Erik
Against all odds, they had managed to pull together the ceremony after all, and this time it was real. He couldn’t believe he was standing at the altar, listening to the hum of friends and family as they waited for the bride to enter.
The marriage wouldn’t be official according to the state of Pennsylvania, of course.
That part would have to be taken care of in a few days, when the courthouse was open for them to get a license.
But at least in the eyes of their friends and the local pastor, the three of them would be a family starting today.
The vibe in the church was lighthearted. He’d been afraid that his friends and supporters would be angry and betrayed when they found out he’d been trying to trick them.
Instead, they all seemed to understand that his heart had been in the right place. When they all agreed to help with his proposal this morning, he’d been truly moved.
You earned the benefit of the doubt, Sam had told him privately. Once. So don’t ever try anything like this again.
Once was more than enough for Erik. He had learned his lesson, and he had no desire to ever mislead his friends again.
After Jenny said yes to him, they’d all sat in the inn’s dining room with mugs of chicken noodle soup.
Both of them had apologized profusely to the veterans, and their apologies had been accepted with such grace.
Mostly, everyone just wanted to know how much of their story was true, and how Jenny and Gael had come to arrive in Trinity Falls at just the right moment for everything to fall so magically into place.
“I think it was meant to be,” Gael said at one point, which earned him smiles from everyone gathered at the table. “That’s how it happened.”
In spite of how well things had worked out, Erik fully expected to cancel the wedding. He figured they could still throw a party at the Community Center—an engagement party rather than a reception.
But after Jenny and Gael whispered to each other for a few minutes, she told Erik that they might as well get married today.
And even when he asked if she would prefer to plan her own wedding, to set it up for later when she could have friends and family of her own attend, she had simply smiled and said that this wedding had brought them together and it was only right that they took advantage of all the wonderful things he had planned.
So here he was, buttoned up in a tux, standing at the front of the church with his heart thundering, hoping she hadn’t changed her mind.
When the melody of “Canon in D” swelled, the door at the back of the church opened, and Gael walked his mother down the aisle.
Gael’s face was lit up with pride, and he looked very handsome in his suit, loaned to him at the last moment by one of the Cassidy kids.
Jenny was absolutely radiant. Her long, dark hair was swept up, and the gown skimmed her curves and flowed like water as she moved gracefully down the aisle.
But it was the expression of joyful emotion on her face that made her truly beautiful to Erik. How could he be so lucky? How was it possible that the same happiness that squeezed his own chest was lighting up her eyes too?
When Jenny and Gael reached Erik, Gael gave his mom a kiss on the cheek and moved as if to go to his seat.
But Erik instinctively grabbed the boy’s hand and looked to him. Gael grinned and stayed put, looking delighted to be a bigger part of the day.
As the pastor spoke the old-fashioned words, Erik watched Jenny’s face.
She was so young and beautiful. It was hard to remember that this wasn’t her first wedding.
Maybe doing this quickly with so many people involved allowed her not to question her heart.
He wasn’t sure. But he was relieved to see her face filled with a calm happiness that told him she wasn’t questioning her decision to be up here with him, promising to be his family for all the rest of the time they were given.
Soon, the beautiful words were finished, and the pastor told Erik he could kiss the bride.
Jenny looked up at him with such a shy smile that he didn’t dare swoop her up and give her the passionate kiss he wanted.
Instead, he held her close and gave her a chaste kiss that still left his heart thundering.
“You’re getting a better one later, when we’re alone,” he whispered softly enough that no one else could hear.
She blushed and smiled, and the whole church burst into happy applause.
He took Jenny’s hand as she took Gael’s, and they all headed down the aisle together this time.
The beaming smiles from the community warmed his heart, but the feeling of Jenny’s hand in his was what left him feeling like he could walk on air.
A little while later, everyone had gathered upstairs in the Community Center across the lot.
As Erik stood by one of the big windows, watching Jenny receive hugs and congratulations from a few of the ladies in town, Gael came sprinting across the room to him.
“We did it,” he said to Erik excitedly.
“We sure did,” Erik told him, wrapping an arm around the boy. “Was it boring?”
“No way,” Gael said. “I like going to church. And I like weddings. And you guys get two weddings.”
“The other one will just be at the courthouse,” Erik reminded him. “Nothing fancy.”
“That’s okay,” Gael said. “It will still be fun and exciting, you’ll see.”
Erik was pretty sure that the boy was just picturing one of the wild courthouse weddings from his grandmother’s beloved soap opera.
But he’d been so right about everything else that had happened so far, Erik figured he ought to give him the benefit of the doubt.
After all, why shouldn’t something wonderful and exciting happen at the courthouse?
It seemed like from the moment Gael and his mother had arrived, everything in Trinity Falls was a lot more wonderful and exciting than before, at least in Erik’s eyes.
“Hey, there you are,” Ransom Wright said, spotting Gael. “Stay right there—don’t go anywhere. There’s someone who wants to meet you.”
“Me?” Gael asked, looking surprised.
Ransom nodded and headed off.
Erik smiled, realizing what was happening.
“Hey, guys,” Jenny said, joining them. “What are you doing over here?”
“There’s someone who wants to meet Gael,” Erik said.
“Oh, wow,” Jenny said, her eyes on someone across the room, and her lips parted in wonder.
“Hi there,” Ransom said. “This is Hailey.”
Gael looked up with a polite smile that turned into an expression of surprise and delight.
“BeeBee Evans?” Gael breathed.
“Hey there,” Hailey said, smiling kindly. “Ransom told me you were a fan.”
“Yes,” Gael said, his eyes so earnest. “Yes, I love Ridley Hospital. But… I wanted you to marry Dr. Silverman.”
Erik smiled at the idea that the little boy was so into weddings, even for fictional people.
“I wanted that too,” Hailey replied. “But sometimes things happen for a reason. When I left the show, I came home to Trinity Falls and fell in love in real life.”
Ransom’s kids, Travis and Mae, ran up and tugged on Ransom and Hailey’s hands.
“There’s going to be cake,” Mae sang out. “And I saw it.”
“This is Travis,” Hailey said. “And this is Mae.”
“Do you want to dance with us?” Mae asked Gael. “Nobody’s dancing and my dad said someone should start it up.”
Erik tried to hide his smile.
“Can I, Mom?” Gael asked Jenny, then turned to Erik. “Can I, Dad?”
His tone went up slightly more on that Dad, as if he wasn’t sure whether it was really okay to say.
“Yes, you can, son,” Erik told him, wrapping a hand around the boy’s shoulder, and not caring that his own words had come out husky with emotion. “You sure can.”
Gael gave him a fierce hug and then headed into the crowd with his two small friends as Erik watched after him, his eyes burning with tears.
Erik looked to Jenny and saw there were tears in her eyes too.
“Congratulations again,” Hailey said softly, as she and Ransom moved away, probably guessing that this was an emotional moment.
“I can’t believe it,” Erik said to Jenny, his voice raw.
“He loves you,” she said, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. “He asked me this afternoon when I was getting ready if he could call you Dad, and I told him I thought you would like it…”
“I love it,” he assured her. “I thought that would take time, a lot of time. He’s had so many ups and downs in his life.”
“You, Erik Anderson, are and always will be an up,” Jenny told him with a smile so sweet it almost hurt to look at her. “We’re so lucky.”
“We all are,” he told her. “Now, I know we’re not official yet, and I’ll need a little time to organize the Heroes Center before I can move, but I’ll be as quick as I can. Sam is ready to take the reins.”
“Erik,” Jenny said softly. “You would really give up everything you’ve built to come to Boston with us?”
“Of course,” he told her. “And I’m not giving anything up, I’m just passing the torch. I’m sure I can find something meaningful to do in Boston.”
The idea of walking away from the Center when things were just getting interesting stung. But he was doing it without a second thought because Jenny and Gael were worth that, and so much more.
“Well, I hope Sam won’t be disappointed,” Jenny said thoughtfully. “Because you’re not going anywhere. Gael and I are moving here.”
“What?” Erik said, certain he’d misunderstood.
“We love it here,” she said simply. “Plus, I work from home, and you’re already settled.”
“Jenny,” he said, so moved he thought his heart might break. “That’s so kind of you. But Gael has been through so much already. I can’t take him from the city where he grew up.”
“He wants this,” Jenny said simply. “He loves it here. And you see how it is with him—he makes friends at the drop of a hat.”
They both looked over to see that Gael already had at least a dozen kids dancing in the center of the room, all smiling and laughing and being silly together.
“This is a magical place to grow up,” Jenny said, smiling fondly at her boy. “I want that for him.”
“He’s going to have every bit of magic that love or money can give him,” Erik said, turning his eyes back to his son.
“I don’t think he cares about the money,” Jenny said. “Spend that on the Heroes Center, where it will do the most good. Just give Gael all the love.”
“Maybe not quite all the love,” Erik said, pulling her close and pressing a kiss to her forehead.
“You’d be surprised how much room your heart has when it comes to love,” she told him, repeating Trudy’s wise words to her.
Before Erik had a chance to respond, the music stopped suddenly.
Angie and Tom hurried around the space, shooing guests to the edges of the room, as the beginning of a familiar song began to play.
“What in the world?” Jenny murmured.
“No, way,” Erik said.
But sure enough, almost every veteran from the Center had gathered in the middle of the room behind Ransom Wright and Axel Williams.
The next thing Erik knew, the two men were lip-synching along to Elton John and Kiki Dee’s “Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart” with great gusto, as the others performed an obviously choreographed dance number behind them, much to the delight of the whole crowd.
Even Fallon and Angie, who were on the shy side, and Wolf Cassidy, who was the most serious man Erik knew, were dancing along with the others with big happy smiles on their faces.
The children were the first to start giggling at the silly grownups. When Erik saw Gael doubled over along with a bunch of the other kids, his own smile broke into a laugh.
“Oh, wow,” Jenny murmured, starting to giggle herself. “They’re actually really good dancers.”
“Some more than others,” Erik allowed, as he watched a couple of the guys in the back go the wrong way on a turn and bump into each other.
By the time the performance was over, half the party was singing along and almost everyone was moving to the beat of the irresistible song.
As the music wrapped up, Fallon stepped up to the mic they had set up for the deejay.
“Hey, Cap,” Fallon said, looking a little stiff but determined in front of the crowd. “We hope you enjoyed our little number.”
Erik hooted and clapped loudly, which won him smiles from the vets.
“It means the world to us that you involved us in your special day. Even if it wasn’t what anyone originally planned, we’re all so glad it turned out the way it did. You’ve always had our backs. And we’ll always have yours.”
Everyone yelled out their agreement and there was much applause as Fallon headed back to the others.
“They really love you,” Jenny said softly, as the deejay went back to the mic.
“I’m glad I don’t have to leave them just yet,” Erik said. “Though maybe I will offer Sam that promotion after all. I can still stay on as the co-chair of the Center, but then I would also have more time for other stuff.”
“Like what?” Jenny asked.
“I don’t know,” Erik said with a shrug. “Maybe volunteering with whatever activity Gael wants to do, or just spending more time with my family.”
“I like that idea a lot,” Jenny said, with a smile that sent electricity through his veins.
The deejay started a slow song, and Erik smiled.
“May I have this dance?” he asked, pulling her close before she could even answer.
“Yes,” Jenny breathed, smiling as she melted into his arms.
It felt so good to have her there, her small, soft form tucked against his heart, right where she belonged.
As the music played and their friends celebrated around them, Erik knew he was finally home.