“Actually,” I said, “I want to make a small change. Since I’m the bride, I can do that, right?” Tony held up his hands in surrender, and I laughed. “Charlie, you have been the best brother I ever could have asked for. You have defended me and protected me, and you have put up with me running out on you more times than I care to remember, but you will never be like a dad to me. You’re my obnoxious older brother.”
“I guess I’ll take that as a compliment,” Charlie stated.
“However,” I began, suddenly feeling a little emotional, “tonight, for the first time in over twenty years, I have a father. I would like to share this dance with him.” I looked out at Ted, and without saying a word, he stood up and began to move toward me. I heard Rachel sniffling quietly, and somehow her emotion made me feel a little stronger. When he was standing in front of me, I held out my arms to join him in the dance, but instead of holding his form, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into a hug. While Cole and Liz danced next to us, glancing over every few seconds, I stood there silently hugging Cole’s dad – my dad, and feeling perfectly happy. Eventually we began dancing too, and when the song ended, he smiled down at me with his kind eyes in that fatherly way I had grown to love.
“Thank you, Dad,” I whispered.
“It’s an honor, Camdyn,” he assured me. “A total honor.”
When Cole and I moved to rejoin our table, I could see that Rachel was emotional, and I knew her toast was coming up. Trying to come up with a distraction, I asked if she wanted to meet my New York friends. After speaking with them for a minute, I also made a point of introducing Lily to Cole’s firefighter friends, since apparently this city girl had taken her one last shot at happiness just by appearing in town. (Side note – I saw her dancing with Nate later, so I think I might have made a love connection!)
As the time came to give the toasts, Tony made the announcement, and then Charlie stood next to Cole with a hand on his shoulder. I thought for a second about how amazing it was that my husband (husband!) and my brother had become such close friends. It truly was as though we were all destined to be one big, happy family.
“For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Charlie, Camdyn’s brother,” he began slowly, gesturing over at me. “In all fairness, I owe Camdyn one completely embarrassing, totally inappropriate wedding toast. At my wedding, she brought along some poor idiot who decided to propose in the middle of my best man’s speech. I guess that was to be expected, though, since Camdyn has never managed to be within five feet of a man without him proposing to her. Cole was no exception.” He squeezed Cole’s shoulder and laughed while Cole shook his head.
“Cole does have one very important distinction, though,” Charlie continued. “Out of the…what was it, Camdyn, five guys?” Trina corrected him quietly. “Six guys? Really, six? Wow! Out of the six guys who have proposed to my sister, Cole is the only one who asked my permission first. He approached me in a very old-fashioned, proper way to make sure he had my blessing. Obviously, he must not have known Camdyn very well at the time, because if he did, he would have known that she never listens to me. That being said, he showed up at my house, and to be perfectly honest, I thought he must be crazy. I tried really hard to talk him out of it, but I couldn’t do it.” I looked over at my new husband and squeezed his hand under the table, and he responded by giving me one of those smiles.
“Cole, thank you for being stubborn and not listening to me,” Charlie stated then. “Thank you for loving my baby sister enough that you were willing to put up with my hesitation. Most importantly, though, thank you for taking her off my hands, because worrying about that woman is a full-time job. In that job, brother, I wish you the best, and of course I wish you both a lifetime of love and happiness. To Cole and Camdyn!” I raised my glass, and then I stood up to hug my brother. I had to wait until he was finished hugging my husband, of course, because they were having some sort of moment. A weird, brother-bonding male moment.
While Charlie settled back into his seat, Rachel stood up, looking slightly nervous but very determined.
My new sister, how awesome is that?
“Hi, everybody, I’m Cole’s sister Rachel,” she said, taking a deep breath. “This is a really special night for me. I have watched my brother be alone for a really long time, and it was hard, because I wanted him to be happy. When I would suggest women for him to date, and he would tell me that they just weren’t the one he was looking for, I really thought he was being stubborn and picky. I didn’t think it was possible to meet someone and know immediately whether they were the right one.” She glanced over at Cole, and he grinned at her.
“Then, one night, at around three o’clock in the morning, he sent me a text message saying that he had just met the girl of his dreams. I thought maybe he was hallucinating, but the next day I saw my dad, and he had seen Camdyn. He assured me that she was real, and that she was very pretty, and that she had in fact been with Cole the day before. When I met her a couple of days later, all I had to do was take one look at Cole to know that he was messed up over this girl. My brother, who is always laid-back and calm, was a total wreck.
“Camdyn, what you said during your vows, I would have to say that I agree wholeheartedly,” Rachel stated, looking down at me. “Neither one of you is perfect. You both have the exact same freakishly weird obsession with toothbrushes, which I will never understand. The thing is, though, you really are perfect for each other, just like you said. I am so proud to be able to call you my sister, Camdyn, for many reasons. You’re a good friend, and you make me feel like I matter, even on those days when I’m not sure that I do. You care for my daughter, and you’re going to be an awesome aunt. You’re going to be on TV, so maybe you can score me some cool autographs. Okay, I’m kidding about that. Not really, but I’ll pretend that I am.” I laughed at her then, and she smiled at me.
“Most of all, though, I love what I see when you look at Cole,” she said, eyes growing misty. “When you look at my brother, I know that you love him with everything that’s in you, and he deserves that. He deserves you, Camdyn. A couple of not quite perfect people, but together you are complete perfection, and I love you both with all of my heart.” By now she was crying, and so was I. Cole slid his arm around my shoulders and gently held me against him. “To Cole and Camdyn – may you have a lifetime of your very own mash-up of messy perfection.”
Messy perfection. That’s good. I wish I had thought of that.
I stood up to hug my new sister, and Cole put his arms around both of us. Afterwards, the band started to play again, and Cole pulled me to his side.
“What do you think, Mrs. Parker?” he asked with a mischievous smile. “Is it too early to excuse ourselves?”
“Are you serious?!” I asked, completely shocked. “This thing’s supposed to go on for probably two more hours, at least. You can’t leave your own wedding.”
“I was afraid you might say that,” he whispered, trailing his fingers up my arm. He stopped at my shoulder, letting his hand rest there lightly, and he leaned in and kissed me on the neck, just enough that I felt the gentle touch of his lips and the heat of his breath. When he leaned back, it was only to lock his eyes on mine just a couple of inches away. He lowered himself towards me again, and when he kissed me, all the longing I felt for him was right there, bubbling underneath the surface. After he pulled away, I reached out to grab his arm.
“So, yeah, I’m ready to go,” I said huskily. His eyes got wide, but the corners of his mouth turned into a smile.
“You’re not messing with me?” he wondered. I put my hand against his chest and leaned forward to kiss him one more time. This time when we parted, he gave me a huge grin and stood up without saying a word, taking my hand and pulling me towards the band. Tony was mid-song when Cole grabbed the microphone, and the instruments sort of trailed to a stop behind us.
“Sorry to interrupt, everybody,” Cole stated. “Camdyn and I just want to say thank you to all of you for being here
with us on our big day, and we love every one of you. The party’s not over – stay here as long as you like. Have some more cake, keep dancing…” He picked me up then and tossed me over his shoulder, my backside sticking up in the air. I let out a little scream as I widened my eyes. He started walking around the tables, and somehow I wound up locking eyes with Grandma Ivy.
“Do you have it, honey?” she yelled. I nearly bust out laughing as I realized she was talking about that stupid whistle.
“Yes, I have it,” I assured her.
“Good!” she said loudly. “Looks like you’re going to need it!”
As we neared the truck, Cole opened the passenger door and deposited me on the seat. He laughed then, and his smile had never looked quite so perfect.
“They’re going to come after us,” he said. “You haven’t thrown the bouquet, and there’s no way Mom and Aunt Rosalie are going to let us just walk out of here.”
“You’re probably right,” I admitted with a grin, “so hurry up and get yourself in the truck before they catch us.”
Rather than going around the truck, he climbed across me and into the driver’s seat. I was laughing so hard, I could barely manage to get his truck door closed around all the layers of fabric on my dress. He peeled out of the driveway, spitting gravel everywhere, and I couldn’t help but stare over at him in surprise. The few miles to his house -scratch that, our house - went by quickly, and when we pulled up in front of our destination, he was out of the truck in a split second. When he opened my door, the layers that I had stuffed in the cab came flouncing out at him, and he shoved them aside, grabbing me and scooping me into his arms. As we reached the top of the steps, he stopped at the door and looked into my eyes with a sigh, smiling at me one more time.
“Well, Mr. Parker,” I whispered, “it looks like we’re finally alone.” His brown eyes stared lovingly into mine, and I felt as light as air in his strong arms.
“No, you’re wrong about that, sweetheart,” he replied as he pushed the door open and prepared to sweep me inside. “We’re not alone. We’re finally together.”
Stay tuned for Volume Three of The Camdyn Series,
coming soon!
Also available in The Camdyn Series:
Volume One, A Reason to Run
Acknowledgements:
Thanks first and foremost to God, for giving me Cole and Camdyn, the ability to daydream in nearly any situation, and the capability to harness the daydreaming so I can function in everyday life.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to Mike, for supporting me in my dream. And thank you to Reinah and Truett, for only occasionally telling people, “Mommy does nothing but type on that computer all the time.” I love you too much to try to spell it out on this little page.
Thank you to Linda, for putting up with my rants and being endlessly supportive, in addition to all your hard work helping me whip the story into shape.
Thank you to my friends and family who donated their time to make sure the story was right: Daressa, Erica, Kristy, Tammy, Cindy, Karri, and my mom. I appreciate each and every one of you.
Thank you to Daren for your awesome photography and your design work. Somehow you take ideas that I have a horrible time explaining and turn them into realities.
And a special thank you to Liz and Brenda and the staff at Normans Bridal Shoppe for allowing me to invade their space and use their dress for the cover shoot, all while being extremely gracious and accommodating.
A Reason to Be Alone (The Camdyn Series Book 2) Page 35