Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
“I can’t believe I’m about to be Mrs. Jake Lockwood.” There was a giddy lilt to Laurel’s voice.
Sitting in a small alcove doubling as a dressing room with Laurel and the rest of her bridesmaids, Britt could tell her friend was nervous.
It was cute, even though she didn’t have any reason to be.
Not a day had passed since those two had gotten together that Jake didn’t tell her, and anyone else who would listen, that he loved her.
Britt hated to admit it, but she used to be jealous of her friends. Having someone so head over heels in love with you… she’d always wondered what it would feel like. Except now that she and Linc had admitted their true feelings, she finally knew.
Magical. That was the only way to describe it. Her life with Linc by her side was going to be magical.
“Does that mean you’ve officially decided to take his last name?” Skye asked. “You know that will make you Laurel Lockwood, right?”
“Pretty sure she knows the basic concept of how that works, Skye,” Britt snarked. “I think it sounds great.”
“I love it,” Emery chimed in. “It sounds like a superhero name. Laurel Lockwood fighting crime and keeping the world safe.”
“One alliteration at a time,” Skye tacked on with a flourish.
Laurel giggled. “You guys are crazy.”
“If you have kids,” Jessa wondered, “are you going to keep up the tradition?”
“When they have kids,” Britt corrected. “This one was born to be a mother.”
“Oh, my heck! Let me get married first!”
“What tradition are you talking about?” Emery asked, applying a coat of lipstick and blotting with a tissue.
“J.K.L.,” Jessa explained. “All of us have J.K.L. as our initials. Well, except mom, but she wasn’t born a Lockwood; she married into it, like Laurel.” She pointed at her. “Though you do have the ‘L’.”
“Okay, you’re Jessa Kathryn.” Emery held up a finger, keeping count.
“Jake’s middle name is Kristopher, with a ‘K’.” Laurel supplied, prompting Emery to hold up a second finger.
“And Dad’s name was James Kenneth,” Jessa supplied. She and Jake had lost their father when they were six.
Emery held up a third finger even though she was frowning at Jessa. “But your uncle’s name is Pete. That’s not a ‘J’ name.”
“I meant in our immediate family,” Jess clarified.
“So, a recent, isolated tradition, then.” Skye cocked her head, like she was debating the legitimacy. “I guess that works, but personally, I like the superhero idea. Laurel Lockwood, Lindsey Lockwood, Levi Lockwood…”
“Not Levi!” Britt ordered.
“Oh, right,” Skye agreed. “You can’t name your son after Britt’s vibrator.”
Laurel choked on air. “What?”
Skye laid a hand on Laurel’s forearm and shook her head. “You don’t want to know.”
“I think you’re right,” Laurel admitted, eyeing Britt warily. “But we’ll deal with names if we get to the kid stage.”
Britt almost started laughing because there was literally no chance in this universe or any other where a grade-school teacher who loved kids as much as Laurel did, wasn’t going to have some. “When you get to the kid stage.”
“When,” Laurel confirmed without the slightest hesitation, hazel eyes sparkling.
A knock on the door interrupted the discussion, and Laurel’s father stuck his head into the room. “I think I have a date to walk someone down the aisle, if she’s ready.”
Laurel smiled softly, and out of nowhere, Britt got a little misty. Her daddy hadn’t walked her down the aisle when she and Linc had gotten married. Of course, even if he had, she might not have remembered it any more than she had the ceremony.
She loved Linc. She did, but by getting married in Vegas, she’d missed out on so many things she’d daydreamed about her entire life growing up.
It doesn’t matter. I have the guy.
That’s what was important, she reminded herself. She had Linc. The rest didn’t matter.
Still, when she walked down the aisle and saw him standing at the front with Jake and the rest of the groomsmen, that same melancholy hit her.
She forced it away and focused on Linc smiling at her.
He was looking at her with the softest expression…
like she hung the moon and the stars and every galaxy beyond.
That’s what mattered. Not a big, white dress and a four-tier cake.
Linc couldn’t take his eyes off Britt. Not throughout the wedding ceremony, nor when they walked down the aisle linked arm in arm afterward.
And now that the reception was in full swing, he still couldn’t stop staring.
She was so beautiful it hurt to look at her, but it was a pain he wanted for the rest of his life.
“What?” Britt asked after she caught him staring for the millionth time.
“Just thinking how gorgeous you are.” It was the same answer he’d given her every time she’d noticed him staring and commented. It also happened to be the truth.
She kissed him on the cheek. “You’re really good for my ego. You know that?”
“Just stating the facts.”
“Charmer.”
“Are you?” he asked. “Charmed, I mean.”
The look she gave him nearly made him come in his pants. “Why don’t you ask me when we’re alone later, and I’ll give you my answer then.”
“Should I do that before or after I bend you over the couch when we get home?”
She gasped and smacked his arm. “Linc! Someone could hear you.”
There it was. That little blush he’d come to love so much. It didn’t happen often, so every time he coaxed one out of her felt like winning the lottery. Zana never really used to blush around him, but he loved it every time she did now.
“I’m going to do that forever, you know.”
“What? Embarrass me in front of a room full of people?”
“Make you blush.” He leaned down to brush his lips against her ear. “Make you come.” The corner of his mouth pulled up at her soft intake of breath. “Make you mine.” He laced his fingers through hers and tugged. “Come with me.”
Heat flashed in her eyes. “We are not sneaking off to have sex at Laurel and Jake’s wedding,” she whispered harshly.
He tsk-tsked. “Honestly, Zan. The way your mind works.”
I love it.
“Then where are we going?”
“You’ll just have to wait and see.”
Jake and Laurel had chosen Wildhorse Ranch as their wedding venue, which was situated in what appeared to be an off-the-beaten-path area that actually was only a few miles outside of town.
Apparently, Jake had taken Laurel to see the wild horses that lived out past Murphy and the memory held a special place in their hearts.
The ceremony was performed inside a stylized barn that was classier than most wedding venues Linc had seen.
Set up in rows on either side of an aisle that led to a beautiful, flower-covered arch were satin covered chairs sporting big, baby blue bows tied around the backs.
Laurel had picked ice blue as their wedding color because it reminded her of Jake’s eyes.
The reception was outside in a spacious, grassy area surrounded by trees and overlooking the river.
The food was served buffet-style with large wooden tables hidden under a spread of bar-b-cue fare and choose-your-own-seating amongst a bunch of blue, cloth-covered tables scattered about with wildflowers and candles as centerpieces.
Laurel let Jake pick the cake, which was fitting.
He always used to say he went to weddings for the cake, although this time, it was definitely for the bride.
That didn’t stop him from choosing chocolate, however, though he did go with white frosting for Laurel’s dream aesthetic.
Zan’s favorite part was the miniature firefighter and schoolteacher figurines on top.
The entire wedding was beautiful in a simple, understated way that made you feel comfortable and welcome.
Linc was expecting the shindig Lacey was planning to be definitely more formal and off the charts Gone With the Wind-esque.
Whatever it was, as long as Zana was by his side, it would be perfect.
There was just one more thing he needed to do first.
Linc led Britt down the stone-covered path to the river. A few people were milling about by the water. Putting an arm around Britt’s waist, he steered her the other direction.
“Watch your step, Zan.” He helped her around an outcrop of roots spreading from a tall black cottonwood. Britt lifted the skirt of her bridesmaid dress so it wouldn’t get caught in the branches of the sandbar willows that were growing on the water’s edge.
Maybe I should have thought this through a little more.
Thankfully, Britt was wearing flats and didn’t have to navigate the terrain in heels.
Laurel was so short, all of the girls in her wedding party had opted for flats, so they wouldn’t completely tower over her in the photos.
No such luck with the guys. Jake was the shortest of the group, and he was still six-foot-one.
One more left turn through the trees and they arrived at their destination.
It was a little alcove he’d secretly set up earlier while Britt was getting ready with the girls.
Hidden amongst the trees, light sifted through the leaves to make criss-cross patterns on the purple plaid lap blanket he’d brought from home and laid out on the ground.
He’d also set up a little TV tray on the side.
Hey, he had to make do with what he could hide in the trunk of his car without Britt noticing.
She stopped walking and looked up at him. “Linc?”
“Stand here, Zan,” he instructed, moving her to the center of the blanket.
“What is?—?”
“Shhh.” He kissed her quiet. “Patience.”
She shook her head, but did as he asked and stood quietly where he’d placed her, a bemused grin on her pretty pink lips.
He made quick work of lighting the candles that rimmed the blanket. Each one was floating in a glass bowl of blue-colored water. They were actually part of the wedding decorations that he’d borrowed from the venue.
He really had borrowed them. He’d called ahead.
“Sorry these weren’t already lit,” he told her, “but I didn’t want to start a fire.”
“Probably a good plan. What are?—?”