by Emelia Blair
“Oh, Kendall’s definitely going to kill you,” I inform her.
She twirls around. “This is my something blue.”
“I thought you were wearing the blue thing in your hair as your something blue?”
She gives me a cheerful look. “Nah. I changed my mind.”
I’m about to say something when her expression morphs into discomfort and I immediately grab the waste basket.
She waves me away. “No, no. I’m good.”
“Isn’t your morning sickness supposed to be going away?”
The day I proposed to Halley, that very night we discovered she was expecting. While thrilled with the news, both of us were clueless about how to go about it and our apartment is filled with baby books.
“Kendall said that I should be fine in a few weeks.” Halley covers her mouth.
I hand her a bottle of water.
Both of us didn’t want a huge wedding, so we're hosting it at Lucas’s house, his garden is large enough to cater the few guests we decided to invite.
We reach the venue and are immediately dragged apart with my sister stealing my fiancée while Lucas and Duke take me to the garden out back.
“Unka Jace!” A small child toddles over, wearing a perfectly fitted suit. His eyes are amber just like his father’s and his ashen hair is sticking out everywhere.
Sophie casually follows him, her pink dress flawlessly clean.
“Hey Axel!” I sweep him up into my arms and grin. “What’s with the tux? You getting married or something?”
He giggles and pats my cheeks, which are caked in mud, to my dismay.
Caleb is on the phone nearby as he sees my ruined face and arches a brow.
I know why he’s hiding out in the garden. Kendall threatened to break his phone if he made any work-related calls.
“Why is your face dirty?” Oliver demands as he strolls towards me. “Lana sent me to make sure everything is ready. Go clean up.” His words would have sounded more imposing if he didn’t have a two-year-old hanging from his neck like a little monkey.
“Come on, Axel.” I carry my nephew away.
However, washing up isn’t as easy as I had planned because Axel refuses to go near the water and most of it splashes on me. Seeing the look in my eye, he wriggles from my grasp and makes a break for it.
I stare at my drenched suit and hear a knock on the bathroom door.
“There’s an extra suit in the cupboard.”
That’s Caleb’s voice.
I open the thin wardrobe and see a dark blue suit with a crisp white shirt. It’s the same one that my brother-in-law had insisted I buy when I had been adamant on just renting a tux.
Suddenly, the whole mud incident doesn’t seem like an accident anymore.
However, it’s either this or get married in a drenched suit with dirt stains on my white shirt.
After putting it on, I stare at myself in the mirror and scoff.
Of course, it’s a perfect fit!
By the time I leave, I can hear the women chattering in the living room where Halley is being given the last touches.
I decide to brave their wrath and peek inside.
My bride is eating a chocolate bar while watching Lana and Kendall argue over which shoes she should be wearing. She sees me looking and offers me the half-finished chocolate.
I quietly step inside and take a bite out of it. “I told you we should elope.”
Halley shrugs. “They just spent ten minutes trying to convince me to put on a red lipstick instead of the pink one. This is fun.”
I look over at where Mia is doing something to the veil and I smile.
Three years have passed, almost crawled by, and Halley has spent the time recovering, slowly. While I think I have a part to play in her journey to where she is now, her friends presence and support has been a massive factor.
Halley is a fighter and she forced herself into therapy, wanting to get better, to resolve these issues inside of her. She hasn’t seen Raymond since he was incarcerated. She’s built herself back up, steadily, and I’m proud of her. She’s started smiling more, her frame more relaxed, but there is a quietness to her, which I know only time will help.
But I see her smiling right now, her cheeks creased, and my heart flutters in joy.
“Jace, Lucas is looking for you.” Elise waddles over, her protruding belly making it hard for her to walk. She looks as soft and sweet as she did the day I met her.
I kiss Halley on the cheek and whisper, “Go with the heels. I’ll strip you tonight and fuck you in those.”
I see the redness crawl in her cheeks and I know her decision’s been made.
Walking out, I follow the mouthwatering scent of fried finger fish and make my way to the kitchen instead, to see Tracy covering dishes. She agreed to cater the wedding after I begged her to. I know she had to cancel two other jobs for this, so I sneak in and kiss her cheek. “Thank you for this.”
She jumps at my touch and then smacks me in the arm. “Don’t sneak up on me!”
“Sorry.” I grin, unrepentantly.
A warm smile lights her pretty features up. “How could I not do this?”
If Kendall and I are more argumentative considering we’re around the same age, I’ve always looked up at Tracy as an older sister. From having only a mother whom I lost, I’ve now discovered this whole family with some not even blood.
“Stop flirting with my wife,” Duke’s voice comes from the kitchen doorway. “And go find Lucas.”
My blood is pumped, excitement moving through my veins.
I’m finally marrying the woman I love and my usual sullen expression is hard to maintain in the wake of the stupid grin on my face.
Lucas takes one look at me and blinks. “That’s a very unnatural look for you. Nice suit though, princess.”
I flip him the bird.
He smirks. “So, did you tell Halley about the house situation?”
“What house situation?” Caleb’s voice comes from behind me.
I wince. “Nothing.”
My brother-in-law walks over as he gives me a cool, assessing look, and repeats, “What house situation?”
“Oh, the house you’ve been renovating?” Oliver pitches in, calmly, as he walks over to see why we’re huddling together.
“You’re renovating a house?” Caleb gives me a look that, under its icy veneer, I can only call betrayed. “What was wrong with the house we wanted to gift you?”
And this was why I had kept my mouth shut all this time.
“There was nothing wrong with it. I just wanted to give Halley something that she’d…” My voice trails off and I know that Kendall is going to be on my ass about this now that Caleb knows. “Oh, come on. Don’t tell Kendall yet.”
Caleb makes no promises.
I mentally prepare myself for the nagging I’ll be receiving later on. “You’re already paying for the honeymoon. I can’t accept a house from you. Besides, it’s not like I don’t have money saved up.”
Caleb isn’t given an opportunity to say anything because just then Lana hurries over.“Let’s begin. Where’s the priest?”
The wedding, while a small affair, is loud and chaotic because Axel decides that he wants to be a flower girl too and a tug of war begins between Sophie and him, which gets the rest of the children involved. Duke nearly manages to save the cake, and Oliver picks up both his son and Tracy’s daughter while both get a timeout as the priest tries to get back on track with the ceremony.
Halley is grinning, loving this atmosphere, whereas any other bride would be at her wits end. She has to ultimately pick up Axel in her arms, who demands that he be part of this, and this is how the wedding proceeds.
Being around Halley has loosened me up somewhat and I find the whole situation amusing as everyone is trying to pay attention to the wedding and manage the unruly children.
We do get married amidst the mayhem.
Then Sophie tugs at Halley’s dress, holding her arms ou
t for the bouquet, which Halley hands over, and then the little girl roams about her home, carrying it, possessively.
I don’t care about any of it, just focused on my beautiful wife who’s grinning ear from ear as she watches Lucas chase after one of the children who’s decided that he wants to play in the pond.
Lunch is a magnificent feast served by Tracy.
I watch our family and friends mingle and enjoy themselves, celebrating our happiness. I lean closer to Halley.
She looks in my direction, her mouth stuffed with the chicken pie. “What?” she asks in a muffled voice.
I grin and wait for her to swallow before taking her hand. “You’re happy, aren’t you?”
She gazes at me with love shining in her eyes. “I should think so. I did agree to marry you. Even though you’re a pervert, I think I can make this work.”
My words are soft as I give her a wicked grin, “I thought you liked that I was a pervert. Didn’t you ask me to tie you up last week?”
She blushes but doesn’t avert her eyes. “You liked having me at your mercy.”
I gently cup her cheek, murmuring, “You’re always at my mercy in the bedroom. Maybe I need to reinforce that today.”
I feel the shiver run through her and the desire in her eyes, and I know my own eyes darken in response.
The life blossoming inside of her is a result of one of the nights when she goaded me into losing control and taking her on every surface I saw.
I love waking up next to this woman, love kissing her awake. I adore her quirks, her strange habits, and her inability to stop talking at times. She has changed my life by just stepping into it, making me throw away all my plans and goals in return for pursuing her and tying her to my side.
A decision…I have never regretted.
I watch her smile and I’m unable to prevent myself from stealing her lips, my heart filled with a love that burns fiercely, and I can’t wait for the adventures that await us in the future with Halley by my side.
THE END
