“Fine,” he groans, “but I don’t like it.”
“Noted,” I say.
“I want to get married in my backyard,” I tell Jacob who just nods.
“That was already decided. That is the only thing Savannah wanted was to get married at either her house or your house.” I smile when I think about her making that decision.
We drive a town over to get our suits, and we all agree on a cream linen suit. Well, we don’t. Kallie said that it had to be cream or gray. When we get back in town, I drop Jacob and Ethan off with a promise to pick them up in an hour. I walk into my office and see that Bonnie isn’t at her desk. I look around and still don’t see her, and when I try to walk into my office, the door is locked. I knock on the door, and all I hear is rustling, and then the door opens and Bonnie comes out, her hair all over the place as she adjusts her blouse.
“I’m so sorry,” she says, avoiding my eyes. “I thought you would be gone all day.” She walks past me, and I open the door to see my father tucking in his shirt.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” I shake my head. “Bonnie, you’re fired.”
She looks at me with her mouth open and then looks behind me to see if my father will say anything. And being the awesome gentleman that he is, he doesn’t say a word.
“But …” she huffs. “He …”
I put my hand up. “I’m really not interested in the story.” Walking into my office, I say, “Just so we’re clear, this isn’t your office anymore.” He glares at me. “Why?”
“Why what, Beau?” He looks at me.
“You’re married. I mean, in case you forgot, to my mother,” I say. “Everyone talks, you know. You hear whispers, but I would always say it can’t be. My father would never do that to my mother. He loves her. And then I just ignored it because how can you fight for something that is a lie?”
“I do love her.” He puts his hands in his pockets. “But I have certain needs, and those things you don’t bring into your house.”
I shake my head. “You’re disgusting,” I say. “If I hear the whispers, don’t you think Mom does, too?”
“Your mother knows her place,” he says. “She is the one I’m married to. What I do on my private time in the privacy of my space is mine.”
“Get out.” I shake my head and walk to the desk, grabbing the phone number of the judge who is going to marry us. I walk to the door now.
“You think you’re better than me. You’ll be just like me,” he says almost proud of himself. “It runs in the family.”
“Then I must be adopted,” I say, “because there is no way I would do that to someone I love.”
“Ask your future wife about what is expected of her. I’m sure her mother has taught her well,” he says, and my stomach lurches.
“You think I don’t know you are sleeping with her mother.” I shake my head. “You think you’re so slick, but you’re not. I was sixteen, and I was supposed to be at Jacob’s house that weekend, but I didn’t feel well, and I came home early.”
“I didn’t know,” he says, and I shake my head.
“Don’t pretend you care now,” I say, walking out of the room. “I’m having the locks changed.”
He starts yelling, but I ignore him as I get into the truck. I have one more stop before picking up Ethan and Jacob.
We walk into my house, and I have to stop in my tracks because it has been transformed. Tea lights are hung in the trees everywhere. The willow tree in the back is almost lit up, and candles make a path to where a white canopy is set up.
“You have ten minutes,” Kallie says, and I nod, going to the bathroom to change. When I walk out, I’m wearing the suit that I bought that day, and Charlotte is there with a flower, pinning it to my jacket.
“You look so handsome,” she says, kissing my cheek. “I’ll see you out there,” she says, and Jacob comes now.
“Are you ready?” he asks, and I just smile.
My whole chest fills up when I answer him. “I’ve never been more ready for anything in my whole life.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Savannah
“It’s time.” I hear Cristine, Jacob’s mom, say as she comes in and looks at me with a smile. “You look …” She puts her hands on her chest. “So beautiful.” She smiles and walks out of the room, leaving me with Kallie and Olivia.
My hands shake when I put my hand on my stomach and look back into the mirror. As I look at my reflection, I didn’t expect to even be married in a wedding dress with such short notice. But it happened. When I walked into the room four hours ago, I had a white top and white jeans in my hands. I knew that it wasn’t what I wanted to be married in, but it was sprung on me at the last minute.
I was in a daze, my mind in a fog as I played this moment over and over in my head. I was marrying my fairy-tale prince, but he just didn’t know it. The white lace dress fits me as if it was made for me. The cap sleeves sit on my shoulders, going down into a modest V. I run my hands to my hips where it fits tight all the way to the bottom, getting loose toward the knees. I turn to look at the open back and small lace train. “Do you think this is okay?” I ask the two girls who came in and made me feel like Cinderella.
“This dress.” Olivia walks next to me, dressed to the nines in a light pink chiffon dress. “Was made for you.” She smiles, and I turn to look at her.
“I don’t have a lot of friends,” I say, and tears sting my eyes. Kallie comes over and hands me a linen handkerchief. I grab it, looking at her lilac dress that is tight all the way down and has a sweetheart neckline. Her hair is tied up in the back. “I mean, I don’t have any friends really except for Beau.” I smile, bringing the handkerchief to my eyes. “He’s my best friend.”
“And in about five minutes, you’ll be standing with him,” Olivia says. She is the one who got me the dress without even batting an eye. She got on the phone, and in ten minutes, she checked off wedding dress from the list. Kallie came in and had my makeup and hair booked. She wanted me to wear my hair up, but I love when Beau pushes the hair away from my face. I love when he picks up my hair at the ends and twirls it through his fingers. Basically, I will do whatever I need to make him happy and to get him to touch me.
I inhale and then slowly exhale. “I think I’m going to vomit.” I look at them, and they both laugh.
“If you throw up on that dress, it will be a bad omen,” Olivia tries to joke, but her face is anything but joking. “This dress is not even for sale yet. It’s next season.”
“What?” I look down at the beautiful dress. “How much is this?”
“You don’t want to know,” Kallie says. “You also don’t want to vomit on it.”
“Now I think I’m going to be sick for other reasons,” I mumble, but then there is a knock on the door. It opens, and Ethan comes in wearing a little linen suit.
“Oh my God,” Kallie says, walking to him. “Aren’t you just the handsomest thing ever?” She hugs him, and my heart is about to explode. She loves him like he is hers, and as a mother, that is all you can hope for when you co-parent.
“I look like Beau,” he says with a huge smile on his face. “He’s also nervous, and he just almost threw up.”
My neck gets suddenly hot, and I have to sit down. “Oh my God, he is so sick about marrying me that he is getting sick about it.” I look at the girls who just look at me.
“No,” Ethan says. “He thinks you’re going to run. Dad had to calm him down. Then he started to sweat, and Uncle Casey had to get him a towel.”
I’m about to ask him so many more questions when there is another knock on the door. This time, it’s Jacob, who sticks his head in. “Hey,” he says, looking at us, and then smiling when he sees Kallie. “Not to rush you or anything, but if you don’t get down there, Beau is going to come into this room, and he says this is where you will get married.”
“Over my dead body,” Kallie says. “We busted our ass for this.” She points at Olivia. “You go out there.
” She looks at Jacob. “You go tell him that she’s coming and to calm his tits.” She looks at Ethan. “You go get your mother’s flowers. And you.” She points at me. “You need to get up and go get your man.”
Jacob comes into the room now and goes to her. “I love when you’re bossy,” he says, and Ethan laughs.
“That isn’t what you said in the car when she called you with a list of things to do.” He shakes his head while Kallie rolls her lips, and Ethan laughs.
“After this, we need to have a talk,” he says to his son. “About the things we say in front of girls and the things we hide. Now before Uncle Beau has a heart attack, let’s get down there.”
I get up now, my knees a little bit wobbly, but I stand straight. “Let’s get out there,” I say to them. Olivia walks out first and then Kallie follows, leaving Jacob, Ethan, and me.
“You look beautiful,” Jacob says. “I’m happy for you.”
“Yeah,” I say, but swallow if only this was for real. Ethan walks out of the room now. “I just feel like I’m tricking him.”
He shakes his head. “Beau wouldn’t be doing this if he didn’t want to.” Ethan comes back with my bouquet of wildflowers. “See you out there.” He walks out, and Ethan looks at me.
“You look pretty, Mom.” He smiles, and I nod. Walking out of the door, I see rose petals on the floor. I walk to the back door, trying to get my hands to stop shaking.
We get to the back door, and I see the backyard totally transformed. Tea lights are hung everywhere, bowls of water with flowers and candles in them line the path to the altar, I try to take it all in, but my eyes fall on Beau and nothing matters anymore. He stands under the big willow tree, looking around and wiping his forehead, and when he spots me, his eyes light up and a smile fills his face. He is dressed in a beige linen suit exactly like Ethan. Wildflowers are secured to his jacket lapel, and his black hair is perfectly combed over. I lift my dress, stepping out on to the patio, and I can hear the music now. The sound of music drifts from somewhere, but I only have eyes for Beau. As I walk down the steps with Ethan, Beau and I lock eyes on each other, and when I finally make my way to him. He hugs Ethan and then comes over and hugs me.
“You look beautiful,” he says, making my heart speed up and my stomach flutter.
Beau grabs my hand and brings it to his lips, and we step under the canopy of flowers that I just realized is there. “Dearly beloved,” the preacher begins, and I look over at him by the side and see that he is nervous as he breathes in and out. I squeeze his hand, hoping that he can feel how nervous I am also.
“Please look at each other and hold hands.” I hand my flowers to Ethan, who stands by my side, then turn and put my hands in Beau’s, and he looks me in the eye while the preacher speaks. “Beau, do you take this woman to be your wife, to live together in matrimony, to love her, to honor her, to comfort her, and to keep her in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?”
Beau squeezes my hands and smiles while he says, “I do.”
“Savannah.” I look over at the preacher when he says my name for just a second, and then my eyes go back to Beau. My heart has not stopped hammering since I walked down the aisle. “Do you take this man to be your husband, to live together in matrimony, to love him, to honor him, to comfort him, and to keep him in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?”
Looking down, I feel my heart slow, and a peace surrounds me. “I do,” I say with all my heart.
“We will have your exchange of rings,” the preacher says, and I now freak out. “If you would take Savannah’s left hand.”
“I didn’t get a ring.” I lean in, and he just smiles at me.
“I’ve got it covered,” he says, and I shake my head. He turns to Jacob, who is his best man, and he hands him the rings. “I didn’t have a chance to give you an engagement ring,” Beau whispers.
I want to tell him I don’t care and that it doesn’t matter if he takes a twig and rolls it like a ring. All I care about is him being my husband. “Beau, place the ring on Savannah’s finger and repeat the following, ‘I give you this ring as a token and pledge of our constant faith and abiding love.’”
He takes the rings from Jacob and places it at the tip of my finger. “Savannah, I give you this ring …” His voice is so soft as he slips on the rings. “As a token and pledge of our constant faith and abiding love.” I look down, and my mouth drops open when I spot my diamond wedding band and on top of it my engagement ring. Which is huge, too huge. The princess diamond with diamonds on the side, and it looks like the figure eight.
“Savannah,” the preacher says, and I just listen to him say the words. Jacob leans over and hands me the golden wedding band, and I just look at Beau.
“What’s the matter?” he whispers.
“Nothing.” I shake my head and hold his hand in mine. I place the ring at the tip of his finger, and my arm starts to shake. Not because I’m nervous or because I’m scared. Apart from having Ethan, I have never been this happy in my whole life. “Beau,” I say, “I give you this ring as a token and pledge of our constant faith and abiding love.” Then I slide it down his finger.
The preacher smiles at us. I don’t hear what else he says because the only thing that registers to me is, “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Beau doesn’t even second-guess or go easy. Instead, he takes my face in his hands, and his mouth crashes down on mine. I forget that there are even people watching.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Beau
My wife. I want to jump up and fist bump her, but instead, I claim her mouth. She isn’t going to forget this time. My hands slip from her face and wrap around her waist, my tongue slipping in and then out. I can kiss her all day long, every day, and now I can do it for the rest of our lives. I just need to make her fall in love with me.
The sound of cheering makes her laugh, and she puts her face in my neck to hide. “Now that’s how you kiss a woman.” I hear Olivia and look over to see Casey glare at her. She smiles at him, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Wife,” I say softly. “It’s time to walk down the aisle.”
Savannah looks at me, and I have to say she has never looked more beautiful in her whole life. “Oh my God,” she says while Ethan hands her the flowers he had to hold.
“Come here,” I say, and he walks over to me. I hold his hand with mine and then hold Savannah’s, and I wait for the preacher to finish.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce Mr. and Mrs. Beau Huntington and Ethan.” I raise both my hands as everyone cheers, and the three of us walk down the aisle.
I stop once we get to the step. Ethan drops my hand and hops over to Kallie. I put my hand around Savannah’s waist and bring her to me. “Married,” I say softly and press my lips to hers. Her breath hitches, but she doesn’t stop it.
“Gross. Now all they are going to do is kiss like you guys.” I hear Ethan say, and then it is followed with laughter.
“I think we are grossing him out,” Savannah says once I let go of her lips, her hand coming up and holding my cheek.
“He should get used to it,” I say, her eyes going a softer blue. “Besides, the last time we kissed, I obviously didn’t make that much of an impression if you didn’t remember it.” I see her eyes moving side to side as she looks at me.
“I remembered,” she says almost in a whisper. “I just didn’t know if you did.”
“The thing is, Savannah,” I say, pushing her hair back, seeing her neck and suddenly wanting to lean forward and just kiss her softly. “With you, I remember everything.”
She’s about to say something else when people now come up to us to congratulate us. “Congratulations.” Jacob is the first to me, hugging me. “No running away from you now,” he whispers in my ear.
“Nope,” I say, feeling a little bit of a sting knowing that had she not been ba
cked against the wall, she probably would have never married me.
“Let me see,” Kallie says from beside us. “Let’s see the ring.”
“It’s …” Savannah says, looking down at her finger and then looking up at me again with tears in her eyes. “It’s beautiful and too much.”
“Holy crap,” Kallie says, then hits my shoulder. “You did good, Beau.”
“Let me see this,” Olivia says, taking Savannah’s hand and looking over at me. “Princess cut.” She whistles. “What is this, four or five carats?” I look down at my hand still around Savannah’s waist.
“Four,” I say, trying to avoid Savannah’s eyes.
“With the eternity band,” Olivia now says. “That, right there, is the dream. Look at the side,” Olivia says, turning it.
“It’s the infinity symbol,” I say and look down at her finger with my ring on it. “Means forever.”
“Beau,” Savannah whispers, and my eyes go from her ring to her eyes. “It’s …” She brings the ring closer to her. “It’s too much.”
“It’s forever,” I say, grabbing her hand and kissing it.
“Let’s eat.” I hear Charlotte and Cristine.
“What is that?” Savannah points at the far yard where more lights are strung.
“It’s our reception,” I say, grabbing her hands.
“We need a picture,” Kallie says to us. “Pose over there under the canopy of flowers.”
I grab Savannah’s hand and link our fingers together. “How do we pose?” she asks when we get under the canopy.
I wrap my arms around her waist. “We pose like we are a couple in love,” I say, and she stops talking. “Smile and pretend that today is the best day of your life.”
I hear the clicks and see the flashes of the phones, and then I lean in. I’m about to kiss her when she puts her hands on my chest. “But what if it is?” she says with a soft smile. “After having Ethan, today is the best day of my life.” That’s the last thing she says before I bend to kiss her. This time, I don’t stop, and my tongue slips with hers. One of my hands goes to her face, and I move my head to the side, taking the kiss deeper. I kiss her until we are both breathless. “I think they got the picture,” she says.
Southern Storm Page 14