by Eden Finley
“That’s why I want you to sign the prenup. I want you to know without any uncertainty that I want you for you. Because you’re easy to be with and you make me laugh, and I love the heck out of you.”
I couldn’t fight a smile. “Not to mention I have a huge cock and make you come. A lot.”
“Well, I wasn’t going to put that in my speech. Can’t be telling Elliot that’s how Mummy proposed, now can we?”
“Wait, you’re proposing? You can’t; that’s my job.”
“Sexist much? New age feminist world and all that shit, mister. Do you want to raise our sons to think a woman can’t do whatever a man can?”
Our sons. “Marry me.” I had to blurt it out before she could.
Her eyes widened. “You ass!”
I threw my head back and laughed. “Not the answer I was hoping for, Reecie.”
“You only asked because you wanted to beat me to it.”
“Damn straight. So, how ’bout it?”
“But this was me manning up,” she whined. “I was meant to propose because it’s the first thing I’ve ever fought for myself without being pushed into it or thought it was what I had to do.”
I reached over and tucked a stray ringlet of blonde hair behind her ear. “That’s a nice sentiment, but I beat you. Don’t want to ruin the moment here, but suck it.”
“You’ll sign the prenup?” she asked.
I didn’t want to sign it. It felt impersonal and suspicious and—
“I refuse to marry you if you don’t sign it.”
Then there was that. “Guess I need a pen. Can I at least have my lawyer go over it?”
“Sure. But basically all it says is, in the event of a breakup, I get nothing but the child support amount specified by the government.”
“I can’t do that to you, Reece.”
“Hey, you’re forgetting I know how to look after myself now, thanks to you. Oh, by the way, I’m also not quitting work. I want us to keep our money separate.”
“That’s not how marriage works. Keep your job, fine. If you want to work, I’m not going to stop you. But we’re partners, including our money.”
“And we’ll be partners in everything, but I still want to pay rent. I don’t care if it ends up going to Cody instead of you, but I want to feel like I’m contributing. I need that sense of financial independence because I’ve never had it before.”
“I’ll sign whatever you want me to on one condition,” I said.
“What is it?”
“You grew up in a family where you and your siblings weren’t treated as equals. If we’re going to do this, I want to do it right. I want Cody to be as much my son as Elliot is. I get I’ll be his stepdad and Cole will always be his father, but whatever I spend on Elliot, I want to spend on him too. You can have your money thing. I won’t give you a cent and won’t push it on you if you don’t want it, but I don’t want that to affect Cody. I don’t want him thinking I love Elliot more because he’s my ‘real’ son.”
Her eyes moistened. “I’d love that. And I appreciate you involving him like he was your own. More than you know.”
I pulled her in for a kiss. “Anything for you, baby.”
“While we’re demanding things, I don’t want a big wedding.”
“Can I be completely honest?” I pulled back. “I don’t care if there’s no wedding. I want to be with you, and I want it to be forever, but a piece of paper doesn’t mean shit to me. Being with you does.”
She smiled. “I love you.”
“Goddammit, I want to fuck you right now.”
She burst out laughing. “We suck at romance, don’t we?”
“Kinda.” I looked at the prenup again. “Do you really think this is going to solve all our problems?”
“No. No doubt we’ll fight, because well, that happens in relationships. But each time we do have a disagreement, you’ll know it has nothing to do with the butt load of money you carry around in your pocket. Do you have, like, money clips to bunch it all together? Ooh, are they gold?”
I laughed. “You know how much cash I’ve got on me right now? Like fifty bucks. All my money is tied up in stocks and shit.”
“You invested in shit? I might have to talk to your financial guy.”
I couldn’t believe how easy it was to fall back into our usual banter. “We’re getting married. Did that really just happen? Are you sure this isn’t rushing it? It’s really fast.”
She grinned. “You’d think with two failed marriages under my belt, I’d be reluctant. The thing is, with Cole, I married him because it was the proper thing to do. We fell pregnant, and I was a teenager and scared, and Mum and Dad were all about image, so it was the logical step. Yeah, we loved each other, but I don’t think I ever would’ve done it had it not been for Cody. Then with Paul, I was determined not to make the same mistake, but marrying him was making exactly the same mistake. I let my parents control my life because I believed they knew what was best for me. My last two marriages were for someone else, not for me. Now, I’m going after what I want. And what I want is you. I want us to be a family, and I want it to be forever. We’ve known each other for fifteen years, Spence, and I love everything about you.”
“That was a good speech.”
“It was a good proposal.”
“Nuh-uh, I asked you first,” I argued.
“Fine. So, the wedding. I had an idea …”
***
“Okay, last guests have arrived. Why do you look so nervous?” Reece smirked from the doorway to our room. Our room. Officially. Even her clothes had been moved. “It’s just an engagement party.” She winked and then left me to sweat.
I never thought I’d take this step. And especially not with Reece. I was ready. Just … nervous.
Everyone sweated on their wedding day, right?
True to Reece’s wants, we weren’t doing the big wedding. She was wearing the same emerald sundress she wore when she agreed to be mine. The same one she wore when she—no, I—proposed.
We let it simmer for a few weeks and waited until Elliot was fully vaccinated to do the rounds.
It started with taking Elliot into work and introducing him as my son. There were a few shocked faces, but Fletch yelled out “I knew it!” Trevor gave Elliot a cuddle and then declared he wasn’t giving him back. That was, until I threatened to fire him.
Then we headed to dinner at Mum’s house with my entire family, where I found out Tammy already knew and had a hand at getting Reece and I back together. I thanked her by paying off her credit card debt. She got angry at me at first because she was as stubborn as Reece when it came to that stuff. She was determined to do it all on her own, even though she had no idea what she wanted to do in life. But what else were rich little brothers for if I couldn’t bail her out when she needed it?
We then left Elliot and Cody with my mother for a few hours while we went to pub night to tell our friends that we were engaged and invited them all to our “engagement party.”
Little did they know, they were attending our wedding.
The backyard was decked out in wedding reception décor, ready for the party after our vows, which included a barbecue and lots of alcohol.
The altar wasn’t much of an altar. We ordered a ton of white flowers and decorated a five-by-five-meter wall to stand in front of.
I was dressed casual in my suit pants and crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to my elbows and a thin tie.
If the decorations out back didn’t tip people off, my attire would. As soon as everyone saw me, they’d know something was up. I wasn’t in jeans and a T-shirt.
There was a knock at the bedroom door, and I turned to find Blair.
“Reece said you needed to see me for a sec.”
I smiled. “I have a favour to ask you. I, uh, need you to be my best man.”
“Of course.”
“Today.”
His eyes widened. “Huh?”
“Reece and I are getting marri
ed today. In the backyard.” I went to the closet and threw him a white button-down shirt like the one I was wearing.
“I’m wearing jeans. Want me to go home and get dressed, or—”
“Nope. We’re doing this thing now. And it’s casual. We honestly don’t care what you wear.”
He approached and gave me a man-hug. “This is awesome. I’m happy for you, bro.”
“Thanks. Now, your first job as best man is to go out there and get everyone to sit down at the tables set up in the backyard. Tell them we’re going to make a speech or something.”
“On it.”
I gave him ten minutes and then headed out to meet Reece by the back door. She was standing with the celebrant we’d hired, laughing over the fact they’d spent the last hour telling everyone she was Reece’s aunt. The only person confused by this was Pip because she knew Reece didn’t have an aunt. But maid of honour duties included keeping her mouth shut.
“Ready to do this?” I asked.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Wait, is that a good thing or a bad thing?” I laughed.
“Definitely good.”
“I’ll go get this party started,” Nina, the celebrant, said and walked down the patio steps into the waiting crowd.
As I watched over the sea of people, I smiled as I saw my mother and sisters fighting over who got to hold Elliot.
Pip and Gage were chatting, but Pip kept looking around, waiting for her time to jump up to the altar to stand next to Reece when we got out there.
Cody was sitting with Cole and Paige, who were laughing at something Hunter and Sara were doing. What they were doing, I had no idea. It looked like he was trying to put ice down her dress or something, because every time his hands went near her, she shrieked and tried to swat his hands away.
Shit, even from here, Sara’s giant engagement ring sparkled. Reece refused an engagement ring, stating she’d already been given two diamonds and both times it ended badly. She was happy with just a wedding band. So, I cheated and got her one with diamonds all the way around.
Loopholes. Gotta love ’em.
As my eyes continued to scan our friends and family, I couldn’t help the pang of sadness over Reece’s family not being there, but in order to do that, they would’ve had to have been invited. When Reece told her parents she was marrying me, all they said was they expected to be paid back for all the money they’d spent on her over the years.
I was more than happy to pay it if it meant they’d stop destroying her self-esteem. According to Reece, it was the one and only time she would ever ask me for money and was adamant on paying me back. She wanted to owe them nothing.
“We probably should’ve warned Cole. He might have a heart attack,” Reece said as she, too, watched over everyone.
“I’m more worried about Paige. I mean, yeah, they all know we’re engaged, but your wedding to her dad was only a year ago.”
“She’s cool with it. She’s the one who sorted the prenup for me through some friend of hers.”
“Are you kidding me? She voluntarily did that?”
She nodded. “Yup. You can thank her for the cheating clause. One last barb, I guess.” She shrugged. “But hey, I’ve been there and done that. Have no desire to ever cheat again. I hated it.”
“Gee, thanks. I’ll take that as a compliment. It didn’t turn out too bad, right?”
She laughed. “You know what I mean. Are you forgetting all the shit we had to go through to get to this point?”
“But we’re here now. I love you, Reecie.”
“I love you too, boss.”
I groaned. “I deserved that. Hey, has anyone from work said anything?”
Reece shook her head. “Trevor’s always known because of when he hooked up with Blair. I think the others were all shocked when we walked into the office together and introduced Elliot as your son, but they all turned up for this, right? That’s gotta count for something.”
“When you return from maternity leave, you’ll have to tell me if anyone gives my wife trouble.”
She grinned. “Umm, about that. I, umm—”
“What?”
“I quit.”
“What?” I said louder.
“Okay, I wasn’t going to bring this up today, but I got a phone call this morning confirming it, so—”
“So?”
“DataTech have offered me a job. It’s part-time but it’s a traineeship in software developing to turn me into a super-nerd like you. And it’s on-the-job training so I won’t be learning from a stupid textbook.”
“Traitor!” I joked. “You’re turning to the enemy? You know, I could teach you to be as nerdy as me, right?” That was when understanding dawned on me. “This is another independence thing, isn’t it?”
She nodded.
“If it’s what you want, I’m not going to stop you. I may probe you for enemy secrets, though.”
She laughed. “Let’s go get married. Then you can probe me for whatever you want.”
I groaned. “I can’t get married with a hard-on. Innuendo is not a good idea right now.”
As the words left my mouth, Nina announced, “Welcome to the wedding of Reece and Spencer.”
There were gasps, claps, shouting, and hooting as Pip and Blair stood to take their place on either side of Nina.
Music kicked in. It was “Issues” by Julia Michaels.
“Appropriate,” I said with a laugh.
“That’s our cue.”
I gave Reece my hand to hold onto while we walked down the makeshift aisle together.
26
REECE
“Wait here,” Spencer said as we reached where the “aisle” began.
In reality, it was a thin, straight gap between the round tables guests were sitting at. We didn’t want it to be too obvious before we sprung it on everyone we were getting hitched.
Spencer walked through the crowd to get to our group of friends, while I stood there fiddling with my purple wildflower bouquet.
We did everything simple, and I couldn’t have cared less that I wasn’t wearing a white dress in a church with hundreds of people watching.
Everyone who mattered to me was here. The most important ones being Spencer and our kids.
The plan was for Spencer and me to walk the aisle together, but with the gleam in his eye as he tapped Cody on the shoulder, I got the impression he had other ideas.
Cody ran over to me as Spencer took his spot next to Nina. “Uncle Spence said it’s the man of the house’s job to walk the bride down the aisle.”
I grinned. Of course, he said that. “I would be honoured.”
As my son linked my arm with his, I told myself I wasn’t allowed to get teary.
My eyes didn’t listen. By the time we reached the altar, my makeup was a mess. I was sure of it.
Cody handed me over to Spencer by shaking his hand, and there was a round of laughs and awws from the guests.
Spencer’s smile reached from ear to ear when he met my teary stare. “I love you.”
I sniffed. “I love you too.”
“I know. All the ladies cry after getting a piece of this.” He gestured to himself, and I was transported back to the night we first got together.
“These are happy tears, I swear.”
“I know that too,” he whispered.
“When I first met with Reece and Spencer,” Nina started, “I was immediately told they didn’t want the boring, traditional vows. As soon as I asked them how long they’d been in love, Reece said a few months at the exact same time Spencer said fifteen years.”
Our guests chuckled.
“I knew I was in for a treat as they went on to tell me their love story,” she continued. “A love based on true friendship like these two have is made to last. It may’ve taken Reece a long time to realise it, but once she noticed the love of her life had been right in front of her the whole time, there was no stopping them. I invited them to write their own vows, and I’
ll get them to share those with you now.”
Spencer cleared his throat. “I wish twelve-year-old Spence could see us now. He was infatuated with you since the minute he met you. If I could go back in time and tell him one thing, it’d be ‘Hang in there fifteen more years, kid. Because she’s worth it. Also, avoid chicks named Shayla.’ But that’s a different issue.”
Spencer’s family snickered.
“We’ve always been friends,” Spencer said. “Sometimes more than friends—usually at really inappropriate times—and sometimes we’ve let other relationships and distance come between us. But no matter what, we were always there, often in the background of each other’s lives. My love for you now runs much deeper than the love twelve-year-old me had, but it’s everlasting. Like he—and I—always knew it would be.”
“Shit,” I hissed, and everyone laughed as I wiped my nose. “How am I meant to follow that?”
Spencer closed the small distance and kissed the tip of my nose. In a small voice so no one else could hear, he whispered, “I’d like to see you try.” Then the bastard smirked.
I cleared my throat. “Well, if I could go back and tell twelve-year-old me something, it’d be ‘Don’t sit next to that Spencer kid or you’ll end up marrying him one day.’”
Spencer nudged me. “Har, har.”
“Okay, okay, for reals—”
Spencer chuckled at my reference to his letter he wrote me.
“I would’ve told her don’t do a thing differently,” I said honestly. “I needed to make mistakes and learn lessons before I was able to truly give my heart to you. I’m sorry for making you wait so long, but I want to thank you for always seeing the good in me, even when it was really hard. Thank you for encouraging me, and supporting me, but most importantly, I want to thank you for loving me. It’s the best gift I could ever ask to receive.”
It was Spencer’s turn to spring some tears, and I swore he could hear my thoughts. Sucker, who’s crying now?
Nina rushed through the legal stuff, as per our request. This wasn’t about a big show. It was about committing to our family and promising ourselves to each other.
