Epilogue
Valentine’s Day.
Who would have thought we could pull it off, but he pulled out all the stops. With Mom and Noelle on board, they were a force to be reckoned with.
The tiny room in the narthex of the church, the room customarily set aside for the bride to take a few quiet moments with her father before heading down the aisle, was like Grand Central Station.
The only ones not packed into the room with me were Max and Daire.
With Hunter cradled in one arm, Hawkley reached for my hand and drew me close. “Harley, this happened so fast. Are you sure? I can whisk you out of here right now.”
I snorted out a laugh. “Better not let him hear you say that.”
Hawkley grimaced. “I know. I’m sorry. I just had to make sure.”
Like me, he was protective of the sibling he had left. I got it. I ran my hand over Hunter’s silky head, before smiling into Hawkley’s stormy eyes. “Thank you. I love you. I’m sure.”
He swallowed hard as he nodded and turned away.
Mom placed a soothing hand on his back, her gaze on me glossy. “Darling girl,” she breathed. “You are breathtaking.”
Nerves I didn’t know I had unknotted. The tension in my shoulders eased. And I smiled at my mom.
Turning to Hawkley, she hooked her hand into his elbow. “You have one job, son, and that’s to get me to my seat. Let’s get this show on the road.”
Noelle beamed at me as she gathered up our bouquets and handed me mine.
“I’ll give you and Dan a few minutes. I’ll see you on the flipside.”
The door closed with a quiet snick, leaving me with my big, cuddly, bear of a father.
He stood with his hands lightly fisted at his sides, his eyes soft on my face.
Then he spoke.
“To me, you’ve always seemed larger than life. I think Hunter saw you the same way. You amaze me. You always have.”
I sniffed and took a deep breath.
“I’m not going to make you cry, Harley, but there are times in a father’s life where he has to speak. And this is one of those times.
My voice locked in my throat, but I nodded for him to continue.
“You were so tiny, the tiniest newborn I’d ever seen.
Babies usually get bigger with every pregnancy, but you barely tipped the scales at five pounds.
I remember standing outside the nursery, seeing you surrounded by babies almost twice your size.
And your little voice, louder than every other baby in that room. I knew then you were a fighter.
“And you are.
“I hold two Harleys in my heart. The first is that tiny, five-pound newborn baby I would have laid down my life for. Still would. Always will. Even though you don’t need me to be your champion anymore, it’s a role I will never give up. In many ways, you will always be my baby.
“Then there’s the other Harley, the one I’ve watched grow with bated breath into the beautiful woman you are. I’m so proud of you. Mom told me a bit about what you’ve been struggling with. I want you to know. To me, you’ve always been ten feet tall.”
A small sob parted my lips, but the panicked look on my Dad’s face turned it into a laugh. We rolled out of that room together, the top of my head barely reaching his shoulder, fueled by our laughter.
Looking up, I met Daire’s eyes.
His smile faded away to nothing.
His love for me stark and raw on his handsome face.
“That man loves you the way you deserve to be loved. It’s a pleasure to give you to him.” Dad patted my hand resting in his elbow. “Let’s get up there and put him out of his misery.”
She was too small to be noticeable when I walked down the aisle, but she was there, nestled in my womb, held like the most precious secret between his heart and mine. One that sparkled in his happy eyes every time our eyes met.
Face-to-face on the altar, we beamed at each other.
Noelle stood on my left, Max on Daire’s right, and Hawk held Hunter in the front row between my parents on one side, Ashley and John on the other.
The band Daire slipped over my knuckle was a surprise, studded with diamonds, a promise of eternity.
For a man not given to material things, the ring he settled on sparkled more than the stars in the sky.
We danced the night away and ate far too much cake.
Max caught my garter, holding it in the air like a trophy. Anita’s niece Taryn, who was new in town, caught the bouquet.
Daire and I were the first to leave.
Daire had moved into my place as soon as we returned from Greece, and immediately began searching for the perfect house for us.
Which we moved into two months after the wedding.
Six months after that, Cami burst into the world with the wise eyes of her father, a big mouth like her mother, and a perfectly respectable sized head on her tiny frame, no sign of the big-headed Bennett baby gene.
The Grand Central Station scene of the wedding didn’t hold a candle to the three-ring circus that was Cami’s birth.
If Daire was the high-on-life, seemingly inebriated conductor, Noelle was the lion tamer. And yes, that made Hawkley the lion, the perfect counterpoint to my dad’s dancing bear and Max’s clown.
Finally, the nurse kicked everybody out.
Daire, completely beside himself, followed them out until I called him back.
“Wife! Where are you?”
I shook my head but could not help but smile. You would think we invented marriage, and I was the first wife to ever exist, for all his love of the word.
“In the bedroom,” I called back, thankful Cami wasn’t sleeping.
“How are my girls?” he asked softly as he rounded the corner into our bedroom.
My heart skipped a beat then pitter-pattered gently along at the sight of his handsome face.
“We’re good,” I assured him. “Was it ready?”
“It is,” he replied softly.
“How does it look?”
All my bits and pieces? I dropped them off to Rachel at Artitude. She told me to trust her to come up with something I’d love.
“It’s breathtaking, Harley. She made a light-catcher mobile for Cami’s window.”
“Oh,” I exclaimed, a tiny sob hitching my breath. How perfect.
He paused by my side of the bed and dipped to kiss me. “It’s perfect, little spitfire. You’ll love it.”
Reaching out one long finger, he tucked it into Cami’s tiny fist and lay down on her other side. Laying his head on his pillow, he looked at me over top of her head and smiled.
“Hey little one.”
I smiled. “Hey yourself.”
“How are my boobies?”
I scowled. “Sore.”
“I brought you some ointment.”
I slanted him a sideways look. “You’re not rubbing it on.”
He laughed. “Can’t wait to get my mouth on those.”
I smirked. “Get in line.”
“Three weeks,” he mused. “And I still can’t believe it.”
“She’s pretty miraculous,” I agreed. “Are Ashley and John here?”
He nodded. “They’re settling into the cabin Dan and Lou arranged for them. They’re going to clean up a bit, have a nap, and then they’ll make their way over.”
Ashley cried when we called to tell her she had a granddaughter, then cried harder when Daire told her we named her after his dad.
So did Daire.
I may have shed one or two.
“Can I do anything for you?”
I widened my eyes, indicated the baby between us, my aching breasts, and circled the vicinity of my hoo-ha. “Haven’t you done enough?”
He grinned. “So sassy now that I can’t teach you a lesson.”
“I look forward to it, Professor.” I laughed then reassured him, “I don’t need a single, solitary thing. What we have here, us, her, is more than I ever dreamed of.”
“You’re going to have all the dreams, Harley, all the dreams you can possibly imagine. And I’m going to be the one to give them to you.”
He reached across our baby to touch my cheek. “All you have to do is let go.”
The End.