Holding You

by Kelly Elliott

  “She doesn’t look like she’s been crying,” Taylor said in a whisper.

  Maegan leaned down and waved her hand in front of Alex then snapped her around to look at us. “She’s in shock.”

  Grace dropped down to the floor. “Alex. Did something happen?”

  Oh no. What if Will changed his mind? I’m going to kick his ass if he changed his mind. Why would he change his mind though? No, he didn’t change his mind. Oh my glitter! He cheated! No. No. He didn’t cheat.

  Kneeling down next to Alex, I noticed she was clutching something in her hand. Her hair was fixed, her makeup was done and all she had to do was get dressed. We all had the same matching robes on and had been in the guest room getting the finishing touches done to our hair when Alex quickly jumped up and raced out of the bedroom screaming she needed air.

  Placing my hand on her clenched fist, Alex jumped and looked at me. “Alex, you’re scaring us sweetie, please tell us what’s wrong,” I said as I moved my hand up to the side of her face. A single tear fell and rolled down her cheek as Alex held up what was in her hand. I heard Grace and Libby gasp as Taylor and Maegan both said, “Oh shit.”

  Glancing down, I saw what Alex was holding. Placing my hand over my mouth, I whispered, “Oh. My. Glitter.”

  KNOCKING ON THE door, I opened it slightly. Will was standing at the window looking out. “Will? It’s time.”

  Turning, he gave me a smile and walked toward me stopping halfway across the room. “Colt. I’m marrying your sister.”

  Giving him a smile, I nodded my head. “I know. I’ve gotta say I’m impressed my father hasn’t come up and threatened you in some form.”

  Will’s smile faded. “Oh, he has. Twice.”

  Letting out a chuckle, I shook my head. “Do you love her, Will?”

  Closing his eyes he sighed. “More than anything, Colt. More than anything.”

  “Then you’ve got nothing to be worried about.” Walking into the room, I headed over to Will. “She loves you, Will. Y’all were meant to be together. Just always take care of her and please don’t ever hurt her.” Looking down I let out a deep breath before looking back into Will’s eyes. “Cause if you do, I’ll tie you up by your balls and hang you from a rafter in the barn. Then I’ll take a baseball bat to you and hit you like a piñata filled with Reese’s peanut butter cups. You know how I like my Reese’s.”

  Will’s mouth dropped open as he stared at me. “What in the hell is it with this family and wanting to hang me up by my balls in the barn? Your father and Luke have already bestowed the same threat on me today.”

  Placing my hand on his shoulder, I laughed. “Great minds think alike. Come on, let’s gets down there so you can marry my sister.”

  By the time I finally got Will downstairs and out where he needed to be, the wedding was about to start. Glancing around, I smiled as I looked at everything. Alex had spent hours going through our parents’ wedding photos and had set up her wedding almost the same. Everyone was sitting on square bales of hay as white lights hung from the trees. One of my favorite things Alex and Will did was take pictures from our parents’ weddings and framed them in small white frames that hung from the tree and adorned the tables. Alex said she felt like it was good luck and I had to agree with her.

  Will was rocking back and forth as he rubbed his hands up and down his pants. “Will, you’re gonna rub a hole in your damn pants before she even gets here. Calm the hell down,” Luke said to Will.

  Pastor Roberts cleared his throat. “Boys, let’s not do this again. I did it with your fathers. Please, no repeats.”

  Will, Luke and I all turned and looked at him. “What?” Will asked confused.

  “Who is the best man, son?” Pastor Roberts asked Will.

  Looking between us, Will said, “Both. I couldn’t pick one.”

  Letting out a sigh, Pastor Roberts pointed to Luke and me. “Who has the ring?”

  I turned to Luke and he turned to me. “Luke’s got the ring.”

  Luke’s mouth dropped open and I instantly knew we were both fucked. “Me? I don’t have the ring. It’s your sister.”

  Staring at him like he was insane, I whispered, “She’s your cousin!”

  Luke laughed. “Dude, sister trumps cousin every time.”

  Pushing Luke on his shoulder, I whispered, “Go to hell. You had the ring last night, dude.”

  “Boys,” Pastor Roberts whispered.

  “No, Colt, you had the ring last night and then gave it to . . .”

  Will stood there staring at us as he held the ring in his hand. Grabbing it from his hand I shoved it in my pocket. “Bastard, you scared the piss out of me.”

  Pastor Roberts sighed. “Lord, give me strength to make it through another one.”

  Looking at Pastor Roberts, I leaned over, “Sir, are you feeling okay?”

  Luke leaned over and asked, “Hey, where did you decide to take Alex for the honeymoon? Cause I still owe Libby a decent honeymoon, so don’t be one upping me!”

  Lifting his fingers to his temple Pastor Roberts let out a moan as I asked him again. “Pastor Roberts? Are you feeling okay?”

  Nodding his head, he gave me a weak smile as he said under his breath, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

  The music started playing and we all turned and looked at the house. Smiling, I watched as Libby carried Mireya down the aisle. Mireya was nine months old now and she was having fun throwing rose petals everywhere.

  “My God. She’s beautiful. They’re both beautiful,” Luke said from behind me. As Libby walked down the aisle, she smiled at Luke the whole time.

  Will cleared his throat. “I’m taking Alex to Belize.”

  “What the fuck?” Luke yelled out as everyone turned and looked at all of us. Smiling, I pointed behind me to Luke as Will chuckled. Libby narrowed her eyes at Luke and shook her head.

  Next was Taylor, followed by Maegan. Smiling, I watched the girls all walk down the aisle and take their places. Will had asked a few of his college buddies to be in the wedding also to round out the numbers. Pulling my eyes from the girls, I glanced back to the house. Walking out was Lauren. Sucking in a breath of air, my mouth dropped open as I took her in. Her blonde hair was pulled up with red roses scattered throughout it. Her dress was a light-blue and hung straight down. It fit her curvy body like a glove.

  “Motherfucker,” I whispered as I watched her slowly smile at me. Luke leaned over and said, “I think Pastor Roberts is about to pass out if one of us swears again, dude.”

  Ignoring Luke, I had to force myself not to meet Lauren halfway down the aisle. Her beauty literally took my breath away. As she walked up, she gave me a wink and it felt as if the world shook. I reached out and grabbed a hold of Will who chuckled.

  The music changed to the wedding march and everyone turned to watch Alex walk down the aisle. It took every ounce of strength I had to pull my eyes off of Lauren.

  The moment I saw my sister, my heart felt as if it was about to jump out of my chest. Peeking over to Will, I watched him wipe a tear away as he watched Alex walk down the aisle on my father’s arm.

  “She looks beautiful,” Luke and I both said at once. My father and Alex stopped at the altar and Pastor Roberts asked who was giving Alex away.

  “I do, her father, the man who will always be number one in her life. Oh, and her mother.” Everyone laughed, including Alex.

  Alex reached up and kissed my father. “Daddy, I do love you so very much.”

  Placing Alex’s hand in Will’s, my father smiled, wiped a tear away and went to sit down next to my mother who was full-on crying.

  Will smiled at Alex and leaned in and said, “You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”

  Alex began crying as she reached up and kissed Will as everyone clapped. Pastor Roberts cleared his throat and began to speak. “Seems the couple is jumping ahead.”

  Alex and Will turned to face the Pastor. “It’s hard for me to believe that I stood u
nder this very same tree and married Alex’s mother and father.”

  Alex rocked back and forth and I knew she only did that when she was nervous. She had done it for as long as I could remember. Will kept looking at her and at one point he leaned over and asked if she was okay.

  Glancing over to Lauren, she looked white as a ghost. Her eyes caught mine and I mouthed, what’s wrong?

  Her eyes widened and she mouthed back, it’s big. Huge.

  Oh shit. Swallowing hard, I turned to my dad. He must have noticed the same thing I did.

  Pastor Roberts was about to start with the vows when Alex turned and faced Will. The only thing anyone heard was five girls all whispering, “Oh shit.”

  Alex’s lower lips trembled. “Will. I have to talk to you.”

  “Now, Lex? I mean, can it wait?”

  Luke leaned over Will’s shoulder. “Alex, if this is about the fart thing, really, you’ve got to move on.”

  Will and I turned and looked at Luke. “Shut the hell up, Luke,” Will said.

  “Will, it’s important. I need to talk to you.”

  Will shook his head. “Have you changed your mind, Lex?”

  Sucking in a breath, Alex frantically shook her head. “No. My gosh no, Will. I want to marry you more than anything but . . . but I need to tell you something before we do this. You have to know something. It will take like three minutes.”

  Looking back to my father he shrugged his shoulders.

  Turning back to Will and Alex, I walked up and said, “Um, excuse me ladies and gentleman, we’re gonna take a five-minute, um, intermission. Just stay in your seats and the bride and groom will be right back.” Turning to Alex and Will, I motioned for them to step away. “Go, you’ve got five minutes.”

  Alex grabbed Will’s hand and walked through the girls as she made her way away from everyone. All eyes were on them, watching as Alex talked and Will listened. The moment I saw Will’s smile, I knew. Looking at Lauren, she was smiling at me. Baby? I mouthed. Lauren wiped a tear away and nodded.

  “My father is going to kill, Will,” I whispered.

  Leaning in closer, Luke spoke to Pastor Roberts. “Pastor, you may want to say a quick prayer for William there, his life could very well be over.” Turning to me, he said, “Damn, he was so close. So close to being safe.”

  Laughing, I watched as Will scooped Alex up in his arms. They were both crying as Will stood there and held my sister.

  My father stood up and asked me, “Do you have any idea what is going on?”

  Shaking my head slowly I said, “Nerves. I think she needed to talk to him.” My father smiled, then looked back at my mother.

  “I totally get it.” Turning, he went and sat back down. Peeking at Luke, we both let out the breath we were holding.

  Will and Alex walked back up and things moved along perfectly after that.

  Once Will had about three bottles of beer in him, Alex and Will took my father and mother, and Josh and Heather, and led them into the house where they told them that Alex was about two months pregnant. Luke and I had been watching through the window. My father didn’t even flinch, he stood up and walked up to Alex and took her in his arms, with my mother following my father.

  “Well damn. That sucks.” Luke pulled out his wallet and handed me five twenty-dollar bills.

  Taking them from his hand, I said, “Thank you very much. I could have told you he was going to be okay. They’re married. There isn’t anything he can do. Now, had he found out last night? Will might have two broken legs right now.”

  Luke chortled and slapped me on the back. “Our little group is growing. You’re next.”

  Feeling the blood drain from my face, I shook my head. “Ah, no I am not. I’ve got two more years of football to play.”

  Luke pinched his eyebrows together. “And college. Two more years of college.”

  Rolling my eyes, I looked away. “Yeah, that too.”

  The rest of the night was spent, dancing, eating, drinking, dancing some more and sneaking Lauren up to my room where I had my wicked way with her. Nothing was more amazing than holding the love of my life in my arms.

  Before Lauren drifted off to sleep she whispered, “Love me forever, Colt.”

  Kissing her forehead, I held her tighter as my stomach did that crazy flip. “I promise, Lauren. Forever.”

  PULLING THE FENCE tight, Luke wrapped the wire around the post. “So have you thought about trying to plan another surprise birthday party for Lauren?”

  Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. “No. I still can’t believe she got the flu and we had to cancel the party.”

  Laughing, Luke shook his head. “You ready to head back to College Station? Get your football on?”

  Just the mention of football had me all kinds of excited. “I sure as shit am.”

  Wrapping another wire around a post as I pulled the fence tighter, Luke grunted. “What about, Lauren?”

  Letting the fence go after he got the wire to stay on, I felt my heart slam against my chest. Taking my gloves off, I mumbled, “I need a drink of water.”

  Luke looked at me. “Ahh hell. That can’t be good.”

  Pushing past him, I made my way over to my father’s old truck. We used it for the ranch now, but he still insisted she be taken care of. The damn thing was ancient and needed to be sold for scrap metal.

  Opening the cooler, I saw Luke had packed a few beers. Reaching in, I grabbed one. Walking up to the truck, Luke leaned against it. “Talk to me, Colt. I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard about the two of you fighting since you got together.”

  Taking a long drink I closed my eyes and shook my head. “She doesn’t want to go back to A&M.”

  “What?”

  Nodding my head, I took another drink. “Yep, she wants to stay in Mason, work on her daddy’s ranch helping horses fuck.”

  “Hey, Colt don’t let your anger put words into your mouth.”

  Pushing off the truck, I turned to face Luke. “I’m not. The plain simple matter is she’d rather be on the fucking ranch than be with me. She says she hates school, she struggles with it which makes her stress out because she feels like she has to get good grades for her parents. She has a damn perfect grade point average.” Pushing my hand through my hair, I let out a sigh. “She just doesn’t want to go back early. There is nothing I can do about it, so I’ll leave tomorrow and she’ll stay behind for a few extra weeks.” Tipping the beer against my lips, I finished it off. Crushing it with my hand, I threw it in the back of the truck.

  Luke looked away for a second before he turned back to me and looked me in the eyes. “Do you want to hear what I think about all this?”

  Letting out a gruff laugh, I held out my hands and said, “Sure. Why not.”

  “All right, I think you go back to A&M, do what you have to do for football.”

  Raising my eyebrow, I asked, “And Lauren?”

  Luke shrugged. “Let her stay. I mean, you knew getting into this how much she loved being with the horses. It’s no different than you loving football.”

  Looking away I let Luke’s words soak in. “Fine, I guess I’m being a selfish prick about this.”

  Luke pushed off the tailgate. “Ya think?” Walking up to me he put his arm on my shoulder. “Come on, let’s go sit by the river for a few hours with a six-pack and just kick back. We can call Will since we haven’t heard all the details about the honeymoon. You leave tomorrow and I’d much rather spend my time with you doing that, than here putting up a fence.

  Smiling, I said, “That sounds like a solid plan.”

  Luke and I began cleaning up. Luke had sent a text to Will telling him to meet us at the riverbank where we had our pasture parties and for him to bring the beer.

  Climbing into the truck, I pulled out my phone.

  Me: Hey. I’m sorry I was a dick early. You don’t have to come back with me

  I stared at my phone the entire drive to the riverbank. Then once we were there, I kept checking it
but never heard back from Lauren. By the time I got home it was almost nine and I had to leave in the morning for A&M. Checking my phone one last time, I tossed it onto the bed and cursed. Closing up my suitcase, I dropped it to the floor.

  “You ready to head back?”

  Spinning around, I smiled when I saw my mother. “Yeah, I’m thinking of heading back tonight though.” Taking a step into my room, she narrowed her eyes as she looked at me.

  “This late, Colt? You wouldn’t get into College Station until after midnight.”

  Giving her a weak smile, I nodded my head. “Yeah, that’s crazy of me to even think it.”

  Grinning she placed her hand on the side of my face. “Did you and Lauren have a fight?”

  Closing my eyes, I sighed. How did my mother always know what was wrong. “I was being a jerk and she won’t answer my text messages or my phone calls.”

  Giving me a reassuring smile, she tilted her head and said, “I’m sure she will. She wouldn’t let you leave without saying good-bye to you.”

  Nodding my head I smiled. I wasn’t feeling so optimistic about it like my mother was. “Don’t stay up too late, sweetheart. You have a long day ahead of you.”

  “Yeah, I’m gonna head to bed now. I’m exhausted.”

  Reaching up and kissing me on the cheek, my mother smiled tenderly at me. I could feel the love moving from her body into mine and I instantly felt better. “Get some sleep, Colt.”

  I watched as my mother softly shut my bedroom door. Not feeling like doing a damn thing, I stripped out of my clothes and made my way to the bathroom where I took a hot shower. The water felt amazing as it moved down my body, relaxing muscles that I had been working the hell out of the last three days while helping Luke with a fence.

  Drying off, I walked into my room and crawled into bed naked. Exhaustion soon took over as I felt my eyelids growing heavier and heavier.

  DAMN IT ALL to hell. I couldn’t believe I had lost my phone. I’d spent all day combing through my house, the barn, and the pasture I road in earlier today until I found it in my car. The second I saw all of Colt’s text messages, I panicked. We had a fight the night before so he probably thought I was ignoring him.