by Lisa Suzanne
I could have told him then, but he still had four weeks on the road and I didn’t want him worrying about me the whole time he was gone.
And so I’ve kept it to myself. I’m ten weeks along now. My doctor said around twelve weeks is typically when first time moms start showing, and I’m thankful I still fit into the gown I chose for this occasion since we’re getting close to that mark.
The door opens behind me and clicks shut, and I turn around and face my father.
“My sweet Buttercup,” he says softly.
I hold up my bouquet filled with buttercup flowers, and he laughs as he shakes his head. He walks toward me and takes my hand, spinning me in a little circle before giving me a hug. “You look beautiful.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I say, brushing away a tear I wasn’t expecting to shed today.
He was right. I think back to his words that day Adam and I talked to my parents when he surprised me by coming back early from Michigan.
I took this away from my parents—from my entire family—when Adam and I got drunk in Vegas, and so all this today is for them as much as it is for Adam and me.
“Are you ready to get married again?”
I giggle, and then I nod. “I’m ready.”
He shakes his head, and if I’m not mistaken, I think I see a little sparkle in his eye. He’s the strong type, the manly man, the one I’ve never seen cry. “I’m not. You know, a dad pictures this day from the moment he finds out he’s having a daughter. I did, anyway. I knew no man would ever be good enough for you unless he was the prince of some kingdom, and even then, I’d still have questions. I never pictured it like this, but that’s life.” He shrugs. “It rarely turns out how we would’ve pictured it ourselves. And so, I just have one question for you.”
“What?”
“Are you happy?”
I nod as a smile widens across my lips. I very nearly spill the beans by placing a hand on my tummy, but I stop myself at the last minute. “I’ve never been happier, Dad.”
“Then let’s go, Buttercup. Your prince awaits.”
My eyes sting at his words, and then I take his arm and walk on toward my happy ending.
My dad leads me outside to the terrace, where chairs are set up for the short vow renewal ceremony. Every seat is filled, and no one is standing...because Marcy is that good at her job.
I spot my husband in a black tuxedo at the end of a long aisle draped in white. He stands under an arch made of buttercups. Rascal, Dax, Brody, and Kane stand beside him as his best man and groomsmen, respectively.
On my side of the aisle I find my maid of honor, Amber, along with bridesmaids Kylie, Zoey, and Sierra.
And in the middle, standing there as the officiant of our vow renewal ceremony, is someone I never saw coming.
There were more than a few details I let Marcy work out, and I guess this was one of them.
My eyes widen and I let out a nervous giggle when I spot my dream officiant, Mark Ashton, standing at the front.
My eyes edge over to Adam, who looks as calm as a cucumber if a little emotional, and then I remember that Adam knows this guy. When I told Kylie that Mark Ashton would be my dream officiant, I was half-joking...but sometimes I forget this crazy world I’m a part of now.
When I get to the front, my dad kisses my cheek. “Good luck, Buttercup,” he says, and I smile and gaze at my husband, who’s wiping away some moisture from the corner of his eye.
Seeing his reaction gets me going, too. I brush away a few tears.
“Adam and Emily, it’s my pleasure to be here today to celebrate your vow renewal with you,” Mark Ashton says.
Dear Lord, I can’t believe Mark Ashton is here.
I can’t stop using his full name.
How did this even happen? Is this real life?
“Marriage marks the beginning of a journey in many real and exciting ways. In my own experience, it never felt like the end of my single days but rather marked the real start of my life. I see the love you two have for each other, and I can see that your marriage has marked the start of your lives, too. Please join hands.”
I pass my bouquet to Amber and take Adam’s outstretched hands.
“You have shared in the joys of marriage for the last two months, and today we celebrate those joys with your friends and family.” Mark turns to Adam. “Adam, do you reaffirm your vows for Emily, and will you love and honor her in sickness and health, for richer or poorer, for better or worse, forsaking all others all the days of your life?”
“I do,” Adam says, his voice clear and loud and filled with emotion.
Mark turns to me. “And Emily,” he says, and oh my God, Mark Ashton knows my name, which is crazy to me even though we met that night in Vegas, “do you reaffirm your vows for Adam, and will you love and honor him in sickness and health, for richer or poorer, for better or worse, forsaking all others all the days of your life?”
“I do,” I say, my voice shaky despite the firm truth behind the words.
“At your first wedding, you exchanged rings that serve as a physical reminder of your vows. Today, you will exchange new rings that symbolize the love that has deepened between the two of you.”
I wait for Rascal to hand over the rings to Mark in the little bag Marcy chose for this part of the ceremony. Adam had me hand over my ring first thing this morning just for this moment. Mark shakes the rings out of the bag and hands one to Adam.
“Adam, repeat after me as you place the ring on Emily’s finger,” Mark says. “I give you this ring as a symbol of my love and commitment to you...forever.”
Adam slides my ring up my finger and says the words. When I look down at my hand, I gasp as tears fill my eyes.
It’s not the princess cut diamond he gave me.
It’s the dream ring.
The French-set halo band with a round diamond glitters and sparkles in the natural light on the terrace where we stand.
It’s the forever ring, and it’s from the man I plan to share forever with.
When I agreed to go to Vegas with my best friend after I caught my douchebag ex cheating on me, I never could’ve imagined I’d wake up married to the guy I’d had a crush on since before I was a teenager. And even more unbelievable? We’re going to stay married...not because of some contract, but because we found the other half of our hearts in each other.
EPILOGUE: ADAM
I kiss my wife as we dance our first dance at our reception to a song Mark Ashton wrote for his wife called “A Little Like Destiny.”
It’s the exact right song for this moment.
Somehow everything came together for us in a way I never could’ve expected, and it’s because it always had to be her. She was my destiny.
“I can’t believe you really got me the ring,” she murmurs, and I can tell she’s holding her hand up behind me as she studies it. “It’s the dream ring.”
I pull back and look down into her eyes. “You’re my dream girl. You deserve it. You deserve everything.”
All eyes are on us, and I feel like now is the time to give her another gift.
“I have a surprise for you,” I say.
She giggles. “The last time you told me that, it was in your pants.”
I laugh as I remember that night well. It was a week after New Orleans and we were backstage in Nashville. “Well, if we’re being technical, it had to come out of my pants before I could deliver my surprise.”
“It was a good surprise.” Her eyes get a little dreamy.
“So’s this one, but this one isn’t sex.”
“I have a surprise for you, too,” she says.
“Is it sex?”
She shakes her head as her lips tip up, and now she’s got my curiosity burning.
“Me first,” I say. “I know how much you’ve been wanting to go back to school for your accounting degree, and I did some research. There are online degrees and in-person degrees, and I support whatever you decide. I’ll cover the costs and I’ll help with the startu
p when you’re ready to build a business. I want you to do what you love to do, and I want to support you in whatever way I can. And, most of all, I want MFB to be your first client.”
Her eyes fill with tears.
“But before school starts, I have another surprise.”
“Another one? First you make my romantic dreams come true with the ring, then you make my nerd dreams come true with school, and now...?” She trails off at the end with a question as to which dreams I’m going to grant this time.
I twist my lips as I think, and then I smile. “This one is for your sex dreams. We’re going on a honeymoon.”
Her lips widen into the smile that doesn’t just light her face or light the room...it lights my entire being. “We are?”
I nod. “You once said where you’d want to go, and so I booked us two weeks in Hawaii. We leave Wednesday morning.”
“What?” she practically screeches, and I laugh.
“I was going to book it for tonight, but I thought you’d want a couple days to shop before we go.”
“Thank you.” She shakes her head as her eyes sparkle with unshed tears. “I can’t believe you. God, I can’t believe me. I can’t believe how lucky I am.”
“How lucky we are.”
She clears her throat and glances nervously up at me. “Yeah,” she says softly. “All three of us.”
I tilt my head as my brows move together in confusion. “Three?”
She lifts a shoulder and arches an eyebrow. “Yeah.” Her lips tip up a little nervously. “Three.”
“Did you get me a dog?”
She giggles and shakes her head. “No.”
I just stare at her in total confusion until she spells it out for me.
She rises up on her tiptoes and whispers in my ear, “I’m pregnant.”
The world seems to stop spinning on its axis as she utters two words that will forever change us both.
“You’re...you’re...”
“Pregnant,” she repeats.
“We’re having a...”
“Baby,” she finishes softly, nodding as she sees the light of understanding dawn behind my eyes.
I’m silent for a few beats as I try to process what she’s telling me.
A baby.
A part of her and a part of me.
Hers and mine.
I never really thought about what this moment would feel like, but numbness settles over me first. Am I old enough to be a father?
Of course I am. I’m twenty-seven.
Am I mature enough to be a father?
Debatable.
Am I ready to be a father?
I’m not sure. I’m a touring musician in a band that’s topping the charts. I have a new wife who I selfishly want to enjoy all to myself for a little while, especially since this is real now for us.
But ready or not...here he—or she? God, it could be a little girl—comes.
“Are you serious?” I finally ask.
She nods, her smile faltering. “I’m ten weeks along already. It happened that night in Vegas.”
And that’s when it clicks.
My first thoughts don’t matter. Age, maturity, readiness...they’re all factors that are rendered irrelevant because together, we created a new life.
Besides, is anyone ever really ready?
We’ll read the books. We’ll learn the rules. We’ll figure it out.
And, above all, we will love this baby with every fiber of our beings.
Besides, this is Emily we’re talking about. I already know she’s going to be the best mother in the world to our children. There’s no one else I’d rather hold hands with through this crazy adventure than her.
I wrap my arms more tightly around her. “I love you so much,” I murmur to her. “I’ve never been so happy.”
She seems to relax in my arms, and I feel her trembling against me. I pull back and gaze down at her.
“I was so nervous to tell you,” she admits. “Honestly, I’m just a nervous wreck over this whole thing.”
I smile. “We got this,” I say, dropping a kiss to her sweet lips. “You’re going to be the best mom ever, and I’m going to be right by your side doing the best I can do for both of you. And however many more come after this one.”
She smiles, and it’s that same one that makes my heart ache with love for her.
Man, when I did a few tequila shots one night in Vegas, I had no idea how the course of my life would be altered forever.
A wife I love, a baby on the way...my heart is full. I ended up with so much more than a hangover when I found myself waking up married.
* * *
What really happened that night in Vegas, and what’s the big secret with Rascal’s short hair?
Find out in Amber’s bonus epilogue, “That Night in Vegas.”
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD!
* * *
Want more MFB? Check out Take My Heart, Dax’s story! CLICK HERE to purchase.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I couldn’t continue to write and publish books without my amazing support team. First, as always, thank you to Matt for being the supportive, amazing husband and father you are. To my two kiddos, thank you for being good sleepers so mom can get some writing time in. I love you three so much.
Trenda London, Katie Harder-Schauer, and Diane Holtry, all three of you are an essential part of my process and I couldn’t do this without you.
Thank you to Give Me Books for hosting the release events for this book and to all the bloggers who signed up to read, review, and promote my books. Thank you to every ARC reader for taking the time to read and review this book early.
To Team LS, my ARC Team, and the Vail Tail Fangirls, thank you for the support, encouragement, and fun conversations, and thanks for giving me the three places I most love going on Facebook.
To my author pals and groups, thanks for listening, encouraging, and being generally amazing women.
Thank you to you. If you’re reading this, I hope you enjoyed Waking Up Married and I’d love if you could leave me a review. Thank you for spending time with my words. I hope you enjoyed the experience, and I can’t wait to bring you more rock stars, maybe an athlete, and many more love stories.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lisa Suzanne is a romance author who resides in Arizona with her husband and two kids. She’s a former high school English teacher and college composition instructor. When she's not chasing her toddler or cuddling her newborn, she can be found working on her latest book or watching reruns of Friends.
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BOOKS BY LISA SUZANNE
A LITTLE LIKE DESTINY SERIES
A LITTLE LIKE DESTINY (Book One)
ONLY EVER YOU (Book Two)
CLEAN BREAK (Book Three)
THE UNBREAKABLE THREAD DUET
THE POWER TO BREAK (Book One)
THE POWER TO BREAK - AUDIOBOOK
THE INVISIBLE THREAD (Book Two)
THE INVISIBLE THREAD - AUDIOBOOK
THE TRUTH AND LIES DUET
IT STARTED WITH A LIE
IT ENDED WITH THE TRUTH
MY FAVORITE BAND STANDALONES
TAKE MY HEART
THE BENEFITS OF BAD DECISIONS
CLICK HERE FOR MORE
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