by Max Monroe
“I love you too, Win.” His lips melded themselves to mine, and my soon-to-be husband kissed with me all of the tenderness and passion and love I had ever felt in my entire life.
We stayed like that for what felt like a blissful eternity, simply holding one another and kissing. Good God, there was so much kissing. Not rushed, not hurried to lead to other things like we harried adults so often did—just pure and sweet and tender kisses. I closed my eyes and fell into his lips’ loving embrace. Heavenly.
“Let’s get married today,” he whispered against my mouth.
My eyes popped open, and I leaned back to look into his still smiling gaze.
“What? Today?”
He nodded. “Yes. Today. Let’s get married, Win. Right now.”
I giggled. “It’s like five in the morning, Wes. I’m not sure that we can get married right now.”
“Oh, it’s possible,” he said with a giant grin. Ah, right. I guess when you were a freaking billionaire, all sorts of things were possible. “Let’s get married right now, on the beach, with just you, Lex, and me.”
I was awed. “You’re serious?”
“One hundred percent serious.”
I cut a nervous laugh short and asked again—just for confirmation. “You want to get married on the beach? Right now? Just the three of us?”
He nodded, smiling bigger than I had ever seen him. “That is exactly what I want.”
“I don’t have a dress…or shoes…or—”
Wes’s smile grew bigger, breaking his all-time record immediately, and he placed his fingers over my lips. “Baby, if you want it, I’ll make sure you get it. But I promise, you don’t need any of it. You’re literally the most beautiful thing I have ever seen right here, right now, and that’s all I need—you and Lex for forever. The rest is inconsequential.”
God, this man… I was so in love with him it should have been illegal. Heck, maybe it was. I’d just be sure to get moving, get fucking up, and get married—quickly enough that the cops wouldn’t catch me.
Because he was the one who was perfect. For me.
I grinned against his fingertips. “Okay.”
His hazel eyes lit up, and he lifted his hand off of my mouth. “Okay?”
“Let’s do it. Let’s get married right now, on the beach.”
He pressed a smacking and playful kiss to my lips. “I love you so much.”
I smiled. “I love you too.”
A second later he was hopping off the bed and tossing on a pair of boxer briefs. “Get up, get dressed,” he demanded impatiently.
I giggled, watching him scramble around the room for clothes. “In a hurry much?”
“Fuck yes, I’m in a hurry.” He flashed a wink in my direction. “The most beautiful and amazing woman on the planet has just agreed to marry me. You can bet your sweet little ass I’m not letting her change her mind, and if it’s going to happen in time for sunrise, I’ve got to get a fucking move on.”
A little over an hour later, as the sun started to crest above the water line, we stood on the beach, barefoot and dressed in pajamas, ready to get married.
Lex stood between us with messy pigtails in her hair and the biggest smile I had ever seen on her cute little face.
“Do you mind if we say our own vows?” Wes asked the minister who stood before us. Somehow, my very, very soon-to-be husband had managed to find a minister who was staying at the resort and more than willing to come out to the beach at six thirty in the morning so two crazy and in love people could get married.
My eyes went wide for a beat. “Vows? You wrote vows?” I asked Wes on a whisper. I have no fucking vows.
He chuckled softly. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. I’ve got all three of us covered.”
I had no idea what he meant by that, but before I could question further, the minister chimed in and said, “Of course,” with a genuine smile on his lips.
Wes picked Lexi up and turned toward me. “Do you have the rings?” he whispered into her ear.
She giggled and nodded her little head before slipping her fingers into the shirt pocket of her Minions pajamas and pulling out two simple and classic gold wedding bands.
Wes’s eyes met mine, and I couldn’t look at anything or anyone else. He held my left hand in his while my daughter stayed on his hip, hands wrapped around his neck like a monkey.
“Winifred Winslow, as I stand here before you, my eyes looking so deeply into your big blue ones, I see all of the things I fell in love with. Wild hair, sassy spirit, and so much intelligence it hurts.”
I shook my head but said nothing as he went on.
“As I stand here before you, my heart beating so loudly in my ears that it echoes like it’s actually mixing with yours, I find myself lost for the right words to say.”
My heart sped up, and I gulped down a swallow, my hand spasming in his.
“As I stand here before you, this endless ring in my hand, it makes me remember how infinitely complete you make my life.
“With every smile, every embrace.”
I smiled, longing for his embrace.
“It makes me remember how blessed and lucky I really am. It makes me remember every laugh we’ve ever shared, every hard time we made it through together, and every beautiful moment there is to come.”
For the first time in a long time, the future looked blindingly bright.
“Do you, Winnie, take me as your husband?” Wes asked.
My vision blurred slightly as tears coated my eyes. “Yes. I do.”
He looked at Lex. “Can I have Mommy’s ring?”
She nodded, placing the smaller of the two gold bands into his palm.
Wes slowly slid the gold ring onto my finger while his eyes gazed into mine. “Winnie, I give you this ring, my heart, my soul. I give you everything I am today and the more I hope to be tomorrow. I promise to love you, protect you, be with you forever, and cherish every moment with you as if it was the last moment on earth.” He smiled down at me and then kissed the ring on my finger.
“Okay, Lexi, now hand Mommy my ring.”
She reached out her hand and placed the remaining gold band into my hand.
“Will you let me be your husband, Winnie?” Wes asked and held out his left hand for me. “Will you let me love you forever?”
I felt decidedly less impressive as I answered with a simple, “Yes.”
I took his hand in mine and gently slid the band onto his finger. “I love you,” I whispered and kissed the ring on his finger like he had done with mine.
He smiled with tears coating his eyes. “I love you too.”
“And, ditto. To all the other stuff you said,” I said with a bite of my lip. “I’ll do all that too.”
Even the minister laughed.
Wes set Lexi on her feet and kneeled before my little girl. He slipped a small little gold band from his pocket and took her right hand in his. He smiled up into her big brown eyes with so much love and affection I felt my heart migrate into my throat.
“My pretty little Lexi, will you let me be your daddy forever and ever and ever?”
She giggled and nodded her head.
He slid a tiny gold band onto her right ring finger and pulled her into a tight hug, kissing her forehead with love etched all the way to the corners of his face.
I knew for a fact I bore the same marks on my heart.
Pulling Georgie closer to me in the elevator, I buried my face in her throat and sighed. I didn’t even notice that both of my hands had gone to her stomach and settled there until she tentatively placed her hands on top of mine. It was still fairly early, but there was no pin in the world sharp enough to pop my hot air balloon of fucking rapture.
I knew Georgia was happy but nervous, but I felt like that was finally something I could handle. All this time spent unable to do anything for her heartbreak, with absolutely nothing reassuring to tell her, made this obstacle seem far less formidable.
Her fear was real and founded, but so was
the pregnancy and everything it meant for the two of us. She was pregnant—with our baby.
We’d spent nothing less than a metaphorical eternity imagining it, and still, I’d never quite pinpointed the actual sensation of this feeling. Probably because it wasn’t possible, just like you can’t understand the connection with your child until you hold him or her.
I absolutely couldn’t wait for that moment, looking down into the tiny bundle in my arms and seeing her mother there or marveling at the reflection of myself in him.
I had a long time to wait, so I’d been entertaining myself with the thing that always served as my most favorite hobby—my wife.
The ping of the elevator echoed inside my head as Georgia giggled and pulled me forward, my front still practically plastered to her back as she headed for the little restaurant where we usually had breakfast.
It’d only been days, but it was human nature to fall into a habit as if you’d be there forever. To find comfort in routine and regularity as a way to mimic your everyday life—the very life you were trying to escape by being on vacation.
“God,” I murmured as I kissed on my wife’s shoulder and pulled her closer as we walked side by side.
“Kline!” she chastised without force or derision. She liked what I was doing just as much as I did, so I kept doing it, concentrating on nothing more than her and putting one foot in front of the other.
Distracted by Georgia’s neck and Georgia’s ass and Georgia’s laugh, I didn’t notice the motley crew at the table until it was too late. My wife had pulled away with a smile, and I moved to sit down across from her without even glancing at anything other than her face.
Only a tap on my shoulder brought my eyes around.
“Ah, Jesus,” I cried as I pulled back up from almost sitting in Thatch’s lap.
“Hey, dude. I get it. I’d be into me too,” Thatch rambled as he continued to smother his pancakes in butter. I waved him off with a very particular finger and moved to the other side of the table.
He pretended to take offense, but the smirk in his eyes and on his mouth kind of gave him away. “But I’m a—” he started.
“Father now,” everyone recited in unison. He’d been saying it so goddamn much, I was starting to have dreams about hearing it. Apparently, everyone else felt the same.
“We get it,” Wes added with a laugh, but Thatch was pretty much unfazed. He was always unflappable like that when everyone got riled and reacted in some way, because that was his goal in the first place. He didn’t feel shame like normal people, and he certainly didn’t care to fit into societal norms.
It was one of my favorite things about him. That, and, ironically, the fact that he was a father now—and a good one.
Butterflies took flight in my stomach at the reminder that I’d soon be able to say the same thing, and I couldn’t stop the resulting smile from swallowing my face. Of course, someone had to notice.
“What are you smiling about, Big-dick?” Cassie asked.
Unbidden and completely unplanned, I blurted, “Georgia’s pregnant.”
It was so unlike me. But then again, I’d never been expecting a baby before.
Everyone froze, even Georgia at my side, and I winced at the fact that I hadn’t even consulted her on the decision to share our news. Fuck, I hadn’t even consulted myself. There’d basically been no thought involved at all—just emotion.
“Kline,” she whispered and turned to me. I only had eyes for her.
“I’m sorry, baby,” I apologized on a whisper. “I’m just happy.”
She closed her eyes then, one tear spilling from the corner of her eye and nearly breaking me in two.
“I don’t get it,” I heard Wes stage-whisper.
Lexi didn’t bother to lower her volume. “Statistically, married couples are usually happy with the news that they’ve conceived.”
“Dude,” Thatch whispered. “She’s so smart.”
Winnie smiled and put a hand to Georgia’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”
One deep breath and my wife finally returned. She’d conquered the madness inside and convinced herself to share the rest.
“I’m fine,” she answered Winnie, but her eyes were on me. I leaned forward and touched my lips to hers.
Steeling her spine, she turned to the group and started to explain. “We’ve…had trouble…getting pregnant.”
“Wheorgie,” Cassie whispered, the pain in her friend’s voice hitting her somewhere deep. “Was this the big secret?”
Georgia nodded. “But we’re finally pregnant. Apparently.” She shrugged. “I’m having some trouble believing it.”
“How many weeks along are you?” Winnie asked.
“Eleven or so,” I offered when Georgia stayed silent a beat too long.
Thatch spoke around a mouthful of pancake, shrugging his beefy shoulder and shaking his head mockingly. “So fucking find a doctor and get an ultrasound and make your wife feel better, for fuck’s sake.”
That was actually a good idea. From Thatch. He honestly had good ideas more than I’d like to admit. The whole world was upside down and he was a maniac, but at the end of the day, he was one of the best kind of people to have in your corner.
“Christ,” he muttered, stabbing another bite. “It’s like I have to do all the husband coaching.”
Cassie nodded supportively. “You should give classes.”
“I don’t know,” Winnie whispered quietly, running her hand through Wes’s messy hair. “Some people seem to have a pretty good handle on it all on their own.”
My eyes narrowed immediately before zooming in and refocusing to their interwoven hands on the table.
Jackpot.
“Something you’d like to share with the class?” I asked through a smirk, jerking my head to the sparkling metal on each of their most significant fingers.
“They got married this morning,” Lexi shared without prompting, and all eyes went to her. She wilted slightly under the scrutiny, so I turned back to the matter—and people—at hand.
“Oh, really?”
“And we weren’t fluffing invited?” Cassie whisper-raged. Ace slept comfortably on her shoulder, and even Crazy Cassie knew not to wake a sleeping baby.
“It was just us,” Winnie said quietly, and Cassie rolled her eyes. Everyone else looked on, bouncing back and forth, as they volleyed their little war.
“Obviously.” Her voice was rough with the effort it took to stay quiet. “But it could have been just us.” She waved a hand in a circle around the table.
“I know, but—”
“But nothing!” Cassie whisper-yelled, and Wes’s face turned stern in a way that even Thatch took it seriously.
“Cass—”
I waded in and shut them all up with the one question I thought held all the answers. “How was it, Lex?”
All eyes turned to our friends’ perfect, brilliant little girl.
She shrugged shyly before whispering, “Good. I’m Wes’s daughter now. I’ll have to check to make sure he filed the right paperwork, but ceremonially anyway.”
Six big fucking mouths, and in that moment, you could have heard a pin drop.
“Well, all right,” Thatch said roughly, a lump in even his big-ass throat. It must have taken a hell of a lot of emotion to clog the monstrous thing.
“Come on, Crazy,” he murmured to Cassie, pulling Ace gently from her arms and placing him against his own beefy shoulder. “Let’s go for a walk on the beach before ultrasound time.”
Georgia’s eyebrows shot together. “Um…”
“You’ll let us know what time?” Thatch asked, and I sat back, straightening in my chair.
“I will,” Winnie noted before I could open my mouth. Then she turned to Wes and her eyes were moony. “Let’s go for a walk too.”
I had a feeling Melinda would be on duty and “a walk” was really innuendo for another form of exercise. Hell, it probably was for Thatch and Cassie too.
As the table cleare
d and we were left sitting there alone, Georgie’s head settled on my shoulder and she sighed. “Is my ultrasound really going to be a freaking group activity?”
Everyone sure thought it was going to be, but that was completely inconsequential as far as I was concerned. Serious, I told her the only answer that mattered. “Only if you want it to be.”
She was silent for several beats before finally shrugging. “Actually, with this group, for some reason, it kind of seems right.”
Prone on the bed and waiting to find out one of the most important things in my life, I looked up and found seven sets of eyes staring directly at my exposed stomach. Mom, Dad, and seventy of their closest friends looking on, waiting to see the first picture of their baby.
Okay, so maybe it wasn’t seventy, but with how much square footage Thatcher Kelly filled out, you’d have thought it was.
Nerves flitted inside of my stomach before crawling slowly out the length of my arms and legs. And when Cassie lifted up her shirt and blew out her stomach forcefully in jest, I had the strong and irrational urge to hop off the bed and run out of the room.
Fear was a prominent emotion swirling inside of my veins, but that didn’t stop my friends from being their ridiculous selves. In fact, they probably thought acting crazy would calm me, distract me, even, but I was way past the point of help.
I was absolutely terrified that we wouldn’t see what we were so desperate to see on the ultrasound. I had been trying so hard not to get attached until I knew for certain that I was pregnant, that there was a beautiful little baby growing inside of me. I had been trying so hard not to get my hopes up, not to feel the love and joy inside my heart, but now, with everyone here and nowhere to hide, it was useless. I wanted this baby, our baby, more than I had ever wanted anything in my entire life, and if disappointment rained down on us today, there wouldn’t be a person out there who would miss that I was fucking soaked.
God, please, let it be real. Please let this be a healthy pregnancy. Please, please, please…
I shut my eyes and tried like hell to force the tears floating behind my lids back. I was afraid if I let the dam truly burst, there wouldn’t be soft cries or a delicate sniffle—I would be wrecked, fucking ravaged by full-on sobs. And I wouldn’t have any control over how long they lasted. The emotional roller coaster Kline and I had been on during the past several months had taken its toll on me.