Hayden slid the ring on my finger. “With this ring, I thee wed.”
I did the same by sliding the ring on Hayden’s finger and repeating, “With this ring, I thee wed.”
“By the powers vested in me by the state of Tennessee, I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Hayden Christopher McCoy.” Ms. Sophie wiped away a tear. “You may kiss the bride.”
“Gladly,” Hayden beamed. A second later his lips were on mine, breathing me in. Cognizant that Annie was in the room we kept it PG…ish. When Hayden stopped kissing me he fist bumped the air. “Woo!” Then he grabbed my face and kissed me again. “I love you so much,” he said against my lips.
I was butter…melted butter. He hugged me to his chest and I held him around his middle. I smiled, feeling like the luckiest girl alive.
I had just married my best friend.
Beth
“You’re nervous.”
Hayden sat on the edge of the bed, waiting for me to come out of the bathroom, where I had spent the last half hour staring at myself in the mirror. He rented the honeymoon suite for us in one of the nicer hotels, and I realized this was the first time we’d been alone together like this. I tugged on the hem of my camisole.
“Come here,” Hayden said softly.
He held his hands out for me to take and I walked towards him. He remained seated while I stood in front of him. His tux jacket lay draped over the arm of the wingback chair, his tie lying on top. His white tuxedo shirt was unbuttoned, exposing his chest, and a hint of his tattoo.
I swallowed thickly. Hayden was my best friend this morning, and by nightfall he became my husband. So much had happened since I woke up this morning and I was a brewing storm of emotions. Even with all that, I was eager to share this moment with Hayden. I just…needed a minute to give my head and heart time to catch up.
Hayden
I stared into Beth’s eyes, and I knew they were begging something of me. I think they were telling me to be careful with her. I stood, rested my hands on her hips, and her eyes grew larger, the begging becoming more urgent.
“Beth,” I said softly, wanting to put her at ease, “close your eyes. I wanna tell you a story.”
At first, she hesitated, but she let them flutter closed, and her breaths became heavy.
Remembering how Beth told the story about her sister, I thought perhaps me talking her through this would help calm her.
“Once upon a time I met a girl. Her name was Beth. Falling in love with her was inevitable. I could see it coming… off in the distance, like rain. And I was powerless to stop it.”
She smiled and it was beautiful. After some time, she relaxed. We undressed each other slowly while I continued to tell her how I fell in love with her, most of it she already knew, some she didn’t. In truth, every day since the day I met her was a story of its own, and I could spend weeks explaining to her how every second of knowing her has affected my life. But at some point I had to stop talking and start showing.
“I’m going to love you forever, Beth,” I whispered, laying her gently on the bed. “I’m going to love you hard, baby.” I kissed her sweet mouth and positioned myself over her. “I’m going to love you quietly, too.” She moaned and I trapped it with another kiss. “I’m going to love you until neither one of us has an ounce of energy left.”
And that’s exactly what I did. I don’t care who you are or what you’ve done in your life, nothing can prepare you for the onslaught of emotions that floods and engulfs over you when you make love to the love of your life for the first time. The pounding of your heart sounds like the roar of an avalanche, and you wonder if you’ll even survive it. I wouldn’t trade that feeling for anything in the world.
From the very first moment I saw her, I knew I was made to love her. When I told her I would love her forever, I meant it. I don’t think she fully understands that for me forever started the night she walked into Joe’s bar. If I died tomorrow, I would die knowing that I had it all, right here, in my arms.
Beth cuddled up to my side, her head on my chest. While I stroked her hair, curling her ribbon strands around my fingers, I couldn’t help thinking how some things are meant to be, how certain things are inevitable.
Like rain.
And who can stop the rain?
Hayden
Sorting, boxing, moving. That was all we did for two weeks. If I never bubble wrapped another thing for the rest of my life I would be perfectly fine. Moving sucks.
Dozer was all of out of sorts for a while, however, he was perfectly content now, sprawled out in front of the fireplace as Annie rubbed behind his ears and cooed, “You like your new house, Dozer?”
Dozer opened his mouth wide, yawning as if he’d had a hard day’s work. He laid his head in her lap, closed his eyes, and snuggled up to her like all the moving had worn him out. I rolled my eyes. He opened one eye, like he was asking…Jealous?
I raised a brow. Not even a little bit. You’ve seen my wife, right? She’s hot.
He closed his eye and wouldn’t look at me after that.
“What are you grinning about?” Beth asked, sitting next to me on our new sofa, one we picked out together. We pretty much sold most of the furniture we had between us, opting to start fresh, bringing only the things that held meaning into our new home. I gave her a sidelong glance. No way was I going to admit I was having a pissing contest with my dog.
“Nothing,” I said, pulling her towards me until her head was tucked under my chin. “Just happy.”
She snuggled in closer. “Me, too.”
We both watched Annie and Dozer for a while, listening to her talk to him like he was a baby. “I love you Dozer Wozer…yes I do.”
I couldn’t help chuckling. “You like it here Dozer Wozer?” I mimicked. His head snapped up, he eyed me for a second or two, like he was warning me to back off.
Not a chance big guy.
He huffed and laid his head back in Annie’s lap. He was happy here. He knew it and I knew it.
The doorbell chimed and before I could get up, Molly announced, “I’ll get it!” Not long after she said, “Pizza!”
The four of us sat around the kitchen table enjoying our pizza while Dozer tried to make me feel guilty about not sharing.
He tilted his head like he was saying… Come on, man. You can give me a bite.
“Kish, can I give Dozer a pepperoni? He looks so sad.”
Dozer cast his eyes down. Oh for the love of God. “ONE piece. Spicy food and Dozer don’t mix well.” I had learned that the hard way.
“Here, Dozer. Here you go, boy,” Annie cooed.
Dozer gobbled it up, licked his lips, and looked at me like he had beaten me at poker.
“Annie, honey, if you’re done eating go brush your teeth and get ready for bed,” Molly said.
Annie stood, “Come on, Dozer. You need to get ready for bed, too.”
Dozer looked at me like…Is she serious?
I grinned. “You heard the lady, go get ready for bed.”
Dozer stared at the pizza one last time, dropped his head, and followed Annie to her room. Before he was out of earshot, I said, “Night boy.”
He turned his head… Yeah, yeah. He loved the attention Annie gave him. He wasn’t fooling me. He had slept in her room every night since we moved in, guarding over her while she slept. They were crazy about each other.
Then I said loud enough for Annie to hear, “I’ll be there in a minute to tuck you in, punkin.”
“Okay!”
I gave Annie enough time to put on her pajamas and then I went in to tell her good night. I was settling on the sofa next to Beth when Molly entered the room. She sat for the longest time without saying a word, her eyes focused on the mantel over the fireplace. Then, she said, “Guys, I want to talk to you about something.”
“Okay,” Beth said, putting her head on my shoulder. “What is it?”
Molly stood and walked over to the mantel. She picked up a picture frame, the one of the two little girls in
Easter dresses… the one I now knew was a picture of Beth and Molly when they were kids. “I don’t want what happened to us to happen to Annie.” She set the frame back in its place and turned towards us. “So if anything was to happen to me–”
“Nothing is going to happen to you,” Beth said, her voice firm.
Molly observed Beth with sad eyes. “Come on, Beth. You and I both know anything can happen.”
Beth started to say something, and then she closed her mouth, knowing Molly was right.
I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees, and stared at Annie’s coloring books she left on the coffee table. “If something happened to you, Mol, Annie would stay with us, right?” When she didn’t answer right away I closed my eyes and shook my head. “Molly–”
“I’ve named you both to be her guardians,” Molly answered. In my will. You will become her legal guardians should something happen to me.”
“It’s official, then? It’s in black and white, notarized, stamped, sealed, all that jazz?” Beth asked.
“Yep,” Molly said. “All that jazz.”
I slapped my hand on my knee. “Great! Because this is her home and we’re her family.”
“For the longest time,” Molly said, looking at me, “before Beth and I reconnected, I knew Annie would want to go to you, Hayden, if something happened to me. Even though I knew you would love her and take care of her, a tiny part of me was afraid of giving her to you…afraid your father would show up…for spite…a guilty conscience…whatever…and I–”
“Mol,” I said. “I would fight him to…” I couldn’t even finish the sentence. The thought of my father showing up in Annie’s life after how he’d treated her, how he had treated them both, made my blood boil. I didn’t even realize I was coiled up like a rattlesnake, ready to strike at the mere thought, until Beth put her hand in mine and looked at me with understanding eyes. She knew exactly what I was thinking and her touch was enough to soothe me. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the way her skin felt against mine.
“I know that, Hayden. I would have given Annie to you, even if Beth hadn’t come along. She belongs with you, I…” Molly paused, drawing in a breath. “I’m less tense about it knowing that my sister will be a part of her life as well.”
“Thank you,” Beth and I said at the same time.
I added, “Mol, I would never let my father take Annie.”
“You don’t have to say it, Hayden. I know. I’ve always known you would fight tooth and nail for Annie.” She reached over and touched my other hand. “You would fight dirty if you had to. I know that. I guess irrational fear sometimes got the best of me. I’m sorry.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “You don’t need to apologize. I get it. I need you to know it would be over my cold dead body before my father got anywhere near Annie.”
She patted my hand. “I know.” She offered a smile, and repeated, “I know.”
Beth and I headed to bed shortly after that conversation, and on our way we stopped off to peek inside Annie’s room. Dozer lay at the foot of the bed, his new spot. Sensing we were there, he lifted his head as if to say… Go to bed, boss. I got this. She’s safe. And then lowered his head.
I smiled in appreciation. “Dozer,” I whispered, not wanting to wake Annie. He lifted his eyes. “Thank you for loving her.”
The next few weeks were about us settling in, getting pictures hung on walls, deciding furniture placement, setting up Annie’s room, and… setting up mine and Beth’s room.
“Hayden,” Beth said from our master bath, “which one of these do you like?”
She had been showing me paint swatches that morning. The day before that she was asking if I wanted a solid colored comforter or one with stripes. I gave her my thoughts when she asked, but right now, I had one thing on my mind and it wasn’t what color curtains I wanted. “Darling, love of my life,” I said, taking off my shoes, “I don’t care what color you want to paint the walls. I’ll be okay with anything you choose.”
“That’s not what I wanted to ask,” she said, her voice laced with mirth. “But what if I wanted to paint our room hot pink. You would be okay with that?”
I sat on the bed, unbuttoning my shirt. “We’re not little girls, are we?”
“No,” she laughed, “but you said you didn’t care.”
“I don’t care,” I said honestly.
“Well, don’t worry. I don’t want to paint our room hot pink. I do need your opinion on something, though.”
“Okay, let me make this easy for you, love. I don’t care if you want to place the bed in the middle of the room. I don’t care if you want to hang psychedelic shit everywhere. I don’t care if we have stripes on the bed. I’m pretty easy to please. All I care about is that you are in the bed with me at the end of the day.”
She came out of the bathroom wearing a white lacey thing. She had one hand on her hip and the other propped against the frame of the door. Holy shit.
“Actually, darling, I wanted to ask if you like this negligee. But if you don’t care…” She turned to go back into the bathroom.
I was off the bed and across the room in a flash. I grabbed her by the waist and spun her around. “I take it back. I care. I care a whole lot.”
She was trying not to smile. “You sure? I mean, if–”
I shut her up with a kiss. “Wrap your legs around me, baby. I’m about to show you how much I like it.”
She wrapped her legs around me with a soft moan and I walked her to the bed…our bed…and laid her down. That was the end of that discussion. In fact, that was the end of all discussions for the rest of the night.
A few hours later we were awoken to the sound of my phone ringing. I flipped on the lamp to check the time. Five am. “Hello?”
“This is it, man. It’s time. Lily is in labor. We’re on our way to the hospital now.”
Beth sat straight up, looking wide-eyed. “Is it Lily?”
I nodded. “Okay, Coop. We’ll meet you there.” I hung up, and I could see the excitement all over Beth’s face. “You ready to welcome another baby into the family?” I asked, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
“Yep,” she said, excitedly. “I’ll go wake Annie and Molly. They want to be there, too.” She jumped off the bed, ran halfway to the door, turned around, and jumped back on the bed, pulling my face to hers and giving me a long, languid kiss.
When she pulled away, I said with a smirk, “What was that for?”
“I love you, Hayden,” she said, no hint of humor. “I love you so much.”
I lost the smirk. “I love you, too.”
“Okay, I’m for real going to wake them up this time,” she said on the move again. I heard her clapping her hands down the hallway. “Wake up, wake up! We have a baby coming today! Let’s get moving, ladies!”
Hayden
Everyone was nervously sitting in the waiting room. However, Maggie was on a different level of nervousness than the rest of us. She was cagey and unable to sit still.
“How long has it been?” Maggie asked.
“It’s only been a few minutes, babe,” Joe said, trying to calm his rattled wife.
“Well, shouldn’t there be a baby by now? How long do these things take?” She paced back and forth, biting her nails.
“Come here, dear, and sit next to me,” Ms. Sophie said, patting the seat beside hers. “You working yourself up isn’t going to make the baby come any faster.”
We had all been with Lily and Cooper until the nurse shooed us out of the room, telling us it was time. Annie was camped out at one of the tables with her crayons and coloring book. She had a whole backpack full of stuff she brought to occupy her time. After a few minutes she got up and walked over to Ms. Sophie. “Here, Ms. Sophie, I colored a picture for you.”
Ms. Sophie took the picture, looking at it like it was the Mona Lisa. “It’s beautiful, dear. I know just where to put it when I get back home.”
“Where?”
�
��On my refrigerator. That way every time I open the fridge, I’ll see your picture and think of you.” She tapped Annie on the nose and Annie giggled.
We heard the click of the door and everyone looked in that direction. Cooper stood in the doorway, his eyes trained directly on his grandmother, and so much love emanating from him that it actually changed the atmosphere of the room.
Maggie perched herself on the edge of her seat. “Do we have a boy or a girl?”
Cooper continued to smile.
“Boy or girl?” Maggie asked, again
Cooper walked straight to Ms. Sophie, his eyes still fixed on hers. He pulled her to a stand, and held her hands. “We have a girl.”
Maggie clapped excitedly and Joe laughed at his wife. Beth cuddled herself up to me, basking in the joy of it all. Molly congratulated Cooper.
All the activity seemed to go unnoticed by both Cooper and his grandmother. They stood still, having their own brand of celebration. Cooper’s eyes brimmed with tears when he repeated, “We have a little girl, Grams.” He embraced her, hugging her tightly, and whispered things in her ear.
I think Ms. Sophie was silent because she didn’t trust herself to not cry, but when she did, she said, “I’m so happy. And my life...is complete.”
Cooper pushed the door open, and we all followed behind.
Lily looked up, her smile never more beautiful. “Hey guys.”
Everyone started talking at once, each of us offering our congratulations for their bundle of joy.
“Do you want to hold her?” Lily asked, looking at Ms. Sophie.
“Oh my goodness, yes!”
Lily put the baby in Ms. Sophie’s arms and she immediately sat in the rocking chair in the corner, cradling her great granddaughter. “She’s absolutely beautiful,” Ms. Sophie said with pride. “Absolutely perfect.”
Annie stepped towards the new baby. “Aww, she’s so cute,” she said, barely touching the baby’s soft head. “What’s her name?”
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