Chapter 18
Paisley
“O kay, are you ready for this?” Addison asked, as she worked on the train of my wedding dress.
My wedding dress.
As in, the dress I was wearing for my wedding.
My third wedding. Second to August.
There were already a few articles of that such, and I was a meme apparently in all the local circuits. But that was fine with me. They could all get their rocks off on my drama filled, soap opera wedding. Because in the end, I was about to marry the second chance husband of my lifetime, and the man who had groveled very well.
And not just in the way that others thought. In the way that he completely opened up with every single feeling he had. And was there for me.
There was no longer fear or worry about what would happen to us in the future. We were just it.
The first time around we had been young, impulsive, and scared to be hopeful.
Now we were a little bit older, maybe a little bit wiser, and far more scarred from our mistakes. But that’s what we had learned.
We had both groveled for each other. And that was all that mattered.
“The dress is perfect, thank you, Devney, for finding it.
I looked toward one of my best friends and held up my hand. She slid hers into mine and squeezed. “I got lucky when I was shopping. And the fact that it was your size? Perfection.”
It was a lovely lacy and flowy dress with an empire waist, and longer train than I would have thought possible to walk in. However, it worked for me. I felt like a fairytale princess, with flowers in my hair, and my long red tresses looking as if I had stepped out of a fairy book. And that’s what we were going for.
We would be married by the cabin, a small ceremony with family and friends, near the place that we had finally torn open our souls and realized that happiness meant finding our truths by ourselves, and with each other.
There was nothing more that we needed.
“I think I’m going to cry.” Devney wiped her tears, and I just grinned.
“Is it hormones or are you just happy?
My best friend put her hand over her swelling bump, and grinned. “Hormones.”
“Well, I guess I’m right alongside both of you,” Addison said with a grin, as she put her hand over her currently flat stomach. She was still in her first trimester, and ready for the next phase of her family.
I put my hand over my small bump and let out a breath.
“Well, three pregnant women and one wedding? There won’t be any tears at all.”
“I heard that Heath has stocked up on tissues for all of us, don’t worry,” Devney said with a laugh.
“I’m just happy that Greer is the sane one of all of us,” I said as my future sister-in-law walked inside, bouquets in her hands.
“Seriously. Keeping up with your sets of hormones is a little ridiculous.” She rolled her eyes and handed over the bouquets. “Are you guys ready?
“We are,” Addison and Devney said at the same time.
As I sucked in a breath, knowing this was it. I stood in a circle with the three women that were a major part of my life.
My mother was not part of my life. I had seen her twice since the fight in the office and hadn’t seen her since. She seemed to have understood the lesson. I wouldn’t have any contact with her again, and I was grateful. She knew about the wedding day, and that I was expecting. Because the rest of the world who followed our small little business sector knew. But she hadn’t said a thing, and I didn’t even feel an ounce of sadness that she hadn’t contacted me. I hadn’t heard from Jacob since threatening him with a restraining order. And last I had heard, he was now married to Lydia. Their broken relationship was back on, and they seemed happy. That was fine with me, and they would be a nice family together, far away from me. Our lives were no longer entwined in the media, or in truth. And that was one mistake I wouldn’t have to make again.
But now I was coming home to the man I had been ready for all these years.
“I love you all. Thank you for being my family. Thank you for always being my sisters . ”
“And here we go,” Addison said as tears streamed down her face, and Devney hiccupped a sob. Greer rolled her eyes and handed over handkerchiefs.
“Be strong, ladies. It’s the happiest day.”
“So happy!” Devney continued to sob.
“I love you all. Thank you for being my sisters. And I can’t wait to get out there.”
“Then let’s do it,” Greer said with a clap of her hands, and as we all cheered and walked outside the small cabin to where the setup for the wedding would be, I was ready.
My team was here, all of them bringing dates, and looking quite festive in their spring attire. Ace and Grace from Heath’s bar were there, looking quite happy with the baby in their arms. Noah and Ford were there as well, the lead ushers to keep the family organized. All of Devney’s family were there, including her multiple siblings, step-siblings, her parents, and all of the next generation. It was quite astonishing how many of Devney’s family were out there.
Luca’s partner from the vet clinic was there, as well as Addison’s friends from college. A few other people that we had met along the way, including some local friends that we had found during our dating and courting.
A few teachers from August’s school were there, including Dakota. I grinned at her and she leaned into her wife and gave me a little wave.
Everybody just looked so happy and ready for this.
Julia and Gerald Cassidy, the infamous parents were there as well, still married, and quiet as they watched our wedding unfold. I didn’t know what August had said to threaten them, or maybe it had been Heath and Luca. Maybe even Greer. I wasn’t sure, but all that mattered was the man at the end of the aisle. Luca and Heath were there as well, waiting for their wives to meet them down the aisle.
Greer stood at the center of it all, the one who would marry us. She hadn’t wanted to make the choice of whose side to stand on, so she would be officiating the nuptials.
August holding his baby sister as he asked her would always be a memory for me. The way they’d both cried and I’d sobbed right along with the two of them.
Greer’s husbands sat next to each other on my side of the aisle in place of my parents, and I was grateful for that. They were my family now after all.
And as I stood at the end of the aisle, and waited for the violin to begin, I looked at the man who had once been my husband, and would be my husband again, and smiled.
I hadn’t even realized I was moving until people were standing, and laughing, because I was ahead of the music, but it didn’t matter. I just needed to get to the love of my life.
“Impatient, are we?” he asked, as he wrapped his arms around my waist. I put my hands on his cheeks and went to my tiptoes.
“Kiss me?”
“As you wish.” And then his lips were on mine, and I was sighing into him, and people were laughing and whistling.
“Get a room!” someone called, and Devney shushed them. It must have been one of her siblings.
But I just smiled up at my first husband, and soon to be my third.
“Are you ready for this?”
“I’ve been waiting for always. It isn’t every day that you get to marry your ex-wife.”
“I mean, former ex-husband turned current husband does have a nice ring to it.”
“Practically rolls off the tongue.”
People continued to laugh, and then I held my husband’s hands, as August put his over my stomach as our babies, both of them, kicked his palms.
Joy, such joy filled his gaze, as we vowed to each other that we would be honest, open, and for one another.
I had signed my name on a dotted line all those years ago, not realizing the truth that came from those vows. I could sign my name and all legal ties day in and day out, but they wouldn’t matter as much as the signature I inscribed today.
I was a title, I was a promise, and I was now a wife. Again.
It had taken me far too long to realize who I could be. Who I needed to be. And in the end, signing my name wasn’t signing away my future, or my past. It was signing a promise.
It was signing a second chance I hadn’t seen coming.
And as my new husband kissed me, and our babies kicked, I knew this promise was just the beginning of a forever.
One vow at a time.