Chapter 17
Sutton
“You ready for this?” I ask Case from where I’m leaning against his bedroom doorframe.
He meets my eyes in the floor length mirror he’s standing in front of, soothing a hand over his gray tie that matches my own.
In his gaze I see peace and absolute certainty. But most importantly, there’s happiness.
“I was ready months ago,” he replies, smooth as butter and unequivocally honest.
I felt the same way when I told Blair I’d wait however long it took for her to believe she’s my One. I thought I’d be a mess, but I’m so sure about her–about us.
I’ve been conscious of giving her the space and time she needs to wrap her head around the whole ‘you’re my reward from the mountain’ revelation. There’s also been no chance of getting time alone with her since Mom and Cap and all the other guests for the wedding arrived yesterday.
“Have you talked to her yet?” he asks, reading my thoughts.
I shake my head. “Not about that. I’m not goin’ to push.”
A smirk tugs at his mouth. “Considerin’ you waited years to talk to her for the first time, I guess a day or two isn’t that long really.”
“Enough about me. Today is for you, Isla, Will, and Birdie. Not about my drama.”
Case turns to face me. “One, this isn’t drama. If you recall, you and I went on a road trip after I told Isla about the Call and I was a bit of a mess the whole time.”
I hold my fingers up in the air. “Just a little bit.”
He laughs. “You were there for me when I needed you just like I’ll always be here for you.”
“And look at you now.”
“Exactly. In an hour or so, I’m marryin’ the love of my life.” He stares at me in disbelief. “Did you ever imagine it would happen?”
Closing the distance between us, I stop in front of him and cup his shoulder. “Never had a doubt, little brother.”
“Minutes, Sutt. Minutes.”
“Still younger than me,” I laugh.
“I never imagined bein’ this happy.”
“Believe me, I feel it.”
“One day you’ll know what this is like. I’m ready to start the rest of my life with Isla by my side,” he says. “And just like you’re doin’ for me, one day I’ll be the one standing by you as you pledge your love to Blair.”
“Yeah…”
“Sutt.” He taps my chest with the back of his hand.
“When you know, you know. You wouldn’t have told her about the Call and how you feel without being absolutely sure that Blair is yours just as much you’re hers.
She’ll know too, but it takes time to wrap your head around the prophesy.
” I nod, emotion rendering me speechless.
“If it isn’t my two favorite boys,” Mom says, walking in to join us.
“Heard that!” Jude yells from the living room.
“I did too,” Will replies from somewhere else in the house. “You said you don’t have favorites?”
Mom’s eyes twinkle as she holds her finger up to her lips and says “shh” before turning her head to call out to our brothers. “I don’t.”
Case and I chuckle, both of us holding our arms out to pull her into a three-way hug.
“I’ve just been talkin’ to your lovely lady, Sutt. She’s amazin’. So intelligent and thoughtful. I can’t imagine givin’ up everythin’ for six months to come here and change the hospital and yet, that’s exactly what she did.”
“Yeah. She’s pretty awesome,” I say.
“She was askin’ me all about our family and growin’ up. You two had a similar upbringin’, I hear.”
A snort escapes me. “Except I didn’t grow up on a potato farm in Idaho, Mom.”
“No, but you’re both from big families. You had this ranch every Summer. You’re both ambitious and givin’ and thoughtful. She’s beautiful too.” She’s not wrong, about any of it. “Have you told her about… you know…”
“She’s processin’,” Case replies. “Sutton’s givin’ her space.”
“Oh no. That lovely woman doesn’t need space, son. She needs reassurance and security. She needs to know that while she’s wrappin’ her head around this big ol’ soulmate bombshell, you’re still goin’ to be there.”
“I told her that, Mom. I’m not goin’ anywhere,” I say, meaning those words now more than ever. “She’s it for me. She’s been that since I first laid eyes on her at college and didn’t even know her name. I just didn’t know what it meant back then.”
Mom’s glassy gaze roams over my face as a soft smile curves her lips. “There’s my boy. I knew that once you found your soulmate, you’d be all in with her.”
“I am,” I say, stronger this time, believing it to the depths of my soul. “She still has a lot of thinking to do though. She didn’t move here to live, Mom. She has her life to go back to.”
She stares at me intently. "Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.”
“Rosevelt?” I reply.
“Yep.” She reaches up and musses my hair. “Don’t go into this thinkin’ that it won’t all work out. The mountain has never got it wrong. And I can guarantee you right now, son, she’s not about to start with you.”
“Thanks, Mom.”
She switches her last-minute hair adjustments to Case who just laughs at her. “Now, I’ve already given Will my speech and now it’s time for yours.”
Case puffs out his chest. “OK, hit me with it.”
“It’s pretty straightforward. I just want to say that I’m so proud of the man,” she looks over at me, “the men you’ve both become and the women you’ve chosen to call your own.
” She lifts her hands to cradle Case’s jaw.
“Enjoy today, commit every single moment of it to memory–every word, every kiss, dance, all of it. This is your reward and hers. Love each other fiercely, never go to bed still in a fight–unless it’s the good kind–and know that from this moment forward, everything you do is with and for one another. OK?”
Case nods and I’m filled with hope that one day in the future, I’m the one standing here getting the same Mom speech on my wedding day.”
As long as it takes
I stand next to Case in front of our family and friends, my palms feeling clammy and my heart trying to do its own impression of the Kentucky Derby in my chest. I look over to where Blair’s sitting next to my parents in the front row.
She looks absolutely breathtaking in her floral sundress and straw hat, her tanned legs looking like they go on for miles.
I’m finding it hard to look away from her and focus on my job as Case’s best man.
The moment her eyes lock with mine, they soften, her gentle gaze instantly washing away any bad thoughts I might have. I search for any sign of how she’s feeling–or what she’s thinking–but because her smile is warm and her body language relaxed, I can’t really tell anything.
She doesn’t look away though, not until she drags her gaze down my body and back up again. That’s when I see her lips curve up on one side as the warmth turns to blazing heat.
“Hi,” I mouth.
“Hi,” she mouths back.
It’s then I know my heart is hers and I’ll give everything I’ve got until I know hers is mine too.
The soft sounds of Pachelbel’s Canon in D major fill the air and everyone stands, breaking the moment.
All eyes turn to the front of the ranch house Case’s bride to be is being led toward the makeshift aisle by her mom, Jessica.
Isla’s wearing a white wedding dress that hugs her body until her hips then falls down to the ground.
Her brown hair is gathered into a loose bun with a few strands framing her cheeks with her sheer white veil sweeping over top.
There’s no missing the huge smile on her face or the fact she only has eyes for my twin.
Birdie and Pete follow behind. Birdie wears a beautifully simple white sun dress made from a floaty material that catches in the light breeze as she walks. Her blonde hair is gathered over one shoulder in a sea of soft curls with a flower crown on top of her head.
“Damn,” Case whispers, totally besotted.
“Damn ain’t enough of a word,” Will growls for our ears only, making me smile.
I close my eyes for just a moment and say a silent thanks to Gramps. He’d love that two of his grandsons are going to pledge their love, lives and everything they have to their soulmates. Even more so that they’re doing it on the mountain he gave to us.
Once the brides are delivered to each of their grooms, Jessica and Pete both move to stand in front of their respective couples.
Birdie and Isla wanted each of their parents to officiate their ceremony. Thirty minutes online later, Jessica and Pete were ordained and ready for the ‘honor’ of each marrying their only children.
“We’re gathered here today, in front of beloved family and friends, to join Birdie and Will, and Isla and Case, in holy matrimony,” Pete begins.
Jessica speaks next, reading an excerpt from The Magic of Love by Helen Steiner Rice.
“Love is like magic, and it always will be, for love still remains life’s sweet mystery.,”
I glance over at Blair. Just the sight of her has my heart thumping against my ribs. How did I wait my whole life to feel this?
I want this—what my brothers have. What the mountain wants all of us to have.
Whatever comes our way from this day forward doesn’t matter, as long as we do it together.
“Now, let’s get this show on the road and get these soulmates married, shall we?” Pete says, before reading through the vows.
When Will says, “I do,” rushing the words out before he’s even prompted, everyone chuckles.
When Case shouts “I do too,” I nudge him with my shoulder and call him a dork under my breath.
When Birdie reads out the vows she wrote for Will, I swear there’s not a dry eye on the ranch, especially when she talks of knowing she’d met the other half of her soul the moment she tripped over a sofa right in front of him at the furniture store.
Isla is the last to say her vows to Case.
“When I was tryin’ to find the words that would even come close to conveyin’ just how important you are to me, I couldn’t put the pen to paper.
That’s because everythin’ I feel for you is bigger than words.
It’s more than a feelin’, it’s knowin’. Wherever I am, you’ll always be.
Whatever happens, you’ll be there. Where you go, I will go, even if it means chasin’ you.
” Laughter fills the air while Case and Isla gaze at each other like no one else exists.
“You’re the other half of me. My soulmate.
My One. My reward. I can’t wait to spend every day fallin’ more in love with you for the rest of my life. ”
That’s when Case breaks the rules and grabs hold of his almost-wife, dipping her back and kissing her like she’s the very air he needs to breathe.
“Well now, it looks like someone’s in a hurry to get to the end of the ceremony,” Pete jokes, earning a healthy blush from Isla and my brother when they come up for air.
“Sorry, not sorry,” Case says by way of a non-apology. “There’s no way I couldn’t kiss her after hearin’ that.”
“Duly noted, Cayson,” Jessica murmurs, her beaming smile full of pride.
“Now, how ‘bout we get to the rings,” Pete announces.
Will and Case turn and look at me, since they both gave me the job of looking after them.
I look over at Jude, who nods at Wyatt. Wy walks off the platform we’re all standing on and moves to the back of the congregation before disappearing from sight.
“Sutt,” Case whispers under his breath. “What’s goin’ on.”
“Jude and Wyatt have a surprise for y’all,” I tell him, pleading with my eyes for him to let this happen. I offer up a silent prayer to the sky that this doesn’t go as wrong as most things do when a certain animal is involved.
Wyatt reappears a moment later, a leather lead in his hand clipped on to a halter on Grumps’s head. The donkey’s ears perk up as he—somewhat calmly—walks beside Wy. Around his neck is a white collar with a small bag attached, which is where I’m guessing the rings are stored.
Sounds of delight and glee hit my ears as all the guests watch the unique ringbearer being led down the aisle toward us.
“Oh god,” Will groans.
“He’s so cute!” Birdie says, clapping excitedly.
“I don’t have a good feelin’” Case says my way.
“Best wedding ever,” is Isla’s reaction.
I'm almost ready to breathe out a sigh of relief when it happens.
Wyatt missteps and trips over his feet. He jerks on the leash as he does, which startles the donkey. Mom gasps, Cap snorts, and it’s then that chaos ensues.
Grumps launches into a gallop straight toward the wooden platform where we’re all standing, only diverting at the last minute to make a beeline toward the barn.
Wyatt shouts at me to stop him just as the leash flies loose. On instinct, I jump down to stop Grumps, stupidly putting myself smack bang in the middle of his escape route.
The only thing on my mind is grabbing the rings and saving the wedding–and the day. Crouching down, I throw my arm out, aiming for the leash or the bag with the rings.
Forgetting that Grumps is stuck in fight or flight mode, I don’t have time to brace myself before he barrels straight into me, knocking me to the ground just as I hook my fingers into the bag at his throat.
I crash to the ground, earning a hoof to my shoulder as he literally tramples over me. My head hits the ground, my ears ringing from the impact and my vision filling with stars as gasps and cries fill the air.
“Ow,” I grind out as I lay flat on my back and stare up into the bright blue Alaskan sky.
As I get my wits about me, I gingerly turn my head just as Blair, Mom, Cap, and both happy couples rush to my side.
Then I see it, the bag holding the rings clenched tight in my fist.
That’s when I smile, forgetting what I may or may not have injured, and groan as I lift my arm in the air, the saved rings clutched tightly in my hand. “Got them!”