She nodded as the first tears began to fall. “I do. I really do,” her voice cracked as she spoke. “And maybe I’m too late…and it’s okay if I am…I just…” She looked up at him. “I want to be with you. Forever. Whether it’s as your wife or your girlfriend…I don’t care. But I want us to live together and…and…”
She never got to finish. Colton hauled her into his lap and claimed her lips with his and kissed her until they were both breathless. When he lifted his head, he smiled at her. He shifted them around until Susannah was seated in the chair while he stood.
And then he got down on one knee.
“Oh my goodness! What is happening?”
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his wallet and then…the ring.
Her ring.
Holding it up to her, he said, “I wasn’t sure I’d ever get a second chance at this with you, but I was hopeful.” With a lopsided grin, he placed the ring on her finger. “I love you and nothing would make me happier than you agreeing to be my wife. My forever.”
“There is nothing I want more in this world!” she said, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around him. “If I could, I’d marry you right now. Tonight!”
He held her tight. “I’d love nothing more than to make that happen. But first, I’m going to kiss you again.”
And he did.
And he kept on kissing her until Susannah was ready to drop to the floor with him. Instead, she pulled back and smiled. “How about we go inside and celebrate?” Standing, she held out her hand to him until he was on his feet in front of her.
“That sounds perfect.”
They hadn’t gone more than a few feet when there was a knock at the back door. Turning, they found Jake and Mallory walking in – both of them grinning from ear to ear.
“Mal?” Susannah asked. “Everything okay?”
“New Year’s Eve!” she said excitedly. “We’re going to get married on New Year’s Eve!”
8
“I don’t want to say your daughter stole our thunder, but…”
“Yeah, she totally stole our thunder,” Susannah agreed. It was just after nine and they were in bed after finally getting some time alone to celebrate.
After Mallory’s exclamation, they had opened a bottle of champagne to toast the good news. It took almost an hour – and scrambling to add enough side dishes to include her and Jake for dinner – before Mallory noticed the ring on Susannah’s finger.
“Oh my goodness! Is this…? Does this mean…?”
More champagne was poured and another round of congratulations spoken before they got back to the topic of a New Year’s Eve wedding.
And another hour before they finally left.
“You sure you’re up for putting a wedding together on such short notice?” Colton asked, breaking into her reverie.
She shrugged and snuggled up beside him. “It was kind of my suggestion,” she admitted. “When Mallory mentioned to me a couple of weeks ago how she wished they had gotten married already and that she hadn’t procrastinated for so long, I suggested the holidays since everyone is going to be in town – including Jake’s parents.”
“I know they both said tonight how they didn’t want anything big…”
“I have to admit, I’m a little envious of them.”
He smiled and placed a soft kiss on the top of her head. “Really?”
“Yup. They’re not going to agonize for months or years over details that, in the grand scheme of things, really don’t matter. They just want to be married in a simple ceremony, surrounded by family and friends. And I think that sounds perfect.”
“You do, huh?”
She nodded.
“So for us…”
Tilting her head back, she grinned up at him. “I want exactly the same thing. Small. Intimate. And here. This is where we first met and this is where we spend so much of our time. Working on this house brought us together so it seems only fitting that we should get married here.”
He chuckled softly.
“What? What’s so funny?”
“A few days ago you were so against getting married that you were damn near having a fit and now you’re making plans for us and…I like it.”
“Just like?”
He kissed her again. “Actually, I love it. And yeah, getting married here at the inn would be the perfect spot for us. You just tell me when and I’m there.”
“If Mallory hadn’t claimed New Year’s, I would have suggested it.” She sighed. “It would have been perfect. I guess now we’ll have to wait a little while so we don’t…you know…”
“Steal their thunder?” he finished with a hint of amusement.
“Yeah, something like that.” She sighed again. “This is what I get for not being smart enough to accept your proposal the first time. I’m so sorry.”
“Susannah, you have nothing to apologize for. No one could have predicted things turning out like this. And besides, we can still plan and maybe even move in together before we actually get married. That is, if that’s something you’d consider.”
“I would. I definitely would. It just would have been nice to…”
“I know,” he said quietly, his hand gently rubbing up and down her back. “It’s not the way I would have preferred it, but…I think we’ve already established that this is where we want to be. And, if it’s that much of a deterrent to us, maybe we just go down to the courthouse and get married and have a ceremony with friends and family later.”
She perked up a little. “That could totally work! We could go to the courthouse and then take the time to plan out the perfect time to celebrate. Ooh…maybe Valentine’s Day!” She paused. “Or is that too clichéd?”
“Even if it were, it wouldn’t matter to me. Any day that you say you want to marry me, I’m there.” He yawned loudly. “But we don’t have to decide that tonight, do we?”
“Well…”
“Because it was a long work day and then all the celebrating and the champagne and making love and…”
Placing a kiss on his chest, she laughed softly. “You’re tired. I know. Me too.” Colton reached over and turned out the bedside light. “I love you.”
“Love you too, beautiful. Thank you for wanting to be my wife.”
“Thank you for wanting to ask me again.”
And before she knew it, they were both asleep.
“Okay, guys! Let’s break for lunch and we’ll tackle standing this temporary wall up when we get back,” Colton said to his crew the next day. They all agreed and turned to leave. His phone vibrated in his pocket and he saw he had a couple of texts from Jake asking him to come to the office. There were no reasons listed, just a request for him to come in and that Jake was providing lunch.
With a shrug, he walked out to his truck and began to make his way across town.
It had been a good day so far – the job was back on track, the inventory issue had been straightened out, and if the weather cooperated, they’d be at the perfect stopping point by the time the holidays hit. Maybe that’s what Jake wanted to talk to him about. Or maybe he wanted to talk about whatever job Colton would be taking on next. Whatever it was, he wasn’t worried. He and Jake had worked together for years and they had never had an issue where a job was concerned and he doubted that would start to happen now.
Although, they were going to be family soon. Was that going to make things weird? Awkward? He hoped not. Lord knew he wasn’t ever going to ask for special treatment. The only thing he was going to ask for was time off when he and Susannah got married so he could take her on a honeymoon. They hadn’t talked about where they wanted to go, but if it were up to him, he’d take her someplace tropical where they could spend the day lying in the sun. He remembered her talking about how she’d never taken a real vacation before. Anytime she had time off from work, she had come to Magnolia Sound to visit her grandfather and family. Well…now he could take her someplace and let her experience doing something for herself.
; Just the thought of it made him smile.
He pulled up to the Coleman Construction office and parked. Inside, he went straight to Jake’s office and found his door open. He knocked, just to be polite. “Hey, Jake.”
Looking up, Jake smiled at him. “Hey, Colt. Come on in.”
So he did.
“I grabbed us a couple of sandwiches from the deli along with some chips and drinks. Why don’t you have a seat?” There was a small conference table in the corner of the room that Jake motioned to and once they were both seated, he spoke. “I wanted to apologize for yesterday.”
His sandwich was halfway to his mouth when he froze. “Um…what?”
“Yeah, when Mallory and I barged in on you and Susannah. We should have called first. To be fair, we had no idea you had just…you know…proposed. And then we went and announced our date without even asking about yours.”
Colton was about to speak when there was a knock on the door. Turning, he saw Sam walking in. “Sorry I’m late. Old Mrs. Mills was a little chatty and I couldn’t get a word in edgewise!” he said with a laugh. He sat down at the table and thanked Jake for the food before grinning at Colton. “Hey, Colt! I hear congratulations are in order!”
Seriously, he felt himself blushing. “Uh…yeah.”
“I knew Mom would come to her senses. She just needed to get out of her own damn head.”
Colton merely nodded. He figured that was the safest response.
“I was just talking to Colt about how I felt bad that Mal and I interrupted things right after he proposed last night,” Jake explained.
Sam laughed again. “My sister always has the worst timing.”
“Hey!” Jake said, but there was no heat behind his words.
“Oh, stop. I’m her twin so I’m allowed to say things like that.” He took a bite of his sandwich. “So I hear that the wedding – yours and Mallory’s,” he clarified, “will be on New Year’s Eve, right?”
Jake nodded.
“Any idea when you and Mom are going to make it official?”
Colton felt a little awkward talking about this without Susannah here, but he figured there wasn’t anything wrong with it. “We’re probably going to go to the courthouse sooner rather than later so we don’t take away from Jake and Mallory’s big day and then have a party at a later date.”
Both men looked at him like he was crazy.
“What? What did I say?”
“Why would you do that?” Sam asked. “Why go through the hassle of doing both?”
“Honestly? We don’t want to wait. We both want to move in together but we’re a little old-fashioned and want to be married first.”
“What does that have to do with going to the courthouse? Why not have a ceremony with all of us?”
He sighed. “I just explained that. We don’t want to take away…”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Sam interrupted. “I get that, but Mom’s entitled to and deserves something more than going to a damn courthouse.”
“I agree, Sam,” Colton said. “I really do. But with the holiday’s and Mallory’s wedding…”
“Shit,” Jake murmured, tossing his sandwich down. “You guys wanted a holiday wedding, didn’t you?”
“We hadn’t gotten that far by the time the two of you showed up. It wasn’t until later on that we talked about it and wished we could have done it sooner rather than later.”
“Well damn,” Sam said around another mouthful of sandwich. “I get that you guys want to do things right by getting married before moving in together, but…and I’m not trying to be disrespectful or anything…but you guys have been spending…you know…your nights together for a long time. You’re practically living together already. I just think you should move your stuff over to the big house and plan a ceremony where we can all be there to witness it and celebrate on the same day. Please. Talk to my mother about this or I will.”
“Sam…”
“What? Are you seriously telling me you’re okay with doing things this way, Colt?”
“I’m just so damn happy your mother accepted my proposal that I’m willing to do whatever it takes to make her happy. We already went and got the marriage license this morning so we can just go and do it whenever we want. And if doing the courthouse thing does that…”
“Okay, everyone just…calm down,” Jake said. “Maybe we all need to sit down together.”
Before anyone else could speak, Sam started laughing – softly at first and then a little more heartily.
Colton and Jake looked at each other before looking at Sam. “What is so funny?”
“Look at us!” Sam cried before laughing again. “We are three grown-ass men sitting here trying to make wedding plans! Are you not seeing how funny that is?”
“Um…no…” Colt said.
“Not really,” Jake added.
“Trust me, it’s hysterical and it’s almost more than I can handle.”
“Look, time’s not on our side right now,” Jake said. “Christmas is less than two weeks away and then New Year’s is right behind it. We’re all busy and it’s going to be hard planning one wedding. How the hell are we supposed to plan two?”
“That’s what I’m saying,” Sam explained. “You’re not planning two. Mom and Colt can still move in together and plan something for after the holidays and after yours and Mal’s wedding. It’s not ideal but under these circumstances, I think it’s the only option to keep everyone sane.”
As much as he hated to admit it, Sam’s plan made sense.
He just hoped that Susannah saw it that way.
“I’ll talk to Susannah after work and see how she feels about it. But if it makes her uncomfortable, then I’m not going to push,” he said firmly. “You guys can come to the courthouse with us and we’ll go out to dinner or something and it will be fine. All I want is for your mother to be happy.”
He was about to say more when his phone vibrated. Taking a quick bite of his sandwich, he pulled out his phone and saw there was a lumber delivery that had arrived early. Muttering a curse, he stood and took another bite of his lunch.
“Everything okay?” Jake asked.
“Delivery showed up early and if I don’t get there in the next ten minutes, they’re leaving.” With a small growl of frustration, he packed up his lunch and scooped it up. “I hate to eat and run and all, but…”
“No worries, Colt. We can talk later. It’s not a big deal. Go.”
“Thanks.”
Waving to them both, he walked out the office door and was about to head out into the hallway when his drink nearly slid out of his hands. He got himself situated a bit better and was about to walk away again when he heard Sam say, “Dude, I have the perfect solution to all of this. You’re going to think I’m crazy but…trust me. It’s gonna be amazing!”
His curiosity was piqued, but he had to go.
Muttering a curse, he strode down the hall and made a mental note to call Jake later on and see what this perfect solution was.
“So I was thinking that we can add more twinkly lights to the yard and rent another half-dozen of those heat lamps and put them out on the deck so we can have the ceremony outside and then come inside afterwards for dinner and dessert! What do you think?”
Susannah was listening patiently as Mallory mapped out exactly what she wanted for her wedding and as much as she was impressed at how much her daughter had thought everything through, there was a part of her that was a wee bit jealous at how perfect it all sounded and how much she wished she had thought of it first for her and Colton.
“Mom?”
“Oh, sorry, sweetheart. I was just trying to envision it all in my head.”
“And? Doesn’t it sound perfect?” Mallory asked excitedly. “And with all the Christmas decorations still up it’s going to be so beautiful!”
Nodding, Susannah agreed.
“And the absolute best part – I think – is how we can all go outside at midnight and watch the fireworks on the Sound! It w
ill be the perfect ending to a perfect day!”
Another nod. “As long as the weather cooperates.”
“Mom, why would you even say that?! The weather has to cooperate. It just has to!”
Standing, she patted Mallory’s hand. “I’ll see what I can do.” Walking over to the refrigerator, she poured them each a glass of sweet tea before sitting back down. “Have you thought about your dress?”
“I have. I actually saw it in town at Vintage Violets,” she explained before taking a sip of her tea. “It was in the window last week and I walked by and thought…that’s it! That’s my dress!”
“Wow! Did you buy it already?”
“That’s kind of why I’m here,” she said slowly. “I was hoping you’d come into town with me to see it. I haven’t even tried it on yet but I called and asked Vi to put it aside for me.”
“Mal, I’d love to!”
“Yay! Then you can look for a dress too!”
“Oh, um…Colton and I haven’t…
“I mean, the mother of the bride needs to look fabulous and I’m sure you’ll find something amazing there.”
Swallowing hard, she smiled and nodded. “Right. Mother of the bride dress.”
Mallory’s expression turned thoughtful. “Were you already thinking about a wedding dress for you? Because I’m sure we can shop for that while we’re there.”
“Um…”
Jumping to her feet, Mallory reached for her hand and tugged. “This is going to be so much fun! I can’t even remember the last time we went shopping for dresses together! C’mon! Let’s go! I’ll call Jake and tell him I won’t be home for dinner. You call Colt and tell him the same. We’ll shop and then go grab a bite to eat somewhere.”
“Mal, I don’t think we’ll be gone that long. It’s barely three o’clock!”
Rolling her eyes, she tugged on Susannah’s hand again. “It’s definitely been too long since we’ve gone shopping together if you think this is going to be quick. We’re having a girls’ afternoon and evening. No arguments. Now go call Colton and I’ll call Jake and we’ll meet in the foyer in ten minutes.”
All The Befores Page 9