35. Lara
Raquel adjusts her suit as the makeup artist finishes up my face. I’ve asked for full glam, unlike my normal natural makeup. I want to knock Rory’s socks off.
“Are you nervous?”
“Oddly enough, yeah. A little.” I twist a curl around my finger.
The hairstylist left my hair down, with ringlets framing my face.
“Don’t mess with it,” Paige snaps, waddling over to scold me.
I would laugh and tell her she looks like a duck, but she’ll probably bite my head off. She’s been so grumpy through the last few weeks of her pregnancy.
“Well, there’s no reason to be nervous,” Raquel says, and I turn to smile at her. “Rory’s gonna love how pretty you look.”
I pick at the bodice of my dress.
I’m wearing Ma’s wedding dress. We were both tall and trim, so it only had to be altered mildly. It’s the most beautiful dress I’ve ever seen, small sequins littering the bodice and a big hoop skirt. I love the way I can sway in it and feel like I’m a bell.
I let out a long breath as Paige and Raquel make their way down the aisle to stand next to Bree and my other bridesmaids. I watch as the double doors close behind them.
We’ve chosen a venue downtown for the wedding, an old speak-easy that was built at the turn of the twentieth century. It’s decked out with my favorite flowers–lilies and roses, all picked from Rory’s mother’s greenhouse.
Rory decided to stay in the mansion after he inherited the estate and the money. Everything else, he handed over to Bree. He was looking for an accountant position in town.
In the end, he couldn’t bear to sell the house he’d grown up in, to get rid of all the physical reminders of his mother. And I couldn’t be happier. I get to be with Rory but also be near my family.
I hear a faint cry and smile, knowing that’s probably my nephew crying, angry that he hasn’t gotten his lunch. He was born just three weeks ago, and Declan looked flustered but happy when they arrived at the venue earlier.
My father meets me at the end of the aisle, tears in his green eyes.
“You look so much like your Ma. So beautiful.” He takes my hand and brings my knuckles to his lips.
I smile brightly, fighting tears. “Da, don’t say that. You’re going to make me cry off all my makeup.”
He stands beside me, sticking out his arm.
I loop my hand around his bicep and try to keep breathing deeply.
“Are you okay, a’stor? ”
I look over at him. “As long as Rory’s standing at the altar, I’ll be fine.”
Da chuckles. “Aye. He’s there, love, don’t you worry.”
The music starts, the traditional bridal march. Call me old-fashioned, but most of our wedding is Irish Catholic traditional, including the hand-fasting ceremony.
My parents had been married in Ireland during a hand-fasting ceremony, and all my life I’ve wanted the same for my wedding.
Da insisted on footing the bill, even though Rory let him know he’d inherited all of his father’s ill-gotten money. Da is pretty traditional, too.
The ushers open the double doors, and we walk down the aisle.
Rory’s looking down at his feet at first, but as the doors open, he looks up at me.
His eyes travel up my dress, locking on mine.
His expression is blank, but I catch him wiping at his eyes when I get closer, and suddenly I’m fighting tears all over again.
I try to focus on the priest.
“Who gives this bride away?”
“Her Ma, who is in heaven, and me,” Da says, choking back a sob, and I squeeze his arm.
He lingers for a long time before letting go of my hand, but finally, he makes his way to the front row to sit.
I can’t keep my eyes off Rory, who looks amazing in a charcoal-gray suit.
My brothers are dressed all in black, and even Gray is in the groom’s party.
Gray and Rory have become fast friends since that first dinner.
The priest looks at us and at the crowd behind us. “We’re gathered here today to join the hands and hearts of Rory Murphy and Lara Burke. And they’ll be quite literally tying the knot with a traditional hand-fasting ceremony.”
He chuckles at the titters in the crowd.
He continues the ceremony, asking Rory to repeat vows and then me, all as he ties our hands together with an elaborate yellow ribbon.
My heart races so fast that I can barely contain myself, only listening just enough to the vows to repeat them.
I’m so excited to start my future with Rory that adrenaline is rushing through me.
The ceremony goes by in a blur.
It feels like years ago that I attended Gray’s wedding and was captured, leading to all of this.
I’ve come full circle.
As much as Rory and I try to stick close together at the reception, everyone keeps pulling one of us away. There are so many people, family and friends that we haven’t seen in a while, and I get caught up in the party.
I don’t realize I've forgotten to eat until nausea washes over me, and I hurry to the appetizer table. I’ve been sick quite a few mornings lately, and I don’t want it to ruin my wedding night.
Paige offers me some champagne, but I turn it down.
I can’t keep the smile off my face.
Rory and I are going straight from here to a hotel near the airport since our flight is early tomorrow morning, so this is the last time I’ll see my family and friends for two weeks. We’re honeymooning in Fiji, and neither of us have ever been there, so we’re both excited.
Everything starts winding down at around ten in the evening, and I’m frankly exhausted.
I plop down at a table as Rory talks to my father, and Bree brings the baby over to see me.
My eyes light up, and I hold out my arms. She places him gently in the cradle of my arms, and I smile down at him. His eyes are still that newborn gray-blue, but I’m sure they’ll be the Murphy blue soon enough.
“He’s beautiful.” I rock him when he starts to fuss.
“He’s a mess,” she says tiredly, but she’s smiling. “And always hungry.”
She looks at the half-empty bottle of water on the table and then back at me. “If you need anything?—”
I wave a hand to dismiss her, smiling. “I’ll be fine. I’m sure I’ll be calling you for marriage advice soon enough, but today, everything is perfect.”
Rory finally heads back over, grinning and making faces at our nephew. His face is a bit flushed from all the champagne.
“Are you ready to get out of here?” I look up at him after he’s done playing with the baby. I hand our nephew back to Bree.
“Ready when you are, honey.”
We say our goodbyes, and in the limo, I simply lean my head against his shoulder, exhausted.
I can’t wait to get Rory back to the hotel even though my feet hurt from dancing, and when we finally arrive, I giggle as he grunts and scoops me up into his arms.
“You’ve had too much champagne to carry me,” I tease, but he manages, kicking the door shut behind us and tossing me gently onto the bed.
I laugh out loud when I bounce and watch him with hooded eyes as he takes off his suit jacket and unbuttons his shirt.
“I have something to tell you.”
He freezes with his hands on the last button of his shirt. “If you’re gonna tell me that it’ll take an hour to get you out of that dress, I already know.”
I chuckle. “Well, that’s probably true, but it’s not what I want to tell you.”
Rory sobers, his expression shuttering. “Is something wrong?”
I shake my head, sitting up on the bed, unable to keep the grin from my face. “I don’t think so. What I have to tell you is that… We’re going to have a baby.”
He stares at me for a long moment, blue eyes widening in shock. “You’re?—"
“Pregnant!” I cheer, bouncing on the bed.
When Rory doesn’t smile back, my face falls.
“Is... is this good news?”
“Of course, it’s good news,” he says quickly, climbing onto the bed and gathering me and my poofy dress in his arms, kissing me thoroughly.
I smile against his mouth before I pull away.
Tears fill his eyes.
“You’re going to be somebody’s da,” I tell him, and Rory kisses me again.
I can’t say much more because he’s fumbling with the buttons on the back of my dress, and it does take us quite a bit of time to get undressed.
We make love without speaking, hardly even breathing. It feels like both of us needed to be this close, like being intimate in this way is the only way we can express our excitement for our future.
“I’ve never been this happy.” He nuzzles against my neck after we are done, lying side by side. “I can’t help being worried something will take it away.”
“Don’t you see, Rory? There’s nothing that can take it away. Not anymore. You’re just an accountant, remember?”
Rory’s laugh rings in my ears.
Maybe Rory isn’t the type of guy I thought I’d end up with. I'd certainly never considered dating an accountant before. And maybe the last name I'd taken was once my father’s enemy’s, but there’s nowhere else in the world I’d rather be.