Page 111 of Keeping Kaitlyn

Everyone is here.

Getting Married at Northpoint was a no-brainer. It’s where we met and fell in love. When I asked her to marry me, both times—this is the place I want to marry her again.

This time, forever.

“I seem to remember someone throwing up behind a catering truck at his wedding last year,” I remind him without looking in his direction. We’re standing at the end of the dock under a canopy of flowers while our family watches from the shore. Patrick and Cari are here with their son who’s nearly a year old, standing next to Grace, Cari’s little sister with her son, Henry,who’s about to turn twelve and his sister, Alison, who’s almost two.

Standing not too from them is Silver and Noah’s father, Tobias, with their daughter, Beth. Silver hasn’t said anything yet, but I’m pretty sure she’s pregnant again.

On the other side of the dock is Declan and Tess, each of them holding a sleeping infant. Tess announced not long after Conner and Henely’s wedding that she and Declan were having a baby. A few months later they made another announcement—they were having a twins. A boy and a girl.

Henley is standing next to Tess, her own baby bump just beginning to show. Standing next to her is Delilah her husband, Gray, holding my newest niece, Matilda. She’s named after our grandmother—we call her Tillie. Noth far from Lilah, I can see Kait’s mother, Hillary, looking on with Abbey’s son, Thomas, beside her. We she sees me looking at her, she smiles. Tom died nearly a year ago. Not long after Kait signed the ranch over to her sister. It’s been a tough transition for their mother but I learned a long time ago that Barrett women aren’t just smart—they’re tough. I’d never bet against one and I’d never count one out.

“I wasn’t nervous,” Conner mutters under his breath. “It was a biological defense mechanism. I’d just escaped a forty-five-minute conversation with my mother-in-law. We’re lucky I didn’t shit myself.”

“Tess is right.” Still scanning the shoreline, I shake my head on a laugh. “You are disgusting—and I’m not nervous.”

Hearing the far-off creak of the screen door, I feel my heart start to bounce around my chest like a pinball. Watching the top of the hill, I catch a glimpse of long, honey blonde hair, a moment before Kait’s sister appears, followed a few seconds later by Dakota. Swallowing hard, I take a deep, steadying breath before letting it out slowly.

Con’s right.

Kait and I have been here before.

The past year has been nothing short of a miracle. After coming home from Barrett Valley, Kait found herself in a predicament she’d never been in before.

For the first time in her life, she didn’t have a job.

Even though Ryan and Henley both insisted that she continue to act as Ryan’s nurse, Kait refused as gently as she could because she was right—Ryan didn’t need her anymore. Instead of diving back into another job, I convinced her that there was something much more important that we had to do.

We worked on her bucket list.

I took her to Paris and we climbed the Eiffel Tower (we might’ve also done other things beside climbing). We ran with the bulls in Spain. We saw the Sistine Chaple. The pyramid in Giza. The Great Wall of China. We learned how to surf and we went skydiving. We taught Two-tone how to count and we finally went skinny-dipping, right here in this lake.

We even put horse shit in Abbey’s pillow.

A million different memories I’ll spend a lifetime drawing. Not because I’m afraid I’ll forget her but because we made them together.

After it was all said in done, Kait decided what she really wanted to do was go back to school.

She’s going to be a doctor.

I couldn’t be prouder and just when I think there’s no possible way I could ever possibly love her more, all I have to do is look at her to prove myself wrong.

I’m not nervous about marrying Kait.

I’m excited that I get to spend the rest of my life with her. That this time, we’re going to make it stick.

While Abbey and Kota make their way down the dock, Molly and Noah start their way down the slope, hand-in-hand, Noah carefully leading Moll down the dock with a worried expressionon his face like he’s afraid she’s going to fall off and straight into the water. He shouldn’t be worried, there no less than a dozen men and one crazy dog in attendance who would dive in after her if she took even the tiniest of miss-steps.

Myself included.

Beside me, Con let’s out a long low whistle at the precise moment, I feel my breath catch in my throat at the sight of her.

My Sunshine.

The dress she’s wearing is very similar to the dress she wore the first time we got married—simple and beautiful. Just like her. Walking on either side of her are my brother, Damien, and Ryan—when it came down to it, Kait couldn’t choose so she chose them both to give her away.

As soon as they stop in front of me, Ryan offers me her hand while Damien moves to stand next to Conner because he’s pulling double duty again as my best man.

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