Chapter 27
Hannah let Erin touch up her makeup one last time, then the three of us made our way downstairs where everyone James and I cared about waited to go to the venue.
Hannah shared a private moment with my mom, thanking her for the necklace and no doubt getting a better history of it than what I could give her.
Raleigh appeared by my side, bouncing Evie in his arms. “What’s going on?”
On the drive, I filled him in on the change of plans: Hannah would sit at the back with Ben, and James and I would share our vows first. Once we were married, we’d sit down in reserved seats in the front row and offer the space to Kian and Hannah, who deserved their moment in the spotlight just as much as we did.
With each word, Raleigh’s eyes sparkled brighter and his grin widened.
“Wow, look at you all grown up,” he said when I finished.
I gave him a careful shove over the car seat fastened between us. Evie watched, giggling and chewing on her drool-covered hand.
“She’s teething,” Raleigh explained before I could even ask. He stuffed his hand into her seat, feeling around for something before withdrawing a silicone strawberry on a long green stem and offering it to her. She happily took it and shoved it into her mouth.
“Already? She’s like, five months old.”
“She’s right on schedule, actually. So you’ll have to forgive us if she gets fussy today.”
“I think I can look past it.”
Feeling his eyes on me, I glanced up. “Any babies in your future?”
“No! Hell no.”
Evie thrust the strawberry at me, in a gurgling command that clearly meant, “Hold this, peasant.”
I was happy to, taking the stem and trying to avoid getting saliva on my hand before the first looks. “I’m content with mine in college, thank you.”
Raleigh snorted. “Suit yourself.”
The second we arrived at the venue, Hannah tugged my door open.
A clearing opened up in front of me, situated in the middle of a park surrounded by a forest of pine trees.
Noise to my left caught my attention, but Hannah swiftly redirected it.
I laughed, assuming that I’d almost ruined the first look.
My daughter held up a red satin blindfold.
“Ready?” she asked. “These first look pictures are going to be amazing.”
“Will you and Kian take some too?”
Hannah’s mouth twitched, and she lifted the blindfold to tie it around my head. “After yours. So you two can be a part of it.”
Once the knot was secured and I officially couldn’t see anything, Raleigh and Hannah led me to James.
I was turned around by their hands on my shoulders, and then I felt his back pressing against mine.
I let out the breath that I hadn’t realized I’d been holding all morning, and like a magnet, my hand dropped to find his.
Our fingers laced together, and suddenly nothing else in the world mattered.
Whatever else happened that day, James and I would come out of it married, and that was all I wanted.
Hands untied the blindfold, and it fell away.
Hannah twisted my hair back into place, and then stepped to the side with Noah, who’d been joined by an assistant.
“Whenever you two are ready,” the photographer said.
The words were barely out of his mouth before I spun so fast that it made me dizzy. The breath whooshed out of me.
James smiled, steadying me with a hand on my waist as I swooned. “Easy, love,” he said, eyes raking over my body. “You look amazing.”
“So do you,” I said, breathless. Our suits were identical, but he wore it so much better. Black on black fabric clung to his body in all the right places. The only difference was that where my bow tie was red—so dark of a red that it was almost black—his was an equally dark shade of blue.
Our eye colors. As the thought occurred to me, I glanced at my daughter, who offered a proud, watery smile.
I returned my attention to James, refusing to cry anymore today.
Ryder Clark was not a crier.
We stood under the shade of a large mesquite tree, its great branches blocking us from most of the sun.
What little light filtered through its leaves caught in James’s eyes, making them twinkle.
His black hair was swept away from his face, and for a quick moment he let his guard waver, and a cloud of red swirled in his beautiful irises before it vanished as quickly as it came. My lips curled into a silly grin.
“I…” I didn’t know what I’d intended to say. I didn’t know how I was supposed to even think with James looking at me like that, much less string together a coherent sentence. Finally, I just blurted out, “I can’t wait to marry you.”
James let out a surprised gasp as I tugged him close. I leaned in, close enough for him to feel the wash of my breath across his lips—
“Hey!” Hannah cut in. “None of that yet!”
He smiled against my mouth. “Let’s go get married.” He stamped a kiss to my cheek when Hannah wasn’t looking.
We stayed to watch Kian and Hannah’s first looks, then walked hand in hand to the ceremony space.
“How was Kian this morning?” I asked.
James laughed. “At first, I thought he would either cry or throw up. Once I told him that Erin and Ben were in on it though, he perked up. I think he’s still a bit nervous though.”
A light breeze rustled the trees, making the lights strung across their branches sway and catch the sun.
I couldn’t wait to see what they’d look like lit up at night.
I found myself nearly skipping through the park with eagerness at the events ahead.
The ceremony space was set up at the end of the clearing, and the closer we got, the more I heard the low hum of gathered people.
My heart raced a little faster with each step.
A free-standing barn door stood at the top of the aisle, separating us from the guests like a majestic version of a room divider.
It slid open to admit Hannah, then she shut it behind her to keep us hidden as she and Kian took their seats.
The door was big enough to hide James and me until we were ready, but I couldn’t hold back: I sneaked a peek around its edges.
Every black wooden chair was filled, wine-red bows tied to their backs.
With Hannah occupied, James snuck another kiss. Cupping my cheeks in his hands, he pressed his lips to mine and lingered long enough to curb the energy buzzing through my veins. I let out a long exhale through my nose, settling my hands on his hips.
“Let’s do this,” he whispered when we pulled away.
Raleigh poked his head around the doors then, stealing my attention. “Ready?”
James and I shared a look and nodded at the same time. “We’re ready.”
Music started, the low twang and drawl of Rascal Flatts filling the space around us.
Before the doors opened, we peeked around the side, watching Raleigh push Evie down the aisle in her black Gothic stroller.
She couldn’t sit up on her own yet, but that didn’t stop Raleigh from helping her toss black silk petals to the blood-red runner.
With a smile, James and I took our places. I had insisted that we walk down together, rather than the traditional way of one by one. So when the doors opened and twenty sets of eyes turned our way, mine were on my vampire.
Slipping his hand into mine, he nudged me forward with his shoulder. “Let’s go.”
I didn’t need to look around at the faces in the crowd.
The person who mattered the most to me was holding my hand, and in just a few minutes, he would be my husband.
I trusted this man wholeheartedly. In such a short time, he’d become my whole world.
I’d never had a big circle of friends, I’d never needed one, but as James and I approached the altar—decorated with black and deep-red roses—I could finally admit to myself that I’d never stood a chance with him. He was my happy ending.
The music faded away when we reached the end of the aisle, and I turned to face my fiancé, taking both of his hands in mine.
I couldn’t have told you what the officiant looked like, nor what any of our guests were wearing: James was my sole focus.
He even had to nudge me to speak when it came time to exchange vows.
“You first, love.”
I shook my head to clear it and accepted the small card that Raleigh handed me—decorated with Evie slobber.
“No pressure,” I murmured, more to myself than to anyone else, but it earned some laughter from our guests.
“I never thought I’d settle down,” I began.
“To me, finding a lifelong partner was like seeing a unicorn: impossible. For years, I watched it happen to everyone around me, but I never thought it would happen for me. Turns out, all it took was my world being flipped upside down. I thought I’d miss the bachelor life, but now I couldn’t picture it any other way.
You’re the last thing I think about every night before I fall asleep, and the first thing I seek out when I wake up in the morning.
My days aren’t complete without you dancing around the kitchen in your underwear or arguing with Carlos when he won’t let you in the bedroom.
” More laughter, and a sparkle in James’s eye that meant I would pay for that Carlos comment.
It was worth it.
“There was a time in my life when it was just me, and I was okay with that. Then I met you, and you made me want to be the best version of myself that I could be. I love the way you slot into my life like you were made for it.” James’s lip twitched, catching onto the private joke: He had been made for me.
“I love the way you put up with my attitude, the way you seem to take every little thing thrown at you with a smile on your face. James, you’re one of the strongest and kindest men I’ve ever met.
I love the way you love me, and the way you love my daughter. ”
Somewhere near the back, Hannah hiccupped an emotional laugh.
“I can’t promise you perfection, but I can promise that I’ll try my best. I can promise you that you’ll never be alone. Everything that you’ve given me since the day we met, I’ll spend the rest of my life repaying you for. I love you.”
Mom sniffled from the front row, swiping her eyes and smearing her makeup. “Thanks for that, dear,” she said dryly.
“Maybe I should’ve gone first,” James said, clearing his throat and… Were those tears in his eyes? “That’ll be hard to follow.”
“I’m not worried.”
“Ryder, I knew the day that you walked into my bar that my life had changed forever. At the time, I didn’t truly realize exactly how, and discovering that would take me on a journey that I never expected, but one that I’ve loved just the same.
Every day is an adventure with you, and I’m so looking forward to the rest of our lives together.
There’s never a time with you where I feel bored, and it’s going to make our future one hell of a ride.
When you love, you love hard, and I’m so lucky to be on the receiving end of that.
Ryder Clark, I promise that as long as you’ll have me, I can be your rock.
I’ll be your shoulder to cry on, and your hand to hold to dance in celebration.
I’ll be your protector and your biggest supporter—forever. I love you, Ryder.”
“Shit,” Raleigh muttered behind me, sniffling.
Behind James, Angel swiped a tear away from his icy blue eyes.
I… carried myself away from the brink of tears by letting out a deep breath.
I was not going to cry.
“The rings, please?” the officiant asked. Raleigh handed over James’s tungsten band, and Angel gave James my silver one.
“I have a story about this for you later,” James muttered, but the ceremony continued before I could ask any questions.
“Repeat after me…”
And then the officiant’s voice faded out again. Once again, James was my sole focus.
“With this ring, I take you to be my husband. For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as we both shall live.”
As James slipped the silver band onto my finger, it felt like an electric shock zipped up my arm. The mark on my neck pulsed, and I resisted the urge to wince.
“I know,” James whispered, so quietly that I hardly heard him. “I’ll explain later.”
Shaking it off, I repeated the same phrasing and slid James’s ring onto his finger, smiling when I said, “As long as we both shall live.”
“Now,” the officiant started, “unless anyone has any objections—”
Apparently Evie did, because she let out a loud wail. Everybody laughed and Raleigh shushed her, but it took Angel stepping forward to take her into his arms for her to settle.
“That doesn’t count, right?” I joked, earning more laughter. I clenched the lapels of James’s jacket in my fists.
“By the power vested in me by the state of Nevada, I—”
The rest of the sentence was drowned out by cheers and clapping.
I kissed my husband like I’d never get the chance again.
One wasn’t enough. I went in for a second, third, fourth and fifth before I remembered that we had other matters to attend to.
Reluctantly, and with a quiet promise that I wasn’t finished with him, I peeled myself away, and with his hand in mine, led him to the seats that had been reserved for us.
He signaled to the officiant that we were ready and they shushed everyone as confused murmurs started up around us.
“It’s no secret that the love felt here today is strong and unwavering.
This love is shared with another important piece of Ryder and James’s story: Ryder’s daughter, Hannah.
Today, the grooms wanted that love to continue to flow to Hannah and Kian, as they pledge their love in front of all of you. ”
Kian approached the red and black flower arch, and another romantic cover song began playing.
This time when everyone stood, James and I joined them, rotating to see Hannah and Ben take their place at the start of the aisle.
Erin fussed over her daughter’s hair before stepping back.
Hannah’s eyes met mine, and before they took their first step, Hannah whispered something in her dad’s ear.
His eyes met mine then, and he smiled. Leaving Hannah where she stood, Ben rushed down the aisle—and directly to me.
Confused, my brows furrowed. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” Ben offered me a hand. “Hannah wants both of her dads walking her down the aisle.”
Oh, shit. My eyes stung, and my throat tightened.
Yeah. I was going to cry.