by BJ Harvey
Mom stops Jax for a hug before releasing him and turning to me.
“Happy birthday, baby,” Mom says, wrapping her arms around me and burrowing into my chest.
“Thank you. Definitely didn’t expect this kind of surprise.”
“I did. There’s never been a doubt in my mind. I knew that when she came back, she wasn’t going to leave again.”
“I know,” I reply. And I do, without a shadow of a doubt.
Almost four months ago, I gambled and laid my heart on the line and not once during this entire marriage has she given me a reason to question my decision. My doubts were my own, and when I finally admitted them out loud to her, she not only understood them, she empathized. Our marriage was never about her proving herself to me—it was just needing her to be with me, and her letting me be everything she needed too.
What neither of us realized is you can’t win something back when it’s already yours.
“She wanted to do it right this time and leave you with absolutely no doubt that she’s not going anywhere,” Mom says with tear-filled eyes.
“Nothing Faith has ever done has been wrong.” I shake Dad’s hand, which he then uses to pull me in for a bear hug.
“I’m proud of the man you are and the husband you’ve become. She makes you whole.”
I step back and meet my father’s eyes. “She makes me better.”
“You keep remembering that, and you’ll never spend a night on the couch in your life.”
Mom turns to Dad and quirks her brow. “Oh, really? Is that how it is?”
He hooks an arm around Mom’s shoulders and tugs her into his side. “Woman, you know why you’ve never kicked me out of your bed, and it’s got nothing to do with you making me a better man.” He shoots me a wink, and I can’t help but laugh as Mom huffs out a breath but doesn’t move out of his hold.
“Now go get ready for your wife to blow your mind,” she says.
Dad opens his mouth but snaps it shut when Mom glares at him. “Not a word, Rick or else sleeping on the couch will be the least of your worries.” She wriggles free and walks off. Dad rolls his eyes at me then leans close, gently chucks my shoulder, and spins around to follow Mom.
“Uncle Bry,” Axel calls out, running right at me. I have barely a second to brace myself before he crashes into me and wraps his arms around my waist.
Jamie stops beside us. “Ax…” He warns in a very impressive dad voice. Axel steps back and grins up at me, excitement radiating off his body.
“I get to give you away to Aunty Faith. But she told me to give you this,” he says, near-on bouncing on the spot as he hands over another small cardboard box, this one with a red bow on top.
“I missed out with Uncle Jax and Aunty Ronnie, but Dad says I can be your best boy, if it’s okay with you,” he continues as I reach down into the box, pulling out the used ticket from our first official—not supervised by Jamie or Ezra—date when we were supposed to go to the zoo but went to Buckingham Fountain for a picnic instead. I can’t believe she still has it.
I put the ticket back in the box and close the lid.
Axel scrunches up his face. I smooth my hand over his stiff gelled-down hair. “Hmm.” I glance up at Jamie, whose shoulders are shaking. “What did you say, Ax?”
Axel rolls his eyes as if I’m exasperating him. “Can I be your best boy?”
“What do you think, Jamie? Is Ax up to the job of being my right-hand man?”
“I’m not a man yet. Mommy says I’m not a man until I have hair on my—bmph lmgh dmphh,” he says, Jamie having covered Axel’s mouth with his hand, muffling his words. When the hand is removed, Axel narrows his eyes at his father. “Like Dad.”
My eyes bug out, and I bark out a laugh. “Okay. Then you can be my best boy, but I’ve got one favor to ask,” I say, bending down to whisper in his ear.
“Aha… yep… okay… hmmm…” Ax says, listening to my instructions.
I straighten and find him tilting his head, studying me.
“Are you sure I won’t get in trouble?”
I cross my heart over my shirt. “I promise.”
He shrugs, apparently not needing much persuasion to keep Jax in line during the wedding.
Jamie just shakes his head at us. “I don’t wanna know.” He looks down at Ax. “Hey, buddy. Why don’t you go see what Gran and Nana Marcy are doing?”
“Okay,” he says, holding his hand in the air to me. I give him a high five, and both Jamie and I watch as he runs towards the grandparents.
“You wanna tell me how long she’s been planning all of this?” I ask, looking over at my parents’ transformed backyard.
“Let’s just say your wife met with the other wives and Abi and put it all in motion a while ago.”
“Months? Weeks?” The idea that Faith has been working, helping with the house, and organizing a surprise wedding just astounds me. She’s hell-bent on proving to me she’s even more amazing than I thought possible, and I already thought she couldn’t get any better because, to me, she’s always been perfect.
“Just you wait, Bry. Your wife has a few cards up her sleeve.”
My brows go sky-high. “More than this?”
“Oh yeah,” he says with a smirk.
Jax and Cohen walk up to join us.
“Are you ladies gonna sit here and psychoanalyze all of this or are you gonna come stand at the end of the aisle and get ready for your wife to walk down it?” Cohen asks, his eyes dancing with amusement. “Apparently, this is for you.” He hands me another box. Thankfully, Jax takes the other two off me.
This time there are two things—a receipt from the pizza we ordered the first night in our Davis apartment at college, and a snow globe of the Golden Gate Bridge. I bought it for her at a hidden-away souvenir shop on Pier 39 in San Francisco at the start of our senior year.
“Faith recruited all of us,” Cohen says.
“She’s definitely a force to be reckoned with, but it was all hands on deck to pull this one off,” Jax says with a smile. He moves beside me and wraps an arm around my neck. “C’mon, twin brother. It’s time to get you married… again.”
I shake my head in disbelief. Faith has put so much thought into this, so much love. And to think she’s kept all these mementos of our time together.
“You guys deserve this. You deserve this. It’s been a long time coming, but I can’t think of anybody else who has ever fit you like she does.” Jax leans his head into mine. “It’s definitely a birthday neither one of us is gonna forget.”
“Anyone got a drink?” I say, half-joking, half-serious. My nerves are shot, my mind is scattered, and I’m basically just holding on for what I’m sure is about to be the ride of my life. It started twenty-three years ago when I first saw that green-eyed, pigtail-wearing little girl wearing a purple dress with matching purple flip-flops. Today, I get to profess my love to her in front of our nearest and dearest for the second time.
“You ready?” Ezra says, locking eyes with mine as he joins our brother huddle. “Because I’ve just been given the five-minute warning by Mom and Delilah, and I’ve been instructed in no uncertain terms that we need to get into position.”
I stare straight at him. “I’ll never not be ready for my wife.”
“Good answer.” Ez nods. “Oh and this is for you,” he says, handing me an envelope. I frown. This could be anything.
I open it and look inside, slowly pulling out a boarding pass. On closer inspection, I realize it’s from her flight from Sydney back to the United States. On the back, there’s a note.
Bry,
This ticket is almost the most important thing I’ve kept because it brought me back to you. When we were thirteen, I told you I’d only get married once—like swans when they find their mate—but I never said I wouldn’t renew my vows with my husband every chance I got.
So, Bryant Cook, will you marry me again?
Love, Faith Cook
P.S. Yes, I full-named you, but it’s al
lowed when it’s a matter this important.
I look around my brothers and catch Abi standing at the top of the back stairs, smiling at me.
“I love you,” she mouths.
“Love you too,” I mouth back.
I turn to Jax. “Let’s go get me married… again.”
25
Faith
I look down over everybody from the upstairs bedroom window. The same bedroom where I saw Bryant again for the first time. Where he told me to marry him. Where he challenged me to kiss him. When I knew I’d do everything in my power to eliminate every doubt he ever had about me, us, and our future together.
After Bryant’s heartfelt confession in the bath, I knew what I had to do. Weeks of planning and covert calls and appointments. I wouldn’t have been able to pull any of this off without the help of our families. They stepped up and helped me pull everything together.
And today, we’ll renew our vows in front of our friends and family in the way we always said we wanted to, not at City Hall where we were like strangers in love but still, not like the us either one of us thought we would be.
Three months of being thrown in the deep end—marriage, roommates, and living in a shack that turned into a masterpiece—and now, I’m wielding the wrecking ball. I’m making sure that once and for all, the love of my life knows without a shadow of a doubt that he is—and forever will be—the only man for me.
I look down and smooth my hands over the beautiful ivory wedding gown I chose a few weeks ago during a secret shopping trip with Delilah, Abi, and the moms. It had been love at first fitting.
It has a low V-neck bodice, and it’s fitted down to the waist and covered in contrasting panels of French lace and silk chiffon. A full skirt falls to my feet with a meter-long train with a finger loop for ease of movement.
I lift my head when there’s a soft knock at the door, finding the moms standing there, arm in arm, their glassy eyes locking with mine in the floor-length mirror in front of me.
“Oh, my,” Mom says, moving into the room.
“That dress warrants more than an ‘oh my,’ Patricia,” Marcy says with a giggle.
I smile at both of them. “As long as I take his breath away at first sight, then my job is done.”
“And considering this is my third son to get married in four months, I’m almost glad Cohen is single. There’s no way he’s going to surprise me with another wedding anytime soon.”
I snicker, and Mom just shrugs because I don’t think my mother-in-law is wrong—about the dress or Cohen. He may not be in a relationship, but I’ve seen him with Skye—there’s so much more to those two than ‘work partners’—even if they’re not willing to acknowledge it yet. Work wives have been known to turn into real ones.
The moms come up behind me, one on each side, both resting a hand on one of my shoulders. “You had him at eight years old just as much as you have him at thirty-five. Today is just the icing on top of a long-time-coming cake that you both took your sweet-ass time eating,” Marcy says.
Not exactly how I’d say it, but it’s true nonetheless.
There’s another knock at the door. This time, it’s Dad standing there, and his eyes aren’t just glassy—there’s a tear falling down his cheek. Marcy and Mom step back, giving me room to turn around to face my father.
“Daddy,” I say, my voice cracking. My dad’s eyes sweep down to the floor and back up again.
“I never thought you could get more beautiful but standing here right now, you’re proving me wrong, Bakes,” he says gruffly.
“Don’t make me cry,” I reply. I bite my lip to quell my almost overwhelming emotions. “You’ll ruin my makeup, and then I’ll be walking down the aisle to the man I love with raccoon eyes. He might run the other way.”
“That man is not going anywhere. He’s in so deep I swear he’s got cement shoes.”
“I know. It’s not me who needs convincing. I need him to know that I’m not going anywhere. I’m a wrecking ball, ready to knock away all his doubts.”
“Pretty fucking gorgeous piece of machinery,” Ez says, leaning against the doorframe, his eyes shining with pride. He pushes off the wall and walks past Dad, then pulls me into his arms and gives me a huge hug. He lowers his mouth to my ear. “The eagle has landed and is ready whenever you are,” he whispers, letting me go and shooting me a wink.
“Ez,” I say with a giggle. “You don’t need to speak in code anymore, you know?”
He smirks. “Where’s the fun in that?”
“What about the rest?” I ask quizzically, earning curious looks from Marcy and my parents.
“Oh, yeah. Delilah has it all in hand. Everything is ready for launch.”
“And Jamie, is he—”
“Yes. I thought your not-so-covert spying from the window would’ve answered that question,” he says, shaking his head.
“I love you, you know?”
He grins. “Well, someone’s got to.”
“You’re such a nerd,” I say with a laugh.
He gently shucks my shoulder. “Not as much as you, Bakes.”
“Should it be Cooks now?” Marcy teases, making us all chuckle.
Dad looks around the room. “Okay, everyone out. It’s go time, and since I’m the one with the honor of walking my baby girl down the aisle, I get to call it and say we’re getting this show on the road.”
“Or the beautifully blushing bride down the aisle,” Mom says, stepping in front of me and kissing my cheek. “Knock him dead, gorgeous girl.”
“That’s the plan.”
She nods and reaches down, grabbing my hand and giving it a gentle, reassuring squeeze before letting me go and walking out of the room. Marcy takes her arm, and Ez follows closely behind them.
“Faith Marie Cook, are you sure about this?” my father says, stopping in front of me.
“Um, Dad, you know I’m already legally married, right?”
He shrugs, a smirk playing on his lips. “I felt it was my fatherly duty to at least ask, even though I’ve known the answer for decades.”
“You’re the best dad I’ve ever had,” I say, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and hugging him tight.
“That’s good since I’m the only dad you’ve ever had.”
“Rick was a pretty good back-up when needed.”
“Him and Marcy both,” he says.
I pull back and lower my arms to grab hold of his hands. “It’s always been Bry.”
“I know.”
“You know why I had to wait till now, right?”
“We all did. We also knew it would always end like this.”
“A City Hall ceremony followed by a backyard wedding?”
“If anyone would do things backward, it was bound to be the rebel of the family.”
I scrunch up my forehead. “Me? The rebel?”
“Well, the most determined individual of the bunch anyway.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I say dryly.
“I meant it as one,” he replies. “But now, let’s get you married.”
“I’m actually nervous. My stomach feels like it’s full of butterflies ready to take flight.”
“You sure it’s butterflies?” he asks, arching a brow.
I narrow my eyes. “You’re terrible, you know?”
He holds his hands in the air. “I’m completely innocent. Your mother, on the other hand…”
Laughing, I loop my arm in his. “Take me to my destiny, Daddy.”
He dips his head and brushes his lips against my temple. “It’ll be my honor, baby girl.”
After carefully moving down the Cooks’ stairs to the ground level, Dad and I make our way down the hallway toward the backyard.
A giggle escapes my lips, earning a puzzled look from my dad. “What are you laughing at?”
“The last time I was going out of this door, I had a panic attack and ended up in Bryant’s childhood bedroom. Now, I’ve just gotten dressed in my wedding dress in the sa
me bedroom, and instead of feeling panicked, I’m fighting the urge to run outside to be with him.”
Dad grins and kisses my cheek. “I better not keep my girl waiting any longer.”
Bryant
As instructed, I’m standing at the end of the makeshift aisle with my back to the house, staring at a smirking Jamie.
“I’ve been where you are, brother, and I know you’re dying to look, but this is one of those moments that’ll be burned in your brain until the day you die. So believe me when I say you really want to wait until I tell you to turn around.”
I nod, tightening my hands into fists as a softly strummed guitar begins to play. Axel grabs hold of my arm and tugs it free so he can slide his small palm into mine. I glance down at him, wondering when he got to be so damn smart.
His gaze is aimed behind me, his face transformed by a huge grin. He looks back up at me. “Now, Uncle Bry,” he whispers, letting go of my hand.
It’s as if the world grinds to a halt as I slowly turn around and literally stop breathing. I lock eyes with Faith’s vibrant green ones. The look of absolute love I find in them has me locking my knees in case I fall down at her feet. She has never looked more beautiful than she does right now, a feat I’d thought was damn near impossible considering she was already the most stunning woman I’ve ever known.
I can’t tear my eyes away from her as it sinks in that I completely understand why Jamie made me wait. This is a moment I’ll never forget. On my death bed, even if I’m unable to speak, this is one of the memories that will stay with me.
It’s her smile. It’s big and blinding. Then there’s the dress that makes me want to drop down and kiss her feet. She was gorgeous in her dress at City Hall, but this wedding gown is a work of goddamn art.
She’s wearing her hair down, gathered on one side and swept in loose curls over her shoulder. A mix of lace and silk clings to her curves before falling to the ground. I never imagined this would feel so good. My dreams never even came close. They weren’t even in the same stratosphere.
I bite the inside of my cheek to try and quell the overwhelming emotions, but the moment I see her own eyes filled with tears, I give in to everything I’m feeling. I hold out my hand and chuckle when she speeds to get to me.