34. Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Four
Mac
“I don’t think my eyes can take another dance—” Em swiped fresh tears, all traces of makeup gone after the mother of the groom dance.
I brushed my thumb across her cheek, catching a stray one she missed. “Me either.”
My eyes were raw, too. Alicia and Sebastian danced alongside Rachel and me. When I asked Em’s mom, I braced myself for a no, but I had to ask. She no longer had Rob, and I didn’t really have my mom anymore. We both had something the other was missing. We might not have been the best of friends—yet—but we could do that one thing for each other.
I was glad I asked. It felt like a solid step toward repairing our relationship. Rachel and I had spent most of the dance gushing over how beautiful Em looked in her dress and how perfect her dance with Jason had been.
I couldn’t wait until that was me twirling my own little girl on the dance floor at her wedding. The other two thought I was impatient, but if they were married to them, they would be too.
I wanted Emily pregnant with our baby the second I knew I was committed to her, and the only thing now was to wait for her to be ready. The second she was ready, I was all in. Hopefully it would line up with an off season so we could stay in bed until we saw those two pink lines.
She nudged her chin toward Bash. “I had Julie print the paperwork we submitted—”
“It’s here?”
She nodded, her cheeks pink and perfect as she radiated the joy we both felt over this decision. We never wanted Bash to feel like he was any less a part of this relationship because our names were the ones on the certificate and we didn’t want to feel disconnected from him, so we had come up with the perfect solution. The hardest part had been filling out paperwork while he slept last night. For the first night in forever, he wasn’t ready for bed before me.
But he eventually fell asleep, and we put our plan in motion. I was thankful we hadn’t waited and had something to give him today.
“Where are the papers?”
Em pointed to the door. “In a bag under that table.”
My stomach twisted, and I pursed my lips, steadying my breathing. “Will he hate it?”
Em shook her head and looped her arm through mine. “Nope. Let’s go get it and sneak off to the storage room—”
“I like the way you think, Pink.”
She smirked and pulled me over to Bash, standing on her toes to reach his ear. “We need to show you something.”
He followed us without question, not talking until we shut the door behind us.
Taking the packet, he frowned. “What’s this?”
“Read it,” Em urged.
“Emily Eliza Bardot . Michael Alexander Bardot .” His voice cracked, and he stared at the paper that showed our petition to change our names.
None of us were breathing.
He stared.
And stared.
I was nervous.
As nervous as I had been when I first admitted I had fallen for him. And my stomach twisted, ready to tell him we didn’t have to do this if he didn’t want it. If we were overstepping.
“Bash?” Em whispered.
Bash lifted his eyes, tears spilling down his cheeks. “You changed your names. For me?”
“We’re a family,” I choked out. “Now the whole world will know.” But I didn’t want him to think it was just because of rumors or potential scandals. “And more importantly, we all know.”
“Thank you,” he whispered, his fingers bruising my hips as he pulled me against him and reached for Em.
“We better go back out before everyone thinks we’re doing something in here—”
I put my finger on Em’s lips. “How about we do something in here and prove them right?”
“Alright, Savage.” Bash’s eyes flared as he licked his bottom lip. “Who gets our wife first?”
Em’s squeals were definitely loud enough for anyone walking by to hear. Bash grumbled about needing to be quieter.
But I just grinned, loving that they were both mine.