one?”
Annie’s eyes innocently round, which looks cute as hell under her white knitted hat, her strawberry blonde hair hanging long and loose. “That?” she asks with amused disgust. The woman gives a clipped nod. “We were laughing about how tiny it was. I mean, look at that thing! It’s a runt compared to our big boy here. I need something bigger!”
“To which I replied, never say that again,” I smile. The boyfriend laughs but stops when he sees his girlfriend’s face.
“Let’s just get another tree, Lily.”
“Show me your receipt.”
“Lily!”
My mouth slackens. I’m impressed at the woman’s audacity. She means to win, and I can respect that. But she doesn’t know my wife, and what she just said, and with that tone? Button pushed. Missile launched. When I glance to Annie’s face, my smile turns into a bared-teeth, thin-lipped grimace.
Here we go.
Annie lowers her voice. “I don’t have to show you a receipt.”
Lily steels her eyes. “Well, then I’ll just go ask the employee if you’re lying.”
Annie’s eyebrows rise a half inch. “Lily, is it?”
The boyfriend and I share a look.
“Just out of curiosity, Lily, what made you notice us?”
“What?”
“Why. Were. You. Watching. Us?” She’s asking like she already knows the answer. I wish I knew where she’s headed; I’ve got no clue.
“I saw… you were expecting, and my eyes were naturally drawn to…” She quiets as though she’s said too much, her eyes giving away something only women can see.
Annie looks around the lot, like the subject is closed. “That’s what I thought. Well, luckily there are a lot of trees still here…”
“There aren’t that many,” Lily argues.
“…so why don’t you go pick another tree, be nice and easy to get along with, so your boyfriend here will want to give you one of these, too.” Annie points to her pregnant belly with both index fingers. I stifle a snort.
“What did you just say to me?” Lily cries out, aghast.
Annie takes a step closer. “Look. I’m nine months in. Baby was due last week. My patience is zip and my manners? Shot. My apologies for saying it like it is, but this is how it is: be nice, you get one of these, and keep one of those. Be a frowny-faced, tight-lipped Nazi, he will go running for the hills before you can say Happy New Year.” She points to the guy whose face is now as red as his hair, the truth having been told aloud. Annie announces, without malice, “He looks like a keeper! Why don’t you take his lead?”
Stunned speechless, Lily lets her boyfriend guide her away, gently reassuring her, “We’ll get another tree. That’s their tree. It’s fine. Okay?”
“Okay, I’m sorry. I just…” she trails off, dumbfounded.
“It’s okay. Let’s just forget it.” He glances back to me and guy-to-guy, I can see he’s more than a little bit grateful, if not amused.
Eying my badass wife, I ask, “Was it worth it?” as soon as they’re out of earshot.
Annie shrugs. “I’ve got a problem with authority. You know that.”
“The second she demanded the receipt...”
Annie shrugs, trying not to feel guilty. “...It was over. I can’t stop myself. But come on! She was so rude!”
Not bothering to argue, I’m regarding the scope of this tree. “How are we going to get this bad boy home now that we’ve got it?” I glance down. She meets my eyes with a helpless look.
“Uh oh.”
“Yeah.”
She stares at it, looks at me, stares at it some more. Then one corner of her mouth tugs up. “You want to tell them they can have it?”
“No way!”
We look at it some more, until she announces, “No, really! That’s the best thing to do anyway. Go give it to them. Tell them we changed our minds. Here, I’ll do it!”
As she turns, I grab her around the waist and turn her to face me. Even with this baby-belly, she’s like a small paperweight to me. She gasps at the speed with which I’ve managed her body, and I lean in closely, holding her eyes. “This is the tree you wanted. We’re getting this tree home. I want you to have the best Christmas you’ve ever had.”
“By stealing a tree from someone?”
I kiss her nose, repeating as I nod, “By stealing a tree from someone.”
“Isn’t that bad karma?” she murmurs against my lips.
I kiss her softly. “You should have thought of that before. Now let’s see if they deliver.”
Searching For You
Newly married, and with their first baby coming, Mr. and Mrs. Clark learn the hard way that someone hasn’t forgiven them for being happy while others are behind bars. In this twisting sequel to their love story, we are begged to wonder, do miracles exist? Can people redeem themselves, even after they’ve done the unthinkable? Can we forgive?
Available Now!
Add To Goodreads.
You Don’t Know Me
A Stand-Alone New Adult, Contemporary Romance.
"It's an endearing tale of loss, changing, and finding new." SmutandBonBons.com
“Kept me turning the pages on my Kindle as fast as I could and it was really easy reading." - BooksNeedTLC
An orphan and aspiring dancer learns her father wasn’t who she thought, when she inherits $50 million dollars, and two difficult brothers she never knew she had. Can their rockstar best friend change her mind about wanting to be alone?
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About the Author
Faleena Hopkins is drawn to telling stories of love or redemption, and often both. After shyly hiding behind the pen name “Sabrina Lacey” when she began writing, Faleena now publishes only under her own name. She’s an actress and director, too, and currently lives in Atlanta, GA, with her crazy-cute dog, Pippin. No hubby. She divorced the bastard. ;) heheh. Learn more about her filmmaking career here on IMDB.
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Reaching For You: A New Adult Contemporary Romance (Anything For You Book 2) Page 23
