Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
“Are you ready?”
Devon stared at Raven and nodded. He was all dressed in his suit. He had to admit, it looked very nice. The green echoed the colors in Laird’s tartan since he was going to become a McCallum. That was important.
They were getting married in a little chapel set back into the mountains. Fiona had managed to create a miracle of transformation. The place was festooned with tartan ribbons and ranunculus in oranges and yellows and deep purples and pinks.
It was absolutely beautiful. He’d seen the cake too, which was this five-tiered monstrosity of a confection with thistles and tartans and baby’s breath. It was beautiful and huge.
There wasn’t really a choice there. Between the two of them, they knew everyone, and everyone or no one had to have an invitation. There wasn’t an in-between.
After all, it was New Year’s Eve. So it was the perfect time to have a big party.
The reception was going to be at the hotel. Jack had offered it to him at no cost, which was an amazing wedding present. He had delivered all of Jack and Chase’s babies, so he didn’t feel too guilty about that. But it still felt amazing to know that it was his.
He looked at Raven. “I think I am. I look good, right? You can’t tell that I’m pregnant?”
Raven looked him over. “Fine, the jacket covers a multitude of, well, I won’t say sins, but a multitude of baby.”
“I don’t have a multitude of baby,” he shot back. “At least not yet.”
They both had a long giggle about that.
“We haven’t had a big wedding like this in a long time, and you just managed to get it all done so quickly.”
He shook his head. “It wasn’t me. Hell, I was on call last week, and so was Laird. It was all Fiona and Mhairi, but mostly Fiona. And Jason is the one who arranged all the flowers.”
“Have you decided if you’re going on a honeymoon?”
He nodded. They weren’t going to do anything too wild and crazy because they simply hadn’t had time, but both he and Laird had finagled a week off, and so they were heading to Boulder. They were just going to be crunchy granola and relax together. Maybe go to the zoo.
“Boulder. We got a cute little boutique hotel, some amazing restaurant recommendations, and Charlie and Kaleb got us some spa gift certificates.” He’d delivered Charlie’s babies, too, and Kaleb was as freaking wealthy as Jack, if not more so.
“Nice.” The music started, and Raven winked at him. “And off we go.”
“You first.” Suddenly his heart was racing, his palms were sweaty, and he needed to see Laird. He needed to walk down the aisle and get this hitching show on the road.
He walked through the little curtain they’d put over the door, and there was Laird up by the altar, Nick standing up with him, and Laird looked amazing in his kilt and formal jacket, his smile widening when he saw Devon.
Those gorgeous blue eyes shone for him, the neatly trimmed beard framing the mouth he loved so much, and he couldn’t quite catch his breath. So he clutched his little bouquet of roses and tried not to run right to Laird.
Instead, he walked, relatively sedately, until he reached Laird’s side, and then he tossed his flowers at Raven and grabbed Laird’s hands just like he wanted to.
He heard Nick chuckle, and so did their friend Lukas, who had gotten himself ordained as a minister so he could perform ceremonies just like this. He’d been loving the idea of having a tattoo artist with purple and gray hair and a wicked grin performing their ceremony.
“You two ready to get this show on the road?” Lukas asked as everyone who had stood to watch him walk down the aisle got seated in a great shuffling mass.
Laird nodded. “Let’s do this.”
Devon grinned, hoping that it looked as evil as Lukas’s. “Absolutely. Laird has promised to do a Scottish dance for me at the reception.”
Lukas chuckled softly, pitching his voice low. “I just want to know what he’s wearing underneath the kilt,” Lukas said.
Devon winked at Lukas and rolled his eyes. “That’s for me to know and you to never find out.”
Laird snorted at both of them. “Be good, my mother is right there. We can have this discussion later.”
He lifted their joined hands up to his mouth and kissed Laird’s knuckles. “Sorry, love. Let’s definitely get this show on the road.”
The ceremony itself was quick as a bunny. Then there was a warm kiss and the signing of a paper, and they were married.
The little chapel emptied out except for all of the immediate family, of which there was a ton.
The photographer started setting up pictures first. Mom and all of her family, then Dad and all of his family, and then Laird’s family, and then everyone, which was wild because it seemed like there were thousands of them.
Siblings and siblings-in-law and kids and Mom and Dad and Laird’s mom and dad.
It was wild. But it was all so glorious because everyone was laughing and everyone was happy for them.
When they finally popped out of the chapel and got into the limousine that one of their friends had supplied, Laird turned and grabbed him and yanked him close for a kiss. “I cannot believe how many people were there for just the pictures, Devon.”
“I know, so much for a small intimate wedding, huh? The reception ought to be rockin’ cool, though. My people are pretty good dancers.”
“Oh my dad will just have a little too much alcohol and do a Scottish dance for you. You won’t need me to.”
He laughed at the idea of Archie doing a hopping, jumping, skipping dance that made his kilt fly up. “But it’s you I want to see, husband.”
Laird’s eyes widened, and his smile stretched to fill his face. “Husband, I really like the sound of that.”
“I do too.” Devon went up on tiptoes and took a kiss. “Happy New Year’s Eve, by the way. Are you excited about the year to come?”
Laird’s chuckle was warm and dear. “Are you kidding? This is going to be one of the most momentous years in my life. It’ll be my first year married, my first year living with someone—my husband.
My first baby. I’m gonna go back to school.
It’s gonna be the best year ever. It’s going to be wild and fascinating and busy, and I can’t wait. ”
That was what Devon needed to hear. That was really what he wanted to know—that they were in this together, and that Laird felt positive about it all.
“We’re going to have the most fun together.” He stole one more kiss. “But now we have to go have cake and our first dance so we can leave for our honeymoon.”
That was what he was looking forward to. That and his kiss at midnight with his new husband.
Their first New Year, and it was their wedding day.
That was pretty damn cool.