by Fields, MJ
“Really?” I asked, already pulling her into a hug. “That’s fantastic!”
“Mrs. Johnston’s family used to vacation at a Serenity in Vermont each summer when she was young, so when she heard the sale fell through, she said she knew it was a sign. She wants to keep it exactly the same; no layoffs, no major changes. I haven’t met her, but Nana and Pops are really happy, and that’s enough for me.”
“El, that’s incredible. I’m so happy for them.”
“Me too,” she said, nodding and handing me a panini from our favorite sandwich spot.
We dug into our lunch, and I told her about my plans for the bakery since she knew the Bakers through work, and she told me about the fun she and Peyton had at the zoo this morning.
Eventually, Peyton got restless, so I caved and pulled up the PBS app on my phone before handing it over.
With her content and occupied, I pulled out the bag of Starbursts and started moving them into a specific pattern on the blanket, swatting away Elliot’s hand when she tried to snag one.
When I finished, it said ‘B <3 E’ with various shades of pinks and red.
She looked down and smiled before leaping into my lap. “That goes both ways, y’know. I love you, Bryce. So much. With you, the what ifs…fade away. If I lost the inn or if things fell through with the plans for the venue, I’d still be as happy as I am in this moment, as long as I had you two to come home to.”
“Funny you should mention home—”
“Wait!” she yelped, practically jumping up and down in my lap. “There’s actually another reason I wanted to celebrate. Do you know what today is?”
“Uh…should I?”
She turned toward Peyton. “Did you know the seventeenth of November is ‘World Prematurity Day’? I was doing some research and found that out last week. I found a couple organizations that do really great work for families with premature babies and made a donation to both in Peyton’s name. I also thought maybe we could start a tradition for this day, even if it’s just lunch or dinner or playing a game or something. What…uh, what do you think?”
“I think…” I wrapped my arms tighter around her waist and crushed her body into mine. “El, I think that’s the sweetest, most thoughtful thing anyone’s ever done for me—for her. And I love you even more for it. You really are one of a kind; you know that?”
“And here I thought you always called me Uno because that’s the first thing I ever beat you at.”
“El, I call you Uno because it was the first word you ever said to me, and because I’ll never forget how happy you were that day. I think I loved you then, too; I just didn’t know it was the once-in-a-lifetime kinda love.”
She smiled, but her response was cut off by Peyton’s pleas for more bubbles. She climbed out of my lap and swung a laughing Peyton into the air. “Ooooh, Peyton, let’s go down the slide,” Elliot said, pointing toward the playground. I was confused about the random suggestion, but realized what she was doing when I picked up the empty bottle of bubbles.
Distraction.
Peyton clapped eagerly and immediately forgot about the bubbles.
“Bryce, there’s nothing I’d change about our history. Even if it did take us nineteen years to get to this part.” She winked and offered a hand to help me up. “Now come on, we’ll race you to the playground!”
We took off, but my head wasn’t in it, and I slowed to a walk before we made it halfway there. El kept running, and I heard her cheer in celebration as soon as they reached the jungle gym.
I couldn’t think about anything other than what Elliot had said, about it taking nineteen years to get here. About how crazy that felt.
By the time I caught up to my girls, Peyton had already gone down the slide once, and El was helping her climb back up to go again. The sight filled me with a happiness I’d never fully be able to explain. It just felt…right.
It felt like forever.
“Are you okay?” Elliot asked, giving me a concerned once-over as I walked up to meet her at the bottom of the slide. “If I didn’t know any better I’d think you let us win.”
She knelt down to greet Peyton when she came out, but I knelt down for an entirely different reason.
“Elliot, you mean more to me than I’ll ever be able to express. When I was eight, you became my best friend. Fast forward nineteen years, and now you’re my everything. You’ve become Peyton’s mom in every way that counts, and I’ll forever be in awe of the bond you share with her. There’s never going to come a day when I don’t want to wake up and see you, to make you laugh, to watch the way you love Peyton, to play you in every game known to man. It doesn’t have to be today, or tomorrow, or even a year from now, but please, make me happier than I ever thought possible by marrying me.”
She nodded and threw her arms around me, crying and laughing simultaneously. The second Elliot started to speak, Peyton barreled down the slide and plowed into us. We held her between our bodies, both smothering our little giggle machine with kisses. El looked up at me and smiled. “Yes. A thousand times yes, Bryce. I can’t imagine any better way to spend my life than with the two people I love most in this world.”
The second we started kissing, Peyton reached up and patted our cheeks. We laughed, but quickly grabbed her hands to stop the attack.
“Baby, I just got her to agree to keep us forever; maybe hold off on the human drum treatment until after it’s official,” I whispered to Peyton, just loud enough for El to hear.
Elliot giggled and pressed kisses all over Peyton’s face.
Peyton launched herself into Elliot’s arms and kept laughing through the onslaught of kisses.
“Hey, can I get in on this kissing action?” I asked, feigning jealousy.
Both girls turned to me, one smiling sweetly while the other licked her lips and gave me a seductive wink that made my mouth drop.
“Maybe…if you’re lucky.”
Oh, I’m lucky all right.
“I always get lucky, remember?”
Epilogue
Elliot
The second I finished signing the document in front of me, a bottle of champagne popped behind me. I didn’t need to turn around to know it was Jasmine doing the popping.
We were gathered in the conference room of FMK—Jade, her husband Emmett, Jasmine and Dean, Bryce and me, and Sophia—and we had officially signed the contract to start the construction of Serenity Oaks, our wedding venue.
Carleigh sent a text earlier saying she’d had some kind of plumbing emergency at her apartment, and wouldn’t be able to make it. I wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but she had been bailing on our after-hour get-togethers a lot lately. I had no idea what was going on with her.
Jade passed the glasses around the table as Jasmine poured. With the glasses distributed, Jas held hers up in a toast. “To Serenity Oaks and the four badass women who are going to make it a massive success.” She turned to Dean and hung an arm around his neck before giving him a G-rated kiss (or, at least what I imagined to be Jasmine’s version of G-rated). “And to the men who support us tirelessly. We love you.” She gave Emmett and Bryce quick smiles, lifting her glass in Bryce’s direction. “Especially you, Bryce. Without you, our vision wouldn’t have come to life. We owe you. Since you refused to let us pay you in money, Elliot will pay you in orgasms.”
“Jesus, babe,” Dean groaned, shaking his head through a laugh.
Sophia groaned in disgust, but the rest of us laughed, not even a little surprised by her comment.
Jade lifted her glass higher and nodded. “I was going to say ditto what Jas said, but that feels weird now. Actually, there’s, uh, something else I want to add anyway.” She handed Emmett her glass and reached into her purse, pulling out a small, rectangular sheet of paper. “We’re pregnant!” she squealed, wrapping an arm around Emmett’s waist.
“Baby Sinclair is due in July,” Emmett added.
We all erupted in cheers and rounded the table to congratulate them.
>
After a few minutes of talking details, Jade pulled back from our third group hug. “You know…you could make this a trifecta if you had a date for the wedding to toast to,” she said, giving me a nudge.
“Seriously. Play calendar roulette at this point, El. You plan weddings for a living; how do you not have a date yet? Hey, actually, we don’t have a wedding this weekend…how do you feel about being a December bride?” Jas asked, waggling her eyebrows.
I know she’s joking, but…
Instead of answering, I turned to Bryce and actually considered the idea.
Before I could come to my senses, I marched over and grabbed Bryce’s hand, dragging him into the hallway.
I looked up, meeting his aqua eyes and smiled. “Hi.”
His brows scrunched in confusion. “Hi. What’s up, Uno?”
“Did you mean it when you said I could pick every detail of the wedding?” He nodded. “You sure about that?” Another nod, slower this time. “Then marry me this weekend,” I blurted, throwing myself into his arms.
“This weekend? As in…five days from now?”
I nodded, pulling away and rushing to explain that I’d take care of everything. “…I don’t need the fancy decorations or a band or even a big white dress. I just want you, and I want Peyton, and I don’t want to wait to start our happily ever after. Bryce, let’s get married.”
“El, I’d marry you on the side of a road five minutes from now if that was on the table.” He paused, and I laughed, shaking my head to confirm that was definitely not an option. “Of course I’ll marry you this weekend. Just tell me what I can do to help and where to show up.”
I squealed and leapt into his arms again.
* * *
Despite the completely unorthodox way our wedding came about, we managed to get all the important pieces checked off.
Dress? I borrowed Jasmine’s, so it doubled as my ‘something borrowed’ too.
Cake? The Bakers came through with a nut-free red velvet masterpiece.
Music? Spotify playlist for the win.
Officiant? Milo got ordained online.
Location? That one was easy.
“El? Are you ready?” Jade asked, holding her grocery store rose bouquet in one hand and her clipboard in the other.
I nodded, forcing my fingers to stop tracing a pattern over the beads of Jasmine’s dress. “Give me one minute.”
I unfolded the note Bryce had left taped to my apartment door. It said ‘open me right before the ceremony.’
So, naturally, I tore it open immediately and had read it fifty times since this morning.
El,
By now I hope you know I’ll love you always. There’s no way we’re not meant for this.
Forever yours,
Bryce
P.S. I can’t wait to see you. I’ll be the one in a suit, drooling over the hot chick walking down the aisle in a white dress.
P.P.S. Technically, I’m going to beat you to the altar, so…don’t forget the Starbursts.
I walked out of the manor and found Pops, already sitting behind the wheel of the Jeep—my chariot to get us the rest of the way.
“Oh, Elliebelly,” Pops gushed, shaking his head and dabbing a cloth under his eyes. “You look magnificent. Bryce is a lucky, lucky young man.”
“Thank you, Pops,” I replied, leaning over to peck his cheek while he drove. “I feel pretty lucky myself.”
Time seemed to slow, and at the same time a thousand thoughts raced through my mind.
But it wasn’t worries or fears or questions. It was happiness.
I was jittery and excited and thoroughly desperate to marry this man.
I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didn’t realize Sophia was talking to me once we made it to the ceremony location.
“Peyton and I are about to go, then you and Pops are up. Got it?” she asked, turning around to confirm I was listening.
“Yep, got it.”
A few seconds later, I finally stepped into the aisle and looked up to find my almost-husband.
If not for Pops keeping me on track, I would’ve sprinted to him.
When we finally got to Bryce, standing directly in front of our ‘B + E’ tree, I was positive my heart would burst. He looked like a cover model, only better.
“El, you’re so beautiful,” he whispered.
I smiled and squeezed his hand as Milo began addressing our small crowd of thirty or so guests.
For multiple reasons, we went with a ‘less is more’ approach, so it only took a few minutes before we exchanged rings.
Then Milo asked Bryce to recite his vows, and my eyeballs nearly fell out of their sockets.
“Milo! We’re not doing vows,” I whisper-yelled.
“I told him to add this part,” Bryce said, squeezing my hands. “But I know we’re all cold, so I’ll keep it short…ish,” he announced to the crowd, earning a collective laugh before turning back to me. “If I tried to list the reasons why I love you, we’d be here for…well, a really freaking long time. I know we agreed that not saying individual vows would help save time, but Elliot, I wanna start our forever with my own words of promise. I can’t promise perfection, but I can promise that I’ll never stop trying. To make you laugh, to get to know you in the details and in the big picture. To support you in success and pick you up in defeat. I promise I’ll never stop trying to make you happy or trying to help you chase your dreams. I promise not to take your love for granted—not the way you love me or the way you love Peyton. Speaking of Peyton…this parenthood thing is a wild ride, but there’s no one else I’d rather experience it with. But more than that, there’s no one else I’d rather experience life with. I love you, El. Always.”
“Bryce,” I whispered, fighting the urge to fling myself against him. “That was…perfect.” I cleared my throat and shook off the emotion threatening to really choke me up. “I’ve always thrived on plans. I thought I had to know exactly where I was going and control every aspect to ensure a certain outcome. But then you came back into my life and made me realize how much I was missing by letting my doubts dictate my decisions. You breathed life into my soul and made me see the world through a new lens. I’d never promise perfection either; but I’d rather have real any day. I promise to be a team in this parenthood journey. I promise I’ll love you and Peyton and our life together in the details and in the big picture.”
Bryce cupped my face and brought our icy lips together.
“Uh, right; you may kiss the bride!” Milo called a half-second too late.
When we peeled apart, tiny hands reached between us and patted our legs. “Mama, up! Dada, up!”
Mama.
It had been weeks since the first time Peyton claimed me as her mom, but it still filled my heart with an indescribable kind of joy each time she said it. I knelt down and brushed our noses together in an eskimo kiss before picking her up and sandwiching her body between mine and Bryce’s.
“I’m so glad you fell for my killer dance moves and expert Mario Kart skills, Uno,” Bryce whispered against my ear.
So am I.
Next…
What happens when an unapologetic playboy crosses paths with the one girl who sees through his act?
Find out in Where I’d Rather Be—available now!
SOPHIA
Gorgeous. Cocky. Playboy. Those labels earned Xander Black a one-way ticket into my look-but-don’t-touch zone.
Until weeks later, when whispered words full of dirty promises had me sliding onto the back of his bike without a second thought.
If there’s one thing my past has taught me, it’s not to fall for a guy whose hobbies include bed-hopping and breaking hearts. But you know what they say about history…
XANDER
Sweet. Shy. Smart. Months ago, those labels told me everything I needed to know about Sophia Kincaid—not my type.
But then she opened her mouth and tore that assessment to shreds. From her smile to her sassy retorts, everyt
hing about her drew me in.
One night together was supposed to get her out of my system. Instead, it embedded her under my skin and drove me to make an impulsive offer I’ll definitely regret.
Because if there’s one thing life has taught me, it’s that nothing lasts forever.
* * *
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Want to read more of the FMK series?
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Jade and Emmett’s story:
Why Stars Chase the Sun (FMK #1)
Jasmine and Dean’s story:
When Light Leads to You (FMK #2)
Sophia and Xander’s story:
Where I’d Rather Be (FMK #4)
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Acknowledgments
Cullen, you are the real MVP, and I still can’t believe I get to keep you forever, even after I made you watch Twilight the first day we met (sorry, not sorry).