by Dannika Dark
I wiped my cheek, lost in the sweet melody of another life. “I was just remembering eating a corn dog on the curb outside my house when I was eleven. It started sprinkling, and instead of going inside, I used the stick to draw lines in the dirt.”
Austin gave me a bemused look. “What’s so special about that story?”
“Nothing. Absolutely nothing is special about that story. That’s what’s wrong. I can remember an insignificant moment in my life with clarity, but why can’t I remember my brother’s voice?”
He held my hand and shook his head, unable to give me any words of comfort.
“I thought about naming him Wes,” I said, sniffling. “But I feel like our pack name honors him that way. Wes never liked his name; did he ever tell you that? Maybe that’s why it’s a little funny that we’re the Weston pack. He would have rolled his eyes and asked why we didn’t pick something cool, like Diesel.”
Austin sighed and lowered his head.
“But he always loved his middle name,” I went on. “He said if he ever became famous, he was going to change it to that because it sounded cool with Knight as his last name. I want Wes and Travis to share the same middle name.”
When I saw the confusion on his face, I realized that Austin didn’t know Wes’s middle name. My mom had only put his first and last on the grave marker, and I guess it wasn’t something that guys talked about much.
My gaze drifted to the cradle. “Travis Loyal. He’ll probably never use it, but I want him to have something that Wes loved, even if it’s just a name. Maybe he’ll pass it down to his firstborn, and it’ll be a thing.”
A smile twitched on Austin’s lips.
“What’s so funny?”
The more he tried to suppress it, the more contorted his expression became until he couldn’t hold in the emotion any longer. He rocked with laughter and fell onto his back, tears glittering at the corners of his eyes as he tried to palm them away. “I’m sorry, I can’t help it,” he managed through a coughing fit.
I slapped his thigh. “You better tell me what’s so damn funny about your son’s name.”
He wiped his tears with the palms of his hands and stared up at the ceiling. “Our son’s initials are TLC.”
The hinges on the door creaked when it opened. My mom set a tray of food on the dresser to the right and circled the bed, showering me with kisses. “My baby’s awake. I knew you’d be all right. No one else knows how tough you are, but I do. I brought you something to help get your strength back. Bacon, scrambled eggs, and sliced oranges.”
She came around the bed and bent over to give me a kiss and a hug. When she stood up, she wiped a tear away and took a few steps back. This must have been so hard for her. My mother had never fully recovered from Wes’s death, and I couldn’t imagine having almost lost a second child and grandchild.
Austin stood up and rubbed the back of his neck. “I was going to do this alone, but I guess this is better.”
“Do what?” I asked, tucking the sheet under my arms.
Austin reached in his pocket, but I didn’t hear any change jingling. He pulled out a silver band attached to a chain and knelt down, sliding it onto my finger. “Lexi, will you marry me?”
This time I was the one laughing. “Austin, we’re already married.”
“No, we’re mated. I want to marry you. I want to be your husband and your mate. I want you to walk down the aisle in front of everyone who matters so I can promise to love and protect you. I want you to wear a pretty dress and have a cake with a plastic couple on the top. I want a day I can remember that’s ours.”
My mom gasped and covered her mouth, tears shining in her eyes.
Austin wound up the silver chain and placed it in my palm. “You’ll have to wear it around your neck since you might lose it. I didn’t get a diamond like Izzy has.”
“It’s perfect. But it’s missing one thing.”
His frosty eyes filled with worry, dark brows slanting down. “A diamond?”
“No. An engraving. I want TLC to be carved into this ring, because that’s how you love me, Austin—with tender loving care. And whenever I look at it, I’ll think of this day. I’ll think of Travis and that musical toy playing in his crib while we talked about his name. Think you can do that?”
He pressed a kiss to the ring. “Ask for the world, and it’s yours.”
“How about chocolate pudding instead?”
Chapter 34
June 12th, the following year
Maizy knocked insistently on the bathroom door beneath the stairs. “Lexi, come out of there. My knuckles are starting to hurt.”
“I’m going to throw up!”
“You’re not going to throw up.”
I gripped the sink, staring at my reflection in the mirror. Yeah, I was going to throw up. A crown of ivy and delicate pink flowers encircled my head, and a veil draped over my face. Ivy had made it. My dress belonged to Katharine and could pass as a wedding gown, so my mother had tailored it for a better fit. It was a simple white dress with no sleeves, and lace that reached my ankles. I ran my fingers across the tiny beads on the front and then to the ladybug pin Maizy had given me.
Maizy’s knocking made me feel like a horse in a starting gate before a race.
“I can’t do this. I’ve changed my mind!”
Her voice was calm through the crack in the door. “Lexi, you’re already mated to him.”
“Yeah, but I’m not married to him.”
We hadn’t gone to a courthouse since Shifters tried to stay out of human records, but the wedding ceremony made it feel real. I’d had almost a year to get used to the idea. Everyone needed time to recover after a difficult war, and it gave Austin and me an opportunity to enjoy a long engagement. He especially liked introducing me as his fiancée, even though it caused some bemused reactions among Shifters.
“You can do this,” I whispered to myself, smoothing an out-of-place hair. I’d spent all morning sitting still while April and Izzy styled my tresses in a beautiful updo of loose braids. Austin liked it when he could see my neck, because it gave him easy access to kiss it.
“Come on, Lexi. Before the sun goes down and Travis falls asleep.”
I swung the door open, and she flashed me an impish grin. Mostly because my hand remained glued to the doorknob.
“You look stunning,” she said. “He’s going to fall over when he sees you.”
Maizy had grown into such a beautiful woman, inside and out. She smiled at me with those dimples, and I fondly remembered my baby sister who had always looked up to me. One minute she was hitting people over the head with her sparkly wand, and the next she was talking me into marrying someone that I’d already committed to loving for the rest of my life. Where did the time go?
The front door crashed open, and footsteps hammered up the stairs.
“Denver!” Maizy shouted. “You’re not supposed to be in here.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t wait!” he said, his voice growing distant.
Maizy rolled her eyes. “I told him not to drink that whole bottle of water—it was for sipping during the ceremony. Does he listen? No.”
My heart was thundering in my chest, my palms clammy, a cold sweat coming over me, my legs shaking.
“Maze, what if we just called it off? Or postponed. We’ll tell everyone I got hives.”
Her compassionate expression evaporated, replaced with slanted brows and thinning lips. She grabbed my wrist and yanked me out of the bathroom so forcefully that I almost tripped.
“Lexi, I didn’t squeeze into this blue dress for nothing. And you know I don’t like blue.”
“Sorry, that was Mom’s idea. It looks pretty though.”
“Yeah, and so does my hair all braided up. And my makeup is amazing with fairy dust flecked on my cheeks and brows. So why am I standing in front of the bathroom? Let’s show these guys what Weston women are made of. Get out there and remind Austin why he’s the luckiest man on earth. He’s been waiting for
an hour.”
“I had to wait my entire life for him to come around; the least he can do is wait an hour.” I reached under my veil and scratched my neck.
Maizy snatched my wrist and held it down. “You’re going to make bright streaks on your skin if you keep doing that. Don’t you dare break out in hives. Now take a deep breath.”
I sucked in a breath and held it for a minute before letting it go, blowing some of my veil forward.
A more relaxed set of footsteps descended the stairs.
“Don’t look!” Maizy shouted at him.
“I’m not the groom,” he yelled back.
Denver had on a tux, except instead of wearing a white shirt beneath it like all the other guys, he had on a Batman shirt. At lunch, I’d watched them strutting around the house like a bunch of peacocks in their suits and dress shoes. William had red suspenders on beneath his tux, and Reno’s pants ended up being a little too short for him, but I tried not to notice. The only one I hadn’t seen that day was Austin, and maybe that’s why I was nervous as hell. Austin could have put me at ease, but he wanted to be traditional and not see the bride on the day of the wedding.
I smiled, recalling yesterday when I’d caught him hammering a little nail into the wall by the front door and putting a silver T below it.
“Isn’t he a little young to drive?” I asked.
Austin just proudly traced his finger over that letter and said, “Yeah.”
Our honeymoon was going to be a week in Colorado, and Austin had arranged the entire thing. It was something we had argued about because I was having separation anxiety about leaving our son behind.
I tried to appreciate his efforts, but deep down, I didn’t feel right leaving Travis. But to be fair, Austin didn’t feel safe about traveling with him across two states, with eighteen-wheelers weaving in and out of lanes.
Maizy lifted the veil over my head, fanning my face with her hand. “It’s only going to last a few minutes, and then you’ll be off to your honeymoon. Austin packed the car this morning, but I have to warn you, the boys tied all those tin cans on the bumper. I don’t think that’s legal anymore, so I hope you don’t get pulled over by a state trooper.”
I laughed and felt my panic diminish. I looked down again at the scar on my shoulder where I had applied makeup to blend it in. The area was still pink, but Edward promised me that would fade with time.
“Stop nitpicking about every little thing,” she said. “My big sister looks like a fairy princess.”
“I feel like an ornament for the Christmas tree.”
Maizy glanced at the door and then back at me. “Okay. I’m going to take my seat, and this time you’re coming.”
I nodded back in acquiescence, deciding that if Maizy had to come all the way back up to the house to get me, she was probably going to bring a lasso with her. I listened to her heels click on the wood as she went out the front door.
I didn’t have heels. I’d opted to wear flats because I was too afraid of falling.
God, my throat was so dry.
I glanced back at the kitchen and briefly thought about the back door. I might be able to hide out in the fort, or if I kept going, there were always the bunkers. Knowing Austin, he’d track me down in those woods and carry me back on his shoulder.
Anxiety was an irrational beast. You could go through hell and back, and yet the most seemingly innocuous thing could set off a flurry of panic. I should have had nothing to be nervous about, but I was. I felt like the hands of time had rewound, and I was a bride taking her first walk to an unknown future.
I drifted toward the door and pulled it open. The porch railings were lavishly decorated with ivy and flowers that twisted around them, and a white carpet stretched from the bottom of the stairs straight into the yard, leading past the tree with the rope swing and through neatly arranged chairs where people were sitting.
Lots of people.
I raced back into the house. “My bouquet!” I frantically searched the room until I found it sitting on the sofa where I’d thrown it when racing back inside the first time around. It was a simple arrangement that matched the wreath on my head.
When I emerged onto the porch, there were low murmurs up ahead. Austin had his back to me, facing Turner—our Councilman, who was officiating the ceremony. Despite the unorthodox request, Turner had dressed in a handsome blue suit that made him look even more like Sean Connery than he usually did.
To Austin’s right, all the Weston men were standing in a semicircle so that no one held rank over the other. The idea of one best man hadn’t gone over well, so Austin had made peace by declaring they were all best men in order to avoid a third world war. When they caught sight of me on the porch, they whistled and erupted in applause.
I gripped the rail and carefully stepped down, lifting the ends of my dress so I could see my feet. As soon as I made it to the bottom and my eyes followed the path of the white carpet, that’s when it hit me.
The absence of a father to walk me down the aisle.
I looked at the empty spot on my right and thought about my big brother. “I wish you were here, Wes. You always said you’d do this for me.”
My chin trembled, and I fought back tears. I’d chosen this day of all days because it was the anniversary of my brother’s death—a day that had marked a transition in my life. This day had always been mournful, but it was time to give it new meaning and make it a day I could cherish. Wes would have wanted it that way.
Melody and Hope—my two flower girls—had dressed the carpet with pale rose petals dusted in gold glitter.
Almost everyone I knew was in attendance. Atticus, Prince, Kat, Lorenzo, Charlie, and even Jericho’s band—just to name a few. I didn’t know the manager at Howlers very well, but he’d given Rosie time off to attend the wedding. She and Izzy were close since they used to waitress together.
Ivy stood near the back in a pale green dress, her hair in two lovely braids instead of one. I floated toward her, but the moment she began singing “Landslide,” I got goose bumps and stood frozen in place. Her voice, the words… the memories.
My lip trembled.
Suddenly George rose from his chair and stalked toward me with a look on his face that actually made me turn around, afraid a psychopathic bride-killer might have snuck up behind me with an axe.
He filled the empty space on my right and held my hand. “You’re not doing this alone.”
I smiled and hooked my arm through his.
George blushed. “Sorry. I’ve only seen this done in the movies.”
The scene looked ethereal from behind my veil. The sun was crowning the tree line, dipping the world in a magic of golden fire.
Ivy resumed singing, and Jericho joined in from his spot in the front.
George walked me down the aisle and alleviated all my fears. Each step closer to Austin was a step in the direction I wanted to go. Trevor sat in the front row next to William, with Travis on his lap, who was standing up and squawking at his mommy.
It was so enchanting that I wanted the moment to last forever, like one of those magical snow globes that April kept in her collection. I felt nothing but love from these people who weren’t just a part of my past, but a symbol of my future.
When Austin finally turned, he stepped back as if in disbelief.
My beautiful bridesmaids looked exquisite in their blue dresses. Even Izzy had pinned up her hair for the occasion.
My mother reached out and patted my hand as I walked by. Finally, there was the awkward moment when George had to give me away.
He backed up a step and said to Austin, “She’s all yours!”
A few people chuckled as he hurried to his seat.
Austin sidled up to me and whispered, “I’m going to marry you.”
I kept a straight face and peered up at him through the veil. “You’ll just have to wait for my answer.”
Ivy and Jericho’s singing faded, and I glared at Turner nervously, unsure if he was going to off
iciate this as instructed.
Turner cleared his throat. “We are gathered here today to witness the union of Austin and Lexi, two Shifters I already mated years ago, but… here we are again.”
Lorenzo barked out a laugh, and it quickly died.
Turner gripped his little black book and addressed the crowd. “I’ve taken some liberties with the speech because this isn’t in my comfort zone. They put dearly beloved in the script, but I have a bone to pick with you, Maddox, so not everyone here is beloved until you get on my good side.”
Austin cleared his throat and threw him a baleful look.
Turner raised his brows. “Fine. We are here to witness the union of Austin and Lexi in holy matrimony, which is an honorable estate that is not to be entered into lightly, but reverently. If anyone can show just cause as to why these two shouldn’t be lawfully joined, you better speak now or forever hold your peace. Although it hardly matters since they’re already mated.”
I snorted and peered up at Austin. We knew going into this that Turner was going to be a card. We could have gotten a preacher, but it would have opened up too many questions, and we wanted to keep this among Shifters.
Turner tapped his fingers on his black book and centered his eyes on Austin. “Repeat after me: I, Austin Cole, take you to be my lawfully wedded wife. Tell her you’ll love her for the rest of her life and you’ll be a good man who doesn’t philander around and mistreat her. And make sure you bring her flowers just because. Women like that. Just don’t do it a lot, or she’ll think you have a guilty conscience and you’re trying to cover up something.”
Austin’s jaw set, and he turned to me. “I, Austin Cole, take you to be my lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold for as long as we both shall live. You’re my heart, my soul, and my life mate. I’ll honor you all the days of my life and promise to protect and cherish you.”
Yeah, he embellished a little, but I liked it.
Turner swatted at a gnat. “Repeat after me: I, Lexi Cole, take you to be my lawfully wedded alpha. Tell him you’ll love him forever and won’t yell at him for leaving the toilet seat up. And let him go out with the boys and do stupid things like mudding or racing lawnmowers. Sometimes men just need to do dumb shit.”
