by Austin Bates
As soon as the final piece of his suit was in place, Mark squealed in delight. “Handsome Daddy!”
“How much time do we have?” asked Hunter, checking his reflection one last time.
“Don’t worry too much,” said Melinda, kissing her son’s cheek. “The wedding can’t start without you.”
“I know, I just...” Hunter glanced at the clock. It was almost time. “We should probably head over there.”
“Don’t worry, Mr. Ring Bear and I will go on ahead, won’t we?” asked Melinda as Allen set Mark on the ground. She held out her hand towards him. He eagerly hopped across the floor and took her hand.
“Take a moment, collect yourself, and then make your way over. You’re one of the grooms. It’s okay for you to be fashionably late.” Melinda winked and then made her way out of the room with Mark in tow.
“You’re going to be fine,” Allen reassured him. “Now, let’s get out there and break a leg.”
Hunter chuckled nervously.
THE ORCHARD WAS BEAUTIFUL in the summer. The trees were fully branched out and green leaves offered dappled shade to the white folding chairs sitting below them. White bows and ribbons dressed the trees up, adding a fairy tale quality to the wedding scene.
A small platform had been set up ahead of the chairs. An arch of ribbons and gauze was spun between the branches of the trees and spilled down on either side of the platform. The tails of the ribbons swayed softly in a breeze that gently rustled the branches of the orchard.
A string quartet sat nearby, awaiting their cue to start playing.
Luke stood nervously on the platform beside the officiant that was conducting the ceremony. He wasn’t exactly sure why he was nervous though. Everything had gone perfectly thus far and there was every reason to believe it would continue to do so. Everyone had put in so much work, and the rehearsal dinner had been nearly perfect.
The guests were all seated and chattering amongst themselves. Anticipation was building in the crowd. Until a final group of people arrived at the edge of the orchard.
The quartet began to play.
His father and mother walked arm in arm down the aisle and took their seats. They were closely followed by Hunter’s parents.
A few moments later there was a squeal of “Daddy!” from the back row and Mark came running up the aisle as quickly as he could with the ring pillow in hand. He tripped once and promptly picked himself up and kept running. The crowd laughed and cooed at his antics as he scrambled up onto the stage and threw his arms around Luke’s leg.
Thankfully, the rings had been securely tied in place, otherwise the situation might have been more dire than adorable.
Mark was followed by Mary who adorably paced up the aisle with the help of Rupert and scattered flower petals across the walkway.
Then, the music changed. There was only one member of the wedding party left.
Luke’s eyes turned towards the end of the aisle and locked onto Hunter.
His heart hammered in his chest as Hunter walked toward him. They were getting married. This was really happening. In that moment, nothing else in the world mattered to Luke. Except for the little boy clinging to his leg that is.
Hunter was only slightly more than half way up the aisle when Mark dropped the ring pillow on the stage, squealed “Daddy!” and hopped down. He charged down the aisle and threw himself at Hunter. Thankfully, Hunter was prepared and scooped Mark up in his arms.
The little boy laughed and squealed as Hunter tickled him and carried him the rest of the way to the stage.
“Go sit with Grandma,” coaxed Hunter, setting Mark down in front of the stage and nudging him towards the front row where both of his grandmothers were sitting. Mark eagerly ran towards them and snuggled down between them.
Luke picked up the pillow and held out a hand to Hunter, helping him up onto the stage.
“Look, I didn’t fall,” whispered Hunter with a grin.
“I’m legitimately impressed,” replied Luke.
They turned towards the officiant as the music ended and the ceremony began.
THE RECEPTION TENT was packed. Long tables full of people and food filled almost every open space. There was some room to move around, but not a lot. If there was one thing Hunter would’ve done differently it probably would’ve been to spring for the larger tent.
Most people seemed content to drag their chairs out into the sunshine however.
“Thank you so much for coming,” said Hunter as he and Luke greeted what looked to be the last of the guests.
“I’m starving,” said Luke with a laugh as he took Hunter’s hand and led him toward the nearest buffet table.
They filled their plates and joined the rest of the wedding party at the head table.
“I’m sorry to say, I think someone completely stole the show from both of you,” said Melinda as she wiped food away from Mark’s mouth. “He was completely adorable and everyone loved it. I think he’s gotten more compliments than anyone else today.”
Hunter laughed. “He’s an unpredictable little guy, that’s for sure. He definitely keeps you on your toes.”
“I was afraid Hunter was going to get bowled over right there,” teased Penny. “You’ve kept us all waiting for so long I was almost certain something was going to happen so you could put it off a little longer.”
“No, this wedding was going to happen today even if I was in a full body cast,” said Hunter with a laugh. “Of that you can be absolutely certain.”
After an hour or so had passed, Luke took Hunter’s hand and led him over to the table where the cake sat. It was a gorgeous multi-tiered cake with each tier a different flavor. For Hunter and Luke, however, their pieces were chocolate.
The guests filed through again and once everyone was served, someone opened up the microphone for toasts. After a few minutes passed, Hunter rose and approached the mic.
“Before I get started,” Hunter began, “I would like to thank everyone who came to celebrate with us here today. Luke and I have had a long road to reach this point in our lives. As most of you are aware, our son Mark was born three years ago. He was extremely premature at the time, and we were worried he wouldn’t make it. But he did and he was able to celebrate with us here today. So in light of that. I’d like to ask Mark and Luke to come up here with me for a moment. I have a wedding present I’d like to give to both of them.”
Luke looked a little quizzical, but he picked up Mark without a word and made his way to Hunter’s side.
“Underneath each of your plates, you should have found an envelope with instructions not to open it. You can go ahead and open it now,” continued Hunter. He handed one such envelope to Luke.
The reception tent was full of the sound of people opening envelopes and pulling out the contents.
Inside was a single slip of a paper. A copy of an ultrasound image from two weeks ago.
End of Book – Please Read This
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Acknowledgements
Without these amazing people the book would not be the book it is today, Thank you so much!
Kathy Coutinho
Jeremy Peirson
Carrie Smith
Bob Palmatier
Jacy Green-Sprehe
Zoe Mogensen
María Real
C. Mitchell
Carrie K.
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Austin Bates, Memories of You: An Mpreg Romance
