And stopped dead, his mouth dropping open.
Chance stood at the opposite end of the small assemblage, looking amazing. He wore the same white linen Patrick and Avery did, his feet as bare as theirs. His blond hair fell in soft waves around his face. His blue eyes seemed even brighter somehow. The sapphire earring in his ear twinkled in the sun.
And the smile on his face couldn’t possibly have been wider. Or more beautiful.
As Christina Perri’s voice drifted out of invisible speakers, Patrick collected himself and started the walk to the end of the aisle, never taking his eyes off Chance. He was vaguely aware of the person running the video camera, recording the ceremony. And he saw the photographer taking pictures out of the corner of his eye. But he didn’t pay attention to the clicks either.
He had eyes for only one person.
They paused when they got to the middle, and Patrick thought his heart was going to burst out of his chest. He swallowed several times. “Hi.”
“Hi.” Chance held his hand out, and Patrick took it. He paused for another few seconds, his eyes closed, savoring that simple touch. When he opened them again, he met the beautiful blue eyes, then lifted Chance’s hand and kissed it. Chance returned the kiss, and then they turned to make their way down the aisle together.
Every face turned toward them held a wide smile. Several sets of eyes already had tears leaking from them. He met Tutu’s gaze, then Alana’s, his smile widening even more. He looked next to his da, who nodded at him, looking very proud. Then Patrick’s eyes met his mother’s wet ones, and he squeezed Chance’s hand. When he felt a return squeeze, his heart slowed a little.
Patrick looked up next and met Rhys’s eyes. If things had gone differently, would he be up here with Rhys? Would he have pledged his life to that man instead? Maybe. Probably. And he still felt a pang for what Rhys had gone through. But Rhys looked genuinely happy for him. The smile that spread on Rhys’s face was that honest one, the one that said he was truly happy.
When they reached the end of the aisle, Patrick and Chance faced each other and took the other hand. As the kahu started the opening chant in Hawai’ian, Patrick felt his nerves fade. In their place his heart filled him, expanding from the warmth of Chance’s smile, from their love, from what they were about to do.
The kahu finished the chant and spoke in English. “In Hawai’i, the lei is a symbol of our love, given to the person who holds your affection. It is a reflection of the love you have for one another. As you exchange these leis, you begin to weave the lei of your life with love. The lei, like your love, is fragile. Unlike your love, it only lasts a few days. But your love for each other can last a lifetime if you remember to savor each moment, give each other the consideration and care that will nurture it and help it grow stronger.
“Take these leis now and offer them to each other to recognize the love and devotion you give to one another.”
Patrick turned to Rhys and took the long maile lei. The two deep green intertwining maile vines held white tuberose flowers at intervals along the length. The maile leaves and white blooms combined to create a sweet fragrance. Patrick held the lei up and placed it over Chance’s head, then leaned in and left a soft—and, he had to remind himself, short—kiss on each of Chance’s cheeks.
After Chance did the same for him, the kahu spoke again. “Chance and Patrick would like to take this time to share their aloha with their new families.”
Patrick took the next lei from Rhys, a mix of purple orchid and white ginger. Violet stood and stepped forward, beaming at him, eyes and cheeks wet. Patrick’s smile was just as wide as he placed the lei over her head, then kissed each cheek. “Thank you for your son,” Patrick murmured.
The tears flowed even faster, but Violet didn’t bother trying to wipe them away. She turned away briefly and came back, surprising him with a simpler version of the maile lei he already wore. “Thank you for loving him,” she said as she put it around his neck. “And thank you for being my son too.” She dropped kisses on each cheek, and a happily stunned Patrick stepped back.
Chance grinned at him, and Patrick shook his head, smiling too. He gathered his wits so he could watch the next part. He was anxious, he had to admit. Despite the change in his mother since she called those few months ago, he still worried.
Chance took the long maile lei Sophia held, this one threaded through with the orange ilima flower. Patrick watched Da step forward and Chance place the lei over his head. The kisses had always made Da blush, but this time, he seemed to just take them in stride. Patrick started to get choked up when he heard the quiet, “Thank you, son.”
But he held on, trying to keep from getting too emotional. His mother stepped forward next, and Chance took a second lei from Sophia, this one white orchid with pink and red roses mixed in. Chance thanked her for Patrick, and Patrick’s smile widened when his mama only seemed to cry harder.
Then she picked up a lei of her own. Another of the maile leis, this one had yellow ginger twisting through it. She placed it around Chance’s neck, then gave him the two kisses. When she pulled back, she held on for a long moment, swallowing several times before speaking. “Welcome to our family.”
And that was all it took. The first tears fell as a stunned Chance hugged Patrick’s mother and whispered “Thank you.” When Chance pulled back, tears fell, and Patrick’s mother reached up and wiped them away. With a smile she gave him another kiss on the cheek, then went back to her seat.
The kahu beamed at them as he and Chance got back into their places. Patrick took a deep breath and nodded that they should continue. He turned to look once more at Chance as they clasped hands again.
“Patrick and Chance, you are here today surrounded by friends and ohana as you celebrate your decision to live as husbands. The commitment of marriage is a sacred one, a deep promise for the future. This future is a great unknown, filled with happiness and light along with many trials and sadness.
“You have both already felt some of these trials, have overcome hard troubles to get here today. As you commit your lives to each other, remember those times, remember that you are capable of moving past hurt and into forgiveness. That will allow you to strengthen and grow your love over the years to come. Because that love will be the light you need to get you through dark times.”
Patrick’s heart started pounding, knowing what was coming up. He swallowed around the lump in his throat, focusing on trying to breathe.
“Patrick and Chance have chosen to speak their vows directly.” The kahu looked over at Patrick. “Patrick, are you ready to vow your life to Chance?”
“I—” Patrick paused to clear his throat. Despite his best attempts, his voice shook. “I am.” He swallowed again, trying to hold onto his nerves and calm, at least until he could get the words out. He focused his gaze on Chance, then managed to speak. “I, Patrick, take you, Chance, to be my husband, the father of my children, my partner in life, and my one true love. I promise to love you today, tomorrow, and forever, doing everything I can to grow that love even more. I promise to trust you, honor you, laugh with you, and cry with you.” He had to pause to clear his throat as the tears flowed again with those words. “I will love you faithfully, through the best and the worst—” He broke off, sucking in a breath so he could keep speaking. “Through the difficult and the easy.” He stopped again to steady his voice once more. “This I promise you here and now, for all the days of my life.”
Chance reached up and wiped the tears away from Patrick’s cheeks. When Patrick’s vision cleared, he saw Chance’s cheeks were as wet as his own. “Chance, are you ready to vow your life to Patrick?”
Chance cleared his throat. “I am.”
Patrick let the tears flow as Chance made the same promises he just had. Chance’s voice shook, he had to clear his throat often, and more than once he simply had to stop to obviously gather himself as Patrick had. Patrick loved it all, those signs of how much the words meant to Chance too. And those promises—to
love him and their children, faithfully, through it all—were enough to keep Patrick crying the whole time.
When Chance finished, Patrick realized they were gripping each other’s hands very tightly. He let go and reached up, taking his turn to wipe Chance’s tears away. Chance turned his head and dropped a kiss on Patrick’s palm.
“Do you have the rings?” the kahu asked.
Avery stepped forward and pulled the chain from around his neck, then held it up it to the kahu. He removed the rings, then turned and picked up a koa wood bowl from the table behind him. He placed the rings in it, then handed it to Patrick. Next, he picked up a conch shell similar to the one used to open the wedding, only this one had water inside, and handed this to Chance. After picking up a long, narrow green ti leaf, he turned back to them. Patrick watched him dip the leaf into the water in the conch shell, then hold it over the bowl, sprinkling the rings with water. He chanted the ring blessing in Hawai’ian, then in English, as they’d requested. After the third sprinkle, he took the conch from Chance and set it back on the table, then the bowl from Patrick and held it.
“These rings, by their shape, are symbols of your love. There is no beginning and no end, as should be. It symbolizes both your past and future.” He offered the bowl to Patrick, who took Chance’s out.
He looked down at it as he took a deep breath. They’d both wanted something that would last and reflect them. Patrick chose titanium to represent Chance’s strength for the main part of the band. Chance chose the koa wood inlay for the bravery Patrick had shown when he’d proposed, openly announcing who he was and what he wanted.
Patrick looked up and smiled at Chance as he pushed the ring onto Chance’s finger. He cleared his throat and, in a surprisingly strong voice, said, “I give you this ring, as I give to you all that I am, a symbol of my promise to love you and be with you, for as long as I live.”
Chance’s hand shook so hard he almost dropped the ring. He slid the ring onto Patrick’s finger and repeated the line, then lifted Patrick’s hand and kissed the ring. They looked at each other and smiled, and Patrick knew Chance was as excited about what came next as he was.
Rhys stepped forward and set a two-step footstool in front of the kahu, then returned to his spot. The kahu turned and smiled down at Avery. “Avery, will you stand on the stool?”
Avery looked puzzled, but, knowing better than to argue with an adult—especially now—he did as he was told.
After squeezing hands, Patrick and Chance each took one of his. Patrick turned to his son and couldn’t suppress the huge grin on his face when Avery looked up, expression serious. “Avery, today is a very important day for Chance and me.”
Avery nodded. “You’re getting married.”
Patrick chuckled with the rest of their guests. “Yes, we are. And Chance and I both want you to know that you are a very important part of our family. You made Chance feel just as loved and important, and I am very proud of you for that. But I also want to make you a promise.”
“You do?” Avery asked, blue eyes wide.
“Yes. I promise you that no matter how much I love Chance—and I love Chance a lot—but no matter how much I love him, I will always love you too. And I will never stop loving you.”
Avery just blinked at him for a moment. “I know, Da,” he finally said, making Patrick laugh.
When Chance stopped laughing, he spoke. “I also want to tell you that when you asked me to be your daddy, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me. Thank you so much for that. I love you and promise to always love you, no matter what.”
“I love you too, Daddy.” Avery looked up, face screwed up in concentration. “I promise too.” He held a hand up and ticked off each finger as he said, “I will be good and take baths and go to bed.”
Everyone in the audience laughed. Chance scooped Avery up and hugged him tight, then handed him over to Patrick to do the same. Then they set him down and moved over to the small table next to the kahu.
When they were in place, Avery once more on the stool, the kahu spoke again. “Today, Patrick and Chance are making a commitment of their eternal aloha for one another, as well as to their son, Avery.” He turned back to them as they each picked up a small bottle of sand. In the center a large bottle sat with a funnel in the top. The kahu continued. “As you each hold your sand, the separate containers represent your lives to this moment—individual and unique. As you now combine your sand together, your lives also join together as one, as a family.”
“Pour it in,” Patrick whispered, and Avery lifted his bottle with them, and the three of them poured their different-colored sand into the big bottle. Patrick had blue, Chance red, and Avery green. Patrick watched the colors mix together as they hit the funnel at the same time.
When they were finished, the kahu held it up, showing the bottle now containing the intermingled colors, swirled together. “Just like these sands that have been poured into the bottle, you cannot be separated in your love. Instead of individuals, you are now one family, like the sands.” As he set the bottle back on the table, Patrick and Chance both kissed Avery’s cheeks before he went back to stand with Rhys. Then they moved back to their place.
“As these two have pledged their lives to one another, and by the power vested in me by the State of Hawai’i.” The kahu paused and smiled even wider. “I now pronounce you husbands. You may kiss.”
Patrick didn’t remember actually moving. He was sure he did, he would have had to, but one second he was standing two feet away, and the next he was in Chance’s arms and their lips were fused. He cradled Chance’s head in his hands, pouring every ounce of love and devotion he could into the kiss. Finally, he remembered they were still at the ceremony and pulled back. His cheeks were red, a little embarrassed by his enthusiasm, but he didn’t really care. Chance was his husband. They were married. And Chance had kissed him just as hard, just as long as he’d kissed Chance.
They turned to their guests, faces split in wide grins. Avery came up to stand with them, and though they didn’t let go of each other, they took one of his hands with their free ones.
“Friends and ohana, I now present to you, the Tearney family. Patrick, Chance, and Avery Tearney.”
Patrick’s head whipped around, and he looked up at Chance, eyes wide. “Did… did he say…? Did you… take my name?”
Chance nodded, biting his lip, then said, “I… I thought you’d like it.”
Patrick’s smile was even brighter than before. He leaned in and kissed Chance firmly. “I… it’s wonderful. I just… I never would have thought of it.”
Chance visibly relaxed, smiling again. “I rather like the sound of it, don’t you? ‘Chance Tearney.’”
Patrick grinned, then kissed him one more time. “I like it very much.”
The pictures were supposed to take about an hour. They’d considered doing pictures before the ceremony, but the photographer Patrick’s mother wanted had another wedding and hadn’t had time. So, two hours after the ceremony ended, Patrick and Chance finally walked through the arch and onto the lawn. Deafening applause broke out, and the two of them waved as they stood and waited for the noise to settle.
Once everyone calmed down, the DJ made the grand introduction. Chance had, apparently, told him about the name change, because he introduced them as Mr. Patrick and Mr. Chance Tearney. Patrick didn’t think he would ever get tired of hearing that. They waved again, responded to the calls for “Kiss!” and, laughing, made their way to the wedding tables.
They had a slightly confused moment where both tried to hold the chair for the other, but gave up with a laugh and just sat. Yet another “Kiss!” call went up, which they had no problems complying with. Finally, the waiters descended on the wedding table to serve drinks.
Patrick sat for a long moment, looking over the reception. Even when he’d asked Emily to marry him, he’d never expected anything quite like this. He knew a small part of it was just where he was now with life. He wasn’t fam
ous, necessarily, and doubted sincerely he ever would be. Once upon a time he’d wanted that, but now he was happy if he could act, be with Chance, and raise Avery together. But the fame he had now gave him enough money to do something like this, so he didn’t mind using a bit of that fame—and the money that came with it—to throw this kind of reception.
Their guests nibbled on the last of the hors d’oeuvres that had been served to tide them over until dinner, sipping wine and other drinks. Avery kept up a steady stream of chatter as he sat between his grandmothers. Violet and Kalea talked with their heads together, and Patrick had a brief moment of panic. He leaned over to his husband. “Uh, are our mothers supposed to get along?”
Chance looked at the neighboring table, his own face showing a bit of panic. “Shit. Uh… I’m not sure, but I don’t think that can be good. Though… well, we’re married. What more can they want?”
Patrick answered before he thought it through. “More grandchildren.”
He looked over at Chance and bit his lip. It was one thing that had never come up between them, not since the question he’d asked the first time they’d had dinner at Pablo’s. He hadn’t avoided it, but he didn’t know if, now that Chance had Avery, more would be an option. Patrick had always wanted a big family. He didn’t necessarily need it, but he always figured on someday giving Avery a sibling, at least. So Patrick held his breath, but Chance didn’t look upset, only thoughtful.
“Well,” he said, glancing down at himself, “I’m afraid I’m not built to carry any. I don’t think you are, either.”
Patrick laughed, relaxing. “No, I’m afraid not.”
“But….” Chance turned serious. “I’d love to look into adoption or… surrogacy or whatever…. I’d happily have more kids with you.”
Patrick beamed and leaned in to kiss him. “I think we’ll have to talk about this. I’d like that very much.”
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