“I think this is my cue to leave,” Heath whispers in my ear. I nod and remove my arm from his, clasping my hands in front of me just as Logan reaches us.
“Thanks for making sure my girl arrived safely.” Heath nods and winks at me before leaving us. Logan watches him walk away a few seconds before his attention returns to me.
“Do you know how glad I am that you chose this dress,” Logan whispers in my ear while handing me the flowers and pulling me close. I wrap an arm around his neck, taking in a long pull of his musky scent.
“How glad?”
“Let’s just say I wish we weren’t in a public place.”
“That’s never stopped you before,” I reply, my cheeks heat with such a bold statement.
“Tsk, tsk,” he says, smirking.
“It’s beautiful, Logan! Everything is perfect--the flowers, the dress, Heath…this restaurant. You chose well, Mr. Moore.” He smiles down at me, eyes gleaming and I melt into a puddle with his sweetness, his gentleness, his love for me. He takes my lips with his and the anxiety from the day, the irritation all fades, everything fades into the beautiful soul that is Logan Moore. “We could have gone to McDonalds and I would have been just as happy and you could have saved yourself a lot of money,” I say, backing away and taking in the sight of him in his black slacks and long sleeve button down that matches my dress. “Now how did you know I was going to pick this dress?”
“Babe, you underestimate my knowledge of Emily Jenkins,” he says, covering his heart, feigning attack on his ever so fragile ego. I fight my smile, knowing he’s full of it. “And Maggie helped, by letting me know which color shirt to wear after you left,” he says quickly and I shake my head at him.
“So what happens next?” I ask as we walk toward the door he just exited. He’s silent, rubbing across my fingers with his thumb, watching the floor pass us by. I watch him for a few steps, wondering why he isn’t talking before the light comes on. “Logan Moore, are you nervous?” I ask just as we reach the door. He turns to me when we stop and pushes up my chin up so we’re eye-to-eye.
“Before we walk through this door, I need you to promise me that you’ll keep an open mind.” His green eyes are intense, full of emotion, full of…something I can’t explain and I’m beginning to feel like this is more than just a dinner date. I know in this moment, he needs this. Whatever this is, he needs me to be on board. He’s put all this work into making this day special, running me all over town in a limo, making me feel like a princess. He did that for me, and now, he’s asking me for my word that whatever is beyond this door, that I will just go with it. Our relationship, our love, our insecurities—everything is to be left on the table and we walk through this door into whatever he has created and I am to accept my fate, a fate he’s created without me knowing.
“Of course, Logan,” I say, knowing I would do anything for him. He has my heart, he has since tenth grade and I know that anything he does for me, for us, is to make us better and he does it with love.
His eyes close briefly and he brings our hands to his lips, kissing the back of my fingers. His eyes open and they’re slightly full, but I make no mention of it. I only kiss his cheek and nod, indicating that we can go in. He squeezes my hand and quietly exhales.
“Let’s do this,” he says, pulling open the door, revealing the same beautiful room from before, except this room only has one table…full of our family.
“What are they all doing here?” I ask, confused. This was supposed to be a dinner date with Logan. He doesn’t answer and we stand there watching Logan’s brother Tyler and my best friend Shay walk to the front of the room and stand on either side of a podium. “Logan…answer me,” I ask again, elbowing him in the side. His head slowly turns toward me and his sweet smile melts my heart.
“You’re about to become Mrs. Logan Moore,” he says before focusing back on the front of the room, not waiting to see my reaction, not hearing my stomach drop to the ground, not asking my permission—even though I gave it a couple of years back when he asked.
“Oh,” I say in a hushed voice, not believing what’s happening. Even though I had an inkling this is what he had in mind, I thought I was crazy for thinking it. Surely, he wouldn’t plan our wedding without me. But, here we are, standing in front of our family, in green…not white. I’ve nothing prepared for a wedding, no vowels, no nothing and so I have to stop this before it starts.
“What’s wrong,” Logan asks, turning back to me, eyes full of concern.
“You just told me we’re getting married. I have to take a minute to absorb this.” He nods and then is shoved out of the way by my mother.
“Emily, honey, you look beautiful,” she says, eyes sparkling and I realize she’s just as excited as Logan.
“How long have you known about this?” I ask.
“Just a couple of weeks. I wanted to tell you every day but Logan made me promise not to tell you. He wanted it to be a surprise.”
“It was all me, babe. I promise. Don’t be upset with you mother.” I put my hand up to stop him.
“I need a minute,” I say, looking around for the lady’s room.
“Come with me,” Shay says, linking her arm in mine, handing the flowers to my mother and dragging me off to the back of the room where we find a bathroom to escape. As soon as the door closes behind us, a long breath escapes and tears threaten to fall. “Spit it out. Do you not want to get married?”
“Come on, Shay. You know I want to get married, this was just sprung on me. How long have you known about this?” She looks away and I can’t believe it. “Have you known for weeks, too?”
“Yes,” she says with a small voice.
“Since when did you learn to keep a secret?”
“Since my best friend decided he wanted so badly to marry my other best friend but she wouldn’t give him a date and he was desperate. He got your mother and me together and ran this plan by us and as much as I hated keeping it from you…and you know how hard it is for me to keep a secret, I knew this was the only way it was going to happen and I wanted that so desperately for you and Logan. He loves you so much, Emily. Can’t you see that?”
“Obviously. I know, I know,” I say, taking a deep breath. “It’s not like I was just blowing him off with the wedding date…we’ve just been so busy with school and everything…”
“But that’s always going to be there. There will always be something preventing you from making plans. So, he just took matters in his own hands and I don’t blame him. You can be stubborn, Emily.” I start to reply but she stops me. “No, don’t argue with me. Let’s freshen up your makeup and get back out there. Logan is probably going out of his mind right now thinking he’s made a mistake.”
“How do you know he hasn’t?” I ask, posing the questions to myself more than Shay. I told him I would consider this with an open mind and I have but this is huge. “Were getting married, Shay. MARRIED!” I scream.
“Stop! You know you want this. Logan is your prince charming and you know it. You have the kind of love that makes people sick, so why are you fighting this?”
“I don’t know that I am but this is more than just a date, Shayla. He planned our wedding without me. I didn’t get to pick my dress with my best friend and my mother…and I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’m wearing green, not white!”
“Eh, who wears white now days, anyway?”
“So you would be fine with this if you were in my shoes?”
“You mean would be fine with Tyler loving me so much that he put everything into making our wedding day special and sweet and not stressful for me at all? You mean would I be fine with him making sure everyone’s schedule coordinated for one day so they could all be here with us to celebrate our love that everyone is envious of? YES! I would totally be fine with all of that. And seriously, Emily, you are rocking that dress—white or not.”
“You always have a way of making me feel like such a bitch.”
“Well someone has to do it.
Can I fix your makeup or what?”
“Yes,” I finally concede and exhale loudly. “Shay, I’m about to get married!”
“You are and you know what that means? You’re going to have a wedding night, too,” she says, giggling while using brush after brush on my face and spraying my hair. I roll my eyes but say nothing to her foolishness. “Your hair has held up pretty well, I don’t need to do anything to it,” she says, stepping back, clasping her hands over her mouth.
“What?”
“You’re perfect, Emily Jenkins. I’m sorry, I mean Emily Moore,” she says, smiling wide and hearing that name brings tears to my freshly made up eyes. We’ve been through so much together, been inseparable for so many years, loved each other so hard, laughed so much, learned to live without each other and then learned to live with each other again and have grown closer than I could ever have imagined. I fight them but can’t help but feel so much love for Logan. He’s done all this for me, for us and I just threw it in his face.
“You’re right, I’m a bitch. I need to go show Logan how much I love him.”
“You’re ready, then?”
“I am,” I say and take a big breath before we open the door to find my mother standing there with my flowers. She hands them to me, kisses my cheek and then holds her arm out for me to take. I do and Shay hurries in front of us to her side of the podium. Logan is already standing there with Tyler and looks back at me when Shay makes her way beside them. His eyes have lost their shine and he’s only half smiling. My heart drops because I know it’s my fault. I put off setting a date when he’s asked to talk about it for weeks and weeks, so when he does it himself, I act like a whiney fool. I smile wide at him and with just that simple gesture, he’s back. He stands straight, folding his hands in front of him, watching my mother walk me “down the aisle” to him and I couldn’t be more proud to walk toward my new husband. In that moment, I realize that’s what Logan was feeling before we walked in, pride. Proud to be walking in a room filled with our family, who we love and love us and that we are going to be sharing this special day with them. Proud that he could pull off such a special occasion without me knowing. Proud that he’s going to be able to say that he’s married to his best friend. I now know that because I feel all those things.
With each step closer to him, my heart beats a little faster, my mind runs a little more. This is the start of our new life together and I had no idea it was going to start on a random Tuesday, in a place I’ve never been, wearing a dress that I didn’t get to choose. But thinking back, that’s our life, spontaneous...or at least Logan is spontaneous and I’m just along for the ride.
Logan crashed my world when he went to college so far away from me. Then crushed my heart when I thought he cheated on me. It broke his spirit when I was kidnapped but he battled until he found me. Then after all that mess, he just picks up shop, moves back to Indiana and into my apartment with me to prove just how much he loves me. So, if I’m honest with myself, I wouldn’t expect anything less from him than to secretly plan our entire wedding. And, if I’m honest with myself, I’m grateful since picking out dresses and shoes and doing hair trials isn’t my thing, even if it is for my wedding. So, he’s proven just as he said earlier that I underestimate Logan Moore’s knowledge of Emily Jenkins…Emily Moore.
Chapter 6
We make it to the front of the room to Logan. He steps up to us and waits for my mother’s direction. She wipes a tear and doesn’t speak for a few seconds. We wait patiently on her, to gather her thoughts, to gain her composure. She’s about to give her oldest daughter away, I can’t imagine what’s going through her mind.
She looks up at Logan and squeezes his shoulder before turning to me. She kisses my hand then hugs me hard, not wanting to let go. She’s a tough woman. She’s raised three girls on her own, so there isn’t much that makes her cry but apparently watching her daughter get married does.
“You look beautiful, honey, and I’m so proud of you.” She smiles and turns to Logan. “You take care of our girl. I mean it; don’t let anything happen to her. Don’t let her lose her smile, her shine. Don’t let her drown in her own thoughts, or lose herself to her own stubbornness.”
“You have my word, Ms. Jenkins.” He nods, still standing tall with his hands folded in front of him. She nods back at him and lifts my hand to his, granting him permission to take it.
“I love you both so much and I’m so happy for you.” Logan takes my hand from her and she starts to walk away before I stop her.
“I love you, Mom. Thank you for raising me the right way, with strength and grace. I can only hope to be as strong as you one day.” She pats my hand then walks off to her seat, leaving us standing there. “Well, this is it,” I say to Logan, who is watching me like a hawk.
“This is it.” He smiles. “Are you sure you’re ready?”
“I am, and I’m sorry for acting so crazy earlier.”
“No apologies needed. I half expected it.” He tucks my arm in his and we walk up to the podium, where Officer Evans is waiting on us, along with Tyler and Shay.
“Oh my gosh! I knew you were able to marry people but I guess I never thought you’d be marrying us!” I say to Evans. A man who helped Logan save my life, who now loves my sister and will forever be a part of our family. Everything is perfect. There isn’t anything that I would have done differently if I had planned this myself.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he replies, smiling at me. “Ready?” I nod. He starts his reading and I silently hope that Logan has remembered rings and that I don’t stumble over words and that I can come up with some vowels without looking like a fumbling fool. “Do you have the rings?” Evans asks and I hold a breath until Tyler hands them over to Logan. I exhale silently.
“We do!” Logan announces proudly and I laugh at his goofiness. He hands me his ring and I am once again amazed at how he planned this literally without me knowing anything. I couldn’t have pulled this off so gracefully. We wait through Evans reading some words about rings and how they create a never-ending love for the rest of our lives before it’s our turn to speak.
“Emily, do you have some words prepared for the ring ceremony?”
“Not really,” I say and everyone laughs. “But I’m sure I can think of something.” Evans nods and I take a deep breath while placing the white gold band on Logan’s finger. “You know placing this ring on your finger means that we are bound for the rest of our lives. Everything we do until the day we die, we are now vowing to do it together, whether we want to, or hate it, or love it. It’s us. You and me against the world. But it’s been that way for me since tenth grade and you talked to me for the first time at my locker. You’ve made my heart sing, you’ve broken my heart, you’ve made me happy beyond belief, you’ve saved my life and have irritated the life out of me but you’re my best friend and I would never want to walk through this life and everything it brings with anyone else. So, thank you for loving me, thank you for making this day special and while I can’t promise that I won’t whine or be angry sometimes, I do promise to give you my whole heart and to put our relationship first and give it my all until I take my last breath.”
“Logan, do you have some words for Emily?” Evans asks.
“You know I do and I’ve had the privilege of trying to put mine together for the last two weeks and I don’t think my words are even remotely as good as Emily’s and she had no time to prepare.” He clears his throat and places a white gold band with diamonds all around it on my finger. He brings his eyes back to mine and they glimmer with happiness. “Emily,” he starts and his voice cracks. He clears his throat again and continues. “I planned this day for us, for our family, for our future. We’ve been putting this off and I thought we’d never get to it unless we just did it. So, here we are. Together, standing in front of all our family, all these years later, taking vows to love each other for the rest of our lives. I knew I would love you the first time I saw you. You and Tyler were friends first
and I was so jealous. He was going to the beach, the park, everywhere with this beautiful girl and I was jealous. I made it my mission to know you, to steal your heart. What I wasn’t expecting was for you to steal mine. You’re more than just a pretty face--you’re smart, funny, loving and have the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever known. For some reason, you trusted a meathead like me with it and I’ve taken that task very seriously. I will go to my grave protecting it and you. I promise you that I will make mistakes in life, but please know that every decision I make will be made from love. I will be stubborn but only because I love you and I have such strong feelings for you, for us. I may not cry when I should and I will probably laugh when I shouldn’t. But the one thing that I will always get right is loving you and that will never change. For the rest of my life, for the rest of eternity, until our last sun dawns, you will be my best friend, my love and from this day on, my wife.”
Before I can catch my breath from Logan’s beautiful words, a rock ballad begins playing and makes my tears stream faster and my heart bigger. We stand there, staring at each other, the song’s beautiful words mixed with our own, our hands joined and our family at our sides. I want to know his thoughts. I hope they mirror mine, that this day couldn’t be any more perfect. This day, with my best friend, the day he becomes my husband and the first day of the rest of our lives.
“I can now proudly pronounce you as man and wife,” Evans says just as the song ends and Logan doesn’t wait a second, he pulls me to him and his lips hug mine with all their might, with all the emotion from the day, with all the love that’s just poured from our souls while clapping erupts all around.
“I love you,” Logan whispers in my ear. A small gesture meant just for me. A sweet nothing that he so often gives that steals my breath, now and forever.
About the Author
Nicki Rae is a born Buckeye turned Hoosier, moving to Central Indiana when she was eight, where she resides today with her husband, son and two cats. She has been an avid reader her whole life, a sports fan and a music lover.
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