Chapter 20
brONSON
As a shock to no one, my mother wanted a big-ass wedding.
She wanted everybody she ever met to show up and celebrate our union…
or less to celebrate our union and more to show us off.
And while I appreciated that it was my mother’s dream, it was not mine.
And the deeper we got into the planning trenches, the worse my dread of them became.
At first, I thought I’d go with it and let her plan the whole huge thing.
What harm was there in giving her the magical wedding she’d always envisioned for me?
But everything quickly got more complicated than that.
She made lists, arranged fittings, multiple cake testings, and tours of far more venues that I’d known existed in a half-hour radius of our home. I’d had enough.
Yes, I loved the idea of my mother accepting my mate fully and this was her way of showing it.
That was great, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.
But we didn’t need a big, fancy party with a thousand million gazillion people to see her acceptance.
And yes, I was feeling dramatic about the entire situation, but I was allowed.
I had quite a few more months where “hormones” was a complete excuse with no other explanation needed.
When I woke up this morning, my decision had been made. The wedding was off… at least that one. I still wanted to marry my mate. As much as I loved wearing his mark, I wanted to legally be tied to him too. Not only for myself, but also for our child. That was old-fashioned thinking, but so be it.
After getting dressed, I found Lincoln in the kitchen making us breakfast and announced, “We’re getting married today.”
“We’re what?” He set the spatula down. “Married?”
His response was fair. I’d sprung it on him.
“I don’t want to do the big wedding,” I said. “I don’t want to deal with my mother’s four thousand meetings with random people over details neither one of us will ever remember and that don’t matter even if we did. I just want to get married, kind of like how we just mated. It makes more sense.”
“I’m not turning you down, but... your mother. Would she be okay with that?” They’d gotten along really well after the whole flash mob engagement, and I thought he’d gotten past worrying about her. But then again, maybe he was worrying for me.
“Maybe. But it’s not her wedding.” I was going to stay firm on this. If I didn’t, it was going to keep chipping away at me, and that wasn’t good for my relationship with my mother or my baby.
“I know that.” He turned off the burner and put the pan to the side.
“I’m willing to get married right this second.
Not just willing. I’d love to. I’m already more committed to you than any piece of human paper could ever make me.
If you give the word, I’m there, after I put on a pair of non-pajama pants.
But I want you to know with certainty that you’re okay with this, for your mom. ”
I loved how Lincoln was always looking out for me. When he said that mates always came first, that wasn’t a figure of speech. He meant it. I tried to give the same back to him.
“I can’t do the big wedding. I just... I don’t want to. And there’s no talking her out of it. I hinted that we didn’t need to go to a cake tasting, that any cake would be fine, and she cried.”
And that had turned into adding three more bakeries to our list of places to try. I’d been to a bunch of weddings in my life, and I never once thought about how good or bad the cake tasted after the event was over. Why she put such value in it didn’t make any sense to me.
“What if we have her come?” he asked.
“You think she’s just going to show up to the courthouse and not throw a fit?” Because I had a very vivid image running through my imagination where she was being escorted out by the security guard after shouting that she had a reason why we shouldn’t get married.
“The courthouse might give her time to think... but we could take her to the new teahouse she’s been talking about. We can book one of their private gardens. Have it there.” Lincoln was the best. I’d never have thought of that.
“Doesn’t that take months?” The place had gone viral on social media, so my guess was they were still booked out for months.
“No… maybe. Let me see what I can do.”
Ten minutes later, my mate had a reservation for their smallest, most private garden for later this afternoon. He had also called in a favor with someone at work who was a justice of the peace and could marry us. All we had left to do was go to town hall and get our license.
“They open at ten,” he said. “Call your mom and invite her to tea. Tell her it’s the fancy kind with the gloves. She’ll love it.”
He was right about that. When I told her that we had a reservation in the garden for afternoon high tea and that a hat and gloves were required, she squealed, mentioned something about having to find something to wear, and got off the phone.
“Do you think your parents and brother would come too? Even though it’s a human thing?” It would make the event special without making it huge.
“I can call and ask.”
His family said they would “make it happen.” We were doing this, and I was excited about the actual ceremony for the very first time since my mom decided she was going to plan our big day.
If my mom came out of this mad about the way we did this, she could plan another wedding another time and I’d show up.
What I wouldn’t do was be a part of the planning process. It was far too stressful for me now as a pregnant omega, and I was sure doubly so when our little one was here. She could make all the arrangements and we’d show up. That was the best I could do for her.
Town hall was easy-peasy. We filled out a couple of papers, gave them some money, and were done. Once upon a time, there were waiting periods and blood tests and who knew what else. But now, you just paid and you were done with it. I liked it.
“Our family is coming in fancy attire, so we should probably pick some up for ourselves,” he said.
I wasn’t sure if his family would be as decked out as my mother, but that didn’t matter. They could come in shorts and a hoodie and I’d be just as happy to see them. Knowing they dropped everything for a ceremony that didn’t really mean anything to their kind was huge.
I groaned at the thought of getting new clothes.
I wasn’t huge yet, but I definitely wasn’t fitting into my own suits.
We went to the fancy suit store, and they had multiple outfits that fit me, to my surprise.
The man assured me it would be usable after my pregnancy with only minor alterations. I called it a win.
“We look good.” I stared at the reflection in the mirror as I stood next to my mate, wearing his own new suit.
“Better than good.” He took my hand in his. “So good, in fact, we should probably do something special, huh?” He tapped my nose.
“What about a wedding?” I teased. “We could get married.”
“Sounds perfect to me.”
The old man who had helped us was giggling in the background. He was apparently amused by us, even if he didn’t understand why we were spontaneously getting married on a random day.
My mom was already in the garden when we arrived, and true to form, she was dressed to the nines. My mate’s parents and brother were there only a few minutes later.
The atmosphere was perfect. It was private, the flowers in bloom, and it felt like we’d walked into a novel from days gone by. I loved it.
“Oh, don’t you two look handsome!” Mother said. “What’s the special occasion? Is there a birthday I missed?” She looked straight at my mate and then to his family.
“No, Mom,” Lincoln said. I loved it when he’d started calling her that recently. “We just thought it was a good day to get married.”
“We have the wedding all scheduled!”
I crossed over to her and took her gloved hands in mine. “Mom, I’m pregnant. I want to be married. We can talk about having the big wedding another time, but for now, I want to be married in front of the people who mean the most to us.”
To my surprise, she choked up, hugged me, and said, “Anything for you, Son, as long as you’re happy.”
The man Lindoln arranged to do the ceremony was already there, waiting in the wings. We said our vows with our family as our witnesses and followed it with the most luxurious high tea I’d ever seen. It was the perfect wedding, even my mother agreed.