Chapter 17
Ville
The Thursday before the wedding was filled with activity. People had started to arrive and there’d be a rehearsal dinner in the evening for the family and the happy couple’s closest friends.
Luke’s family had arrived earlier in the week, and while his parents were staying at Demi and Luke’s house, their friends would mostly stay on the ranch in high-end RVs that had been rented for the occasion.
Mike had murmured something about maybe it was time to start thinking about building more permanent accommodations with the family expanding, and I agreed with him on that.
Speaking of expanding families, Wren had heard the news about the triplets, and he’d immediately gotten on the phone with his money guys and told them to put together future funds for each of the Harrington kids—including Payton—and any future kids that might come along.
He'd set it up so that the kids could use the money directly for tuition, whether it be for college or trade school. After that, once they turned twenty-five, they could then have full access to use it however they wanted or needed.
“Is it too much?” he asked as he outlined what he’d done while we sat in Hawk’s office in the training barn.
I shrugged. “If I said yes, would that change anything?”
“Nothing whatsoever.”
“Then it’s not too much.” Grinning, I added, “Besides, it’s not like you can’t afford it.”
He was wealthy. The apartment in Nashville was worth a lot of money, too. Like an obscene amount for an apartment.
We heard someone coming up the stairs. Hawk opened the door and grinned at us. “You two hiding?”
I was sitting in the visitor’s chair while Wren sprawled on the couch.
“Yessss…,” Wren stretched the word and then his body.
“One of Luke’s cousins is a big fan,” I explained, making Hawk chuckled understandingly.
“Like capital B and capital F?” he asked as he sat in his chair behind his desk.
“Not quite that bad,” Wren said, relief evident in his tone. “It’s just that she keeps watching me.”
“Ah. The problem of being perceived.” Hawk nodded sagely.
My phone pinged. It was Abigail. The label had insisted on more security and the additional personnel had arrived.
I sighed. “Okay. I gotta go and talk to the new guys.” I got up and looked at Wren. “You okay here?”
His eyes were closed and he waved me away. “Go. Do your job. I’ll nap for a bit.”
“I have stuff to finish up before the festivities so I’ll be here,” Hawk murmured, already absorbed in the screen he was looking at.
“Okay. Call me if you need me,” I told them collectively, then left the room.
I jogged down the stairs and grabbed one of the ATVs to drive to the bunkhouse where we’d parked the RV we’d rented for the guys to sleep in and to use as a mobile base. It was the least obtrusive spot and we didn’t need it any closer.
The RV had been Wren’s idea when we’d talked about where to house the trio.
The guys could then drive the RV back to the rental place on their way to the airport the day after tomorrow.
Yes, it was ridiculous to get them to come all this way, but since it was a change in their routine, it was welcomed with good-natured ribbing about whether they needed to wear boots and cowboy hats or something.
Just for that, Wren had asked Jen for some BCR branded shirts and ball caps for them to wear.
The three men, Rico, James, and Kamon, were familiar to us.
They also happened to be three of the handful of people I’d poach as soon as Wren decided to call it quits with the label.
I had no love for the label with how shitty they could be about Wren’s needs, so while I’d try not to go full scorched earth for his sake, there would be plenty of smaller fires left behind.
“Hey, boss!” Kamon greeted me as soon as I parked next to the RV.
“That stuff will kill you,” I deadpanned like I always did when I saw him vaping.
“Life will kill me,” he replied with a grin.
We clasped hands and went to have a meeting. I’d leave distributing the “uniforms” to Wren.
After his nap, Wren texted me to tell me he was going to the house. When I made it there an hour or so later with the trio in tow to introduce them to the Harringtons, Wren was holding court in the living room.
He didn’t always feel social and often put on the mask of being jovial and with endless patience for people, but here, even though I could see it was a lot, he was still smiling his genuine Wren smile.
He had Emerson on his lap, the boy playing with the leather cords around Wren’s wrist as Wren talked with Luke’s brother, Noah. I waited for Wren to notice us, and when he did, his expression brightened even more. He got off the couch.
“My boys!” he called out, making everyone chuckle.
He handed Em to me, so I grabbed him. The baby immediately let out a happy sound and put his head on my shoulder, his face in my neck. Something moved in my chest, like a bubble of warmth started to slowly leak instead of outright bursting.
Wren hugged everyone in turn, then got them to follow him to the office. I shook my head and wandered into the kitchen. Emery sat at the table with a mug of coffee, and he gave me such a look that it made my heart stutter.
“Hey,” he said, his gaze going to Em. “He’s almost asleep.”
I swayed on my feet, side to side in an attempt to make the almost a reality. It was basically naptime anyway.
Suddenly raucous laughter carried from the office, and I snickered quietly. Clearly, the uniforms had been distributed. They returned to the front of the house and came into the kitchen to introduce themselves.
Kamon, who was sort of petite, immediately noticed Nick. He was half-Thai, and his small stature belied his wicked close combat skills. He was also unapologetically queer.
Judson, who sat at the table with his twin by his side, clocked the way Kamon looked at Nick. From Judson’s squinty eyes and the hard line of his mouth, he wasn’t a fan of Kamon’s perusal. But Judson didn’t say anything, didn’t move, and no one else seemed to notice his displeasure.
Well, okay then.
Luke appeared by my elbow. “Gimme that baby,” he said fondly.
“Is Phinn already down?”
“Yeah.” He extracted the sleeping kiddo. “I’m gonna put Em in with him.”
Abigail came to collect the trio to take them to tour the ranch. They’d studied the layout I’d sent them with all the details in text, but it was always different to see everything in person.
Wren stayed in the kitchen, chatting with everyone, so I held out my hand to Emery. Without question, he took it and let me tug him up and away.
We went to his room, and I pushed him on the bed, then took off his shoes and mine, before lying down next to him. Knowing he’d worry, I took out my phone, showed it to him, and set up an alarm for an hour from now.
Then I put it on the bedside table and gathered Emery in my arms. “A medium squish good?” I murmured, and he chuckled against my chest.
“Yeah, sounds perfect.”
The rehearsal dinner had everyone looking nice. Not as dressed up as they’d be on Saturday, but everyone had put in the effort to clean up. There was still a whole lot of chambray and denim, but it was clear I was looking at everyone’s dress up clothes.
It was more like a big pre-wedding party than an actual dinner.
Two long tables were groaning under mounds of sides.
I spotted at least three kinds of macaroni salad, two of potato salad, and at least three more dishes that were probably considered some other type of more traditional salad.
And though those types of dishes dominated, there was plenty of other types of food too.
Nick had set up the smoker yesterday and did both a brisket and a huge rack of ribs. The grill was going too.
Rico and James were on the edges of the crowd, closer to the driveway, just keeping an eye on everything.
I didn’t think they were needed there, but they’d volunteered so why not?
Kamon, however, had taken up residence on the porch where he could see everything.
If said spot was close to the grill, it had to be accidental.
Everyone was socializing. There was a lot of laughter and the music playing in the background was really nice.
My gaze went to find Emery every now and then, because I couldn’t help it whatsoever. I knew what that meant, and it made me feel like shit knowing our time was coming to an end soon.
There were kids running around. Some of Demi and Luke’s friends had kids, and Aria’s shrieks were ringing in the space every now and then.
Suddenly there was a tug on my sleeve, and I looked down to see Payton there.
“Hey, Payton. What can I do for you?”
“Uh, Mr. Ville, can we take a walk?” There was something in his expression that let me know nothing bad was happening, but he was just overwhelmed.
I glanced around and saw all of his safe adults deep in conversation in various groups of people. “Of course. Let me just tell your dads, okay?”
He nodded and took my hand like he often did with his grandpa.
Since Crew was closest to me, I called out his name. He looked up, searching for me, and I nodded my head toward Payton and then toward left, indicating the more open side of the property.
Crew frowned, but read my expression and gave us a nod and a smile.
“Okay, lead the way,” I told Payton.
He tugged me past Juanpablo’s paddock, though the donkey had been moved for the evening, and as soon as we were past the fences and the noise died down, I felt the tension leave his body. He shuddered minutely.
“It’s a lot over there, huh?” I asked as he let go of my hand and walked over the boulders lining part of the drive to the Event Barn.
“Uh-huh,” he said as he carefully examined the rocks to see if they were dirty. He shrugged, then climbed on to sit on one and sighed. “It’s all the kids. Not my cousins, but the others.”
I had to search deep to not laugh at his exasperated tone. “Yeah. Kids can be a lot, for sure.”
“Do you want kids?” he asked suddenly.