Chapter 15
“How do I look?” I stood in front of the floor-length mirror in Uncle Chuck and Tae’s bedroom, taking it all in.
“I’m so glad we didn’t buy store-bought outfits and instead raided the bins at the thrift store in town.
” We’d managed to find old suits with vests and top hats.
It didn’t take much to muss them up and make them look really old, and we had fun doing it.
Everyone had a hand in getting me ready.
From applying the ghostly make-up to my face, which looked wicked cool.
They even added gray to my cheekbones to make them look sunken in and black around my eyes.
Daddy was supposed to dress similarly, but without using the same make-up artists, there was no way our faces would be exactly the same.
“I gotta give it to you, Trey,” Grandma said. “You took a normally stuffy day and made it into something fun.” She for some reason thought dressing as Little Bo Peep, leading the sheep, AKA me, down the aisle was funny. But she was so dang cute in that dress.
“Okay, we are totes adorbs,” Sasha said. He wore a beautiful long, shimmery pink gown and a crown. His make-up was perfectly applied, and honestly, he was gorgeous. “Hopefully my heels don’t sink in the ground.”
“True,” Tae added. My bestie best man decided to go as Olaf from Frozen.
He was so silly, but as Sasha said, totes adorbs.
Now Momma, every time I saw her, I went into a crazy fit of giggles.
She was the Mad Hatter, and she was decked out from head to toe, completely in character and talking in riddles.
“This is so much fun.”
“Time to get serious, boys,” only it was Momma who said it, so it was hard to do. “Esther, you have their rings, right?”
“Yes.” She held the familiar box up.
“The marriage license is by the cake. We can sign it right after the ceremony and cut the cake and sip some champagne,” Momma said.
“Or put a straw in the bottle and call it a night,” Grandma teased. Kinda…
“Alright, it’s time.” Momma, Tae, and Sasha blew kisses at me—we didn’t want to mess up our make-up—and left me and Grandma inside.
“Trey,” she began, and I knew I should’ve grabbed a tissue.
“I wish your parents could be here today with us. Life can be cruel, but then again, it can be so full of love like our newfound family is. You fell in with a wonderful group, and I couldn’t be happier to be a part of it.
I love you more than anyone in the world, and I’m glad you found your perfect forever Daddy. ”
“Grandma, don’t make me cry.”
“Pfft!” She waved her hand around. “Y’all make me cry all the damn time with your kindness.”
“That’s because we love you and all your silliness.”
“I’ll silly you, boy.” She winked. “Now, let’s go get you hitched.”
As soon as we heard the opening to Ed Sheerin’s song “Perfect”, we stepped outside and into my version of forever.
Daddy was the most handsome zombie ever, smiling wide at me as he stood beneath the trees we chose to get married beneath.
Uncle Chuck, oh my god, I had to stop and gather myself when I saw he was dressed as the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.
Even his face was painted. Goddess, how I loved these people.
Samian stood beside his beautiful princess dressed like the prince Sasha deserved. We already adored Sasha and hoped Samian held onto him. Grandma linked her arm through mine and walked me down the aisle to our awaiting family with Momma at the helm.
Grandma stopped beside Daddy and hugged me. “I love you, Trey.”
“I love you too, Grandma.” Then she went and stood with Samian and Sasha.
Tae stood beside me just as Uncle Chuck did with Daddy. Daddy took my hand, and we turned to face Momma.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better day for Oscar and Trey to get married, nor for a better family for them to be united in front of.
I’m honored to be a part of this blessed day on the magical land we now call home.
Oscar and Trey have written their own vows to one another. Oscar, would you like to begin?”
Daddy nodded and took a moment to gather himself.
“Trey, from the first day we met I knew you were someone special. Handsome, kind, and patient. A heart filled to the brim with so much love and compassion and one that until recently I hadn’t felt worthy of.
I’ll never take you or our love for granted, Trey.
You’re the gift others wait a lifetime for, and somehow, I was the lucky man you fell in love with.
I love you, Trey, today, tomorrow, and forever. ”
“Oh, Daddy,” I whispered, buying a bit of time to get my emotions under control before I even attempted to follow that.
“Trey, are you ready?” Momma asked. I nodded, though I wasn’t sure I’d get through my vows without crying.
“Daddy, the first time I saw you I knew you were the one. I watched how you were with your brothers, raising them on your own. They always came first and that just further cemented you into my heart. I knew my turn would come and patiently waited because every day with you was a gift. You’re the best man I know, a man I strive to do right by, and a man I will always do my best to deserve the love of. I love you, Daddy, now and forever.”
“Now, Oscar and Trey will exchange rings,” Momma said. “Oscar, repeat after me. I, Oscar, take you, Trey, to be my husband. I promise to love, cherish, and above all else put you first until I take my last breath.”
Daddy’s hand shook as he slid the ring on my finger. “I, Oscar, take you, Trey, to be my husband. I promise to love, cherish, and above all else put you first until I take my last breath.” Once the ring was in place, Daddy raised my hand and kissed the ring.
“Trey, repeat after me. I, Trey, take you, Oscar, to be my husband. I promise to love, cherish, and above all else put you first until I take my last breath.”
Okay, deep breath, Trey, you’ve got this.
I fumbled the ring and somehow managed to slide it over Daddy’s finger.
“Whew.” They all laughed. “I, Trey, take you, Oscar, to be my husband. I promise to love, cherish, and above all else put you first until I take my last breath.” Daddy smiled at me, and both of us had tears streaking our make-up, but we didn’t care. This right here, this was everything.
“By the power vested in me by the state of Arizona, I now pronounce you husbands. Oscar, Trey, you may kiss your husband,” Momma announced.
I couldn’t hear their claps over my wildly beating heart, but when Daddy took me in his arms and kissed me, it quieted my nerves and grounded me. Daddy always had a way of doing that.
“Dear family, I now present to you Mr. and Mr. Saavedra!”
Cheers and whistles surrounded us, and as we peeked around, we spotted half the town standing between the trees, all in costume.
Judy was the first to come over and congratulate us while someone else queued up “Monster Mash”.
A million hugs and handshakes later, the family retreated to Uncle Chuck’s to sign the marriage license and have cake and champagne.
When everyone had signed their life away, Uncle Chuck opened the champagne and passed around the glasses then held his in the air. “To Oscar and Trey, may your home always be filled with love and laughter. I love you, my brothers!”
“To Oscar and Trey!” The others said as we tapped our glasses together. After cake we changed but left our make-up on and joined the party outside.
“Congrats, Oscar and Trey.” Mayor Gil greeted us with a handshake as we stepped outside. “What a wonderful night and an equally as wonderful gift to our community having this grand gathering here.”
“Thank you, sir.” I wasn’t sure how to address him.
“None of that sir nonsense, please, Trey, call me Gil.” As soon as he started talking to Daddy and Uncle Chuck, Tae and I snuck away to join Sasha on the playground.
Kids were running all over, playing in the sand and on the swings, while others were giving the table games a try.
No matter if they won or not, everyone who tried walked away with a prize. Momma and Grandma made sure of that.
“You guys are so lucky,” Sasha said as he followed us along the overhead bridge. “You get to live here all the time and be yourselves.” We landed in the castle and hopped out.
“So do you, Princess.” Samian’s voice surprised us.
“Huh?” The three of us stopped and stared at him. “I don’t live here.”
“You will.” Samian hugged him. “After graduation, I’m going to work at Ashwood. Uncle Oscar and Uncle Chuck are building a cabin just for us.”
“Yay!” Tae and I cheered, but Sasha was crying. “Sasha, what’s wrong? Don’t you want to live up here with us?”
“You-you really want me to?” he stuttered.
“Of course we do,” Tae hugged him, “you’re our friend, and now we can play all the time and have sleepovers and stuff.”
“Really, Daddy?” His big blue teary eyes pleaded with Samian.
“Really, sweetheart. In fact, you can stay here now if you want, but Daddy has to finish his last semester of school before he can move.”
“I love it here, but I’d miss sleeping with my Daddy.”
“Don’t worry, Sasha,” Daddy said. “When your Daddy graduates, Trey and I will come down with a box truck and move you guys up here. There’s no way we’re missing his graduation.”
“Come on, boys.” Uncle Chuck held his hand out to Tae. “Let’s go play some games, get hopped up on too much sugar, and crash hard. Tomorrow, we took the day off so we can sleep in and be lazy.”
On the way to join the cornhole line, a young boy dressed as Fiona from Shrek stopped us. “I like your pretty pink dress,” he told Sasha.
“You do?” Sasha clearly hung around with the wrong people. He’d fit right in with us.
“Yes. I was a princess last year, so Mommy said I should pick a different costume this year. Do you like Shrek?”
“I love Shrek,” Sasha said, “And I love, love, love your Fiona costume!”
“Thank you. I’m gonna go swing now.” And that was it, he said what he had to say and moved on. Kids were funny that way, but Sasha was all smiles.
The first table we stopped at gave us trick-or-treat buckets to put our goodies into.
We went table to table, filling them up, then switched to the games.
Bobbing for apples washed off most of my make-up, but I got a yummy apple treat, so I didn’t mind.
Daddy and I beat Tae and Uncle Chuck at Cornhole, but Sasha and Samian beat us in the next game.
By the time the burgers and hot dogs were ready, we were starving.
It was fun, looking around at all the costumes and people having a good time.
I hoped Daddy and Uncle Chuck would do this more often.
We had plenty of space for people to hang out; maybe they’d make it an annual Halloween party place.
Around eight, the party wound down, but everyone was respectful and all the trash was placed in the cans we put out, and their areas were cleaned up. As expected, they ended up selling all of the picnic tables, including the four they’d wanted to keep, with orders for several more.
Our found family had seeped into a found town.