Chapter 43
Chapter Forty-Three
LEVI
Iwatch Stevie from across the fire while I sit down and talk to her dad. As if on cue, she senses me and smiles, still speaking to my grandma and Jenn.
Her dad is telling me about the culinary school near Driscoll, but I’m only paying enough attention to react here and there. He’s too tipsy to notice anyway.
My wife looks away and back at Gran when she says something that makes her laugh loudly.
I touch the gold band around my ring finger.
I was never a jewelry type of guy, except for my piercing and a necklace here and there, but still, anything on my hands or wrists felt wrong.
But this piece? This one feels like it was always meant to be there.
Stevie and I woke up relaxed in each other’s arms. We healed something in each other last night, and it only confirmed what I already knew.
We’re enough. Whether we have a kid or not, she and I are enough, more than enough.
Today was a celebration of that and everything that brought us here.
So, yeah, everything was perfect. From the moment the girls whisked Stevie away after breakfast to get ready, until the second I saw her walking down the aisle in her white dress.
It’s formfitting, yet loose enough to allow her to move and dance properly.
It has lacy bell sleeves and, true to Stevie form, instead of a veil, she’s wearing a lavender-colored headband decorated with white butterflies.
I’d only ever seen Stevie wear something with a butterfly on it once, and when I asked her why she decided to wear it today on the headband, I wasn’t expecting the answer she gave me.
“They represent hope, peace, harmony, transformation, and a fresh start. I think we need all those things after the past couple of months.”
I tried not to cry when I saw my beautiful girl walking toward me, but it was fucking useless.
My wife looks over her shoulder again. She can always tell when I’m near her or just thinking about her.
“Hey, dude,” I hear Jake say from my side.
Sending Stevie a quick wink, I look at my best friend. “What’s up?”
“It’s in the trunk. Want to set it up now?”
I rub my hands together. “Hell yes.” Turning to Stevie’s dad, I let him know that I’m setting up a surprise for his daughter.
Jake and I escape through the side of the house and reemerge in the driveway where his BMW is parked.
He opens the trunk to the perfect keyboard I got for Stevie.
The one she had at home broke last year, and she didn’t play for months after her diagnosis.
To hell if I’m going to have her at our apartment without one.
The night we spent with Cameron’s cousin, Ethan, at his tattoo shop is when I saw her play for fun for the first time since we got together, and I’ve been saving up for this exact present since then.
The wedding set me back big time, but it’s all worth it. Especially since my gran had a secret savings account for my wedding, and so did Stevie’s dad for her. We only ended up paying for the rings and clothes ourselves.
“Eeee, she’s going to love it!” A shriek sounds from behind us.
Both of us jump and turn to find Em clapping excitedly as her light purple dress follows her movements. Kami stands beside her, shaking her head, sporting the same dress that Em is wearing. Both were bridesmaids while Jenn was Stevie’s maid of honor.
“Fuck, I’m going to go deaf one of these days if you keep doing that,” Jake spits out.
She scoffs. “You need to chill.” Em turns to me. “When did you buy it? Wait, why didn’t you bring me with you to buy it?”
Jake rolls his eyes. “Let’s leave Levi alone, come on.” He grabs her arm and drags her to the backyard. She tries hitting him and telling him to let her go. Jake lets out a frustrated breath, and I can hear him whisper, “He’s already nervous. Don’t make it worse.”
Em relaxes and looks back at me. Whatever she sees must convince her that Jake’s right. I am nervous, but excited for what I have planned.
“Fine. We’ll see you guys in the back.” With that, Jake lets her go, and they walk away.
Kami comes up next to me and lifts the case from the other side. “Let’s finish setting this up.”
We both walk toward the yard, keyboard and guitar in hand.
“You look happy,” my best friend states.
A smile escapes me. “I am. I really fucking am.”
Kamila lets out a happy sigh. “I’m so happy you guys have each other, and if you ever need to talk about…” She trails off.
My shoulders relax. “I know.” Kami smiles and lifts the box a little higher. I think about last night again, and how I felt during the ceremony. “I just feel a sense of…”
“Peace?” she finishes.
Laughing, I hum my agreement. “You feel it with Cam?”
She grins next. “Every day.”
“Even when he annoys the hell out of you, and you fight?”
She snorts. “Especially then, because I know whatever we face, it’ll be together. Plus, the make-up sex is great.”
Our steps grow closer to where everyone is in the back. “Oh, I bet.”
“Advantages to everything, my friend.” Kami smiles devilishly as we set the case down near the fire. “Here?”
“Yep.”
The voices grow louder behind us, and I can feel her eyes on me once the keyboard and the stand are out of the case.
“Levi? Is this what I think it is?”
Clicking the final stand into place, I do a one-eighty and see my wife lit by tea lights and the fire behind her. Her mouth, along with her eyes, is wide open.
Fucking beautiful.
I take a step forward and close her jaw with a finger. “Do you like it?”
Her head rears back. “Do I like it?”
She wraps her arms around me and brings me in for a long kiss.
She makes the colossal mistake of parting her lips, and images of us in her bedroom in the house after taking our wedding photos flash in my mind.
I remember the way she trembled while I was on my knees, then she went on hers until I lifted her and slammed her onto the bed with her ass in the air—
Stevie breaks the kiss. “I can feel you getting hard through your suit.” She slaps my chest and gives me a warning.
I nip her bottom lip and chuckle. “Can you blame me, Bambi?”
Her cheeks flush slightly. “Later,” she whispers, and gives me a quick peck. “Not that I don’t love this gift and will be bothering you constantly with my playing at home—”
“Your playing will never bother me.”
She bites the inside of her cheek. “Why are you setting it up now?” she finishes.
Bending down, I unlatch the case and take my acoustic guitar out. “We’ve never sung and played together. Just the two of us.”
Stevie looks behind her and then back at me. She’s worried and hesitating. I thought she’d be comfortable doing this with me by now.
“If you don’t want to…” I squat down to put my guitar back in its case.
Her hand grabs my shoulder. “Of course I want to. I was only trying to come up with an idea of how to tuck these huge sleeves back.” I chuckle and stand up.
“Seriously, it might look great, but I almost dipped them in the cake frosting earlier.” She shrugs, her green eyes lighting up. “But eh, I’ll manage.”
Squeezing her ass while no one’s looking, I invite everyone to gather around the fire to face us and set up chairs next to each other.
We pause, and I look down at my guitar, then at her piano.
“Fuck, I didn’t pick a song.” I run a hand through my hair. What kind of idiot forgets this? Probably one who was too excited about his wedding to think about it.
“I have one in mind.” She plays around with the keyboard, learning where all of the buttons are for everything.
Stevie finally settles on a volume and tone she likes before telling me the name of the song.
“‘Die With A Smile.’” Her head tips to the side.
“I’ve heard you play it around the apartment. ”
I let out a deep exhale. “It’s perfect.”
My wife smiles widely. “You do know that you’re going to have to sing as much as I have to, right?”
“Yes, Bambi, I know,” I deadpan.
“What’s the holdup?” Gran asks from the seats.
“Mom, give them a second.” My mom mouths sorry to me and Stevie.
We laugh before I count us down. I start singing first and play.
Stevie joins in with the piano, and I didn’t realize till the end of the first verse how much I’d be singing by myself.
There’s a moment where I start to feel nervous; that is, until I meet a pair of green eyes that are already looking into mine.
She nods once, silently telling me to keep going, and everything around us disappears.
The rest of the song continues that way, and when she joins in, I get lost in her. We’re back where we were on Valentine’s Day, but now it’s so much better. I should’ve known back then. I knew there was something, but I was stupid enough to think it was strictly physical attraction.
Damn, she’s amazing. She pushes me in ways I didn’t know I needed. She’s brave, talented, and the most caring person I’ve ever met.
Now she’s my wife. My forever. And I’m the luckiest motherfucker in the world for it.