Page 77 of Breathtaking

“Hey, Madman,” Callen pops his head in the door. “You ready?”

I swallow my drink.

“Yeah, man. I’m ready.”

Ready to make this woman my wife.

Ready to choose the happiness I’ll fight the rest of my life for.

* * *

My cousin’s daughter appears at the back of the aisle with Meatball at her side. His blue bowtie matches the blue sash tied around her little white dress, and I say a quick prayer that he doesn’t knock her over as she drops rose petals along the pale-blue silk runner covering the aisle. Once Caitlin and Lennon had the brilliant idea to include Meatball in the wedding, I couldn’t talk either of them out of it.

“Can’t believe the dog is in your wedding,” Callen laughs from next to me, and the bishop stares, unimpressed. Like my family hasn’t basically funded this church since before my father was even born. He wanted Lennon and me to wait a year and go through classes to get married, but one big fat check later, and our date miraculously opened. Imagine that.

Once Rosie and Meatball are at the front of the aisle, she moves to sit with her father, and Lucky whisks Meatball away to sit with a friend outside, so my lazy dog can be in the pictures after the ceremony... if he can manage to stay awake that long.

The music changes, and Caitlin walks down the aisle with her eyes locked on Callen the whole time. Sometimes I still wonder how I missed what was happening between them. Then I feel like an ass for the part I played in the hell they went through.

But then the little brat winks at her husband before moving to the side, and I know my best friend is calculating how quickly he’ll be able to get her out of that dress later, and fuck feeling bad, I kinda want to kill him all over again.

Grace Wilder walks toward us next, and I smile.

Caitlin might be my sister by blood, but Grace and the group of women sitting on my side of the aisle, together with their husbands, well, they’re my family by choice. They’re the people Callen and I grew up with. No other seven people in the world will know what it was like. Not their husbands or our wives. The group of us have an inseverable bond. We might not all see each other as much, now that we have kids and spouses. But somewhere deep down, there will always be a place for us in each other’s hearts. And thanks to Gracie, I met my wife.

The stained-glass double doors at the back of the cathedral open again, and the packed church rises and turns as the musicians play “Cannon in D,” and my beautiful bride is escorted in by both her brothers. Her smile is a work of art. One I’ll never forget. One I’ll do everything in my power to make sure she wears every day.

She’s breathtaking in a beautiful, curve-skimming white silk dress that clings to her bump, letting the whole world know our son is here with us today. Her hair is pulled back away from her face, and a veil that seems ten feet long trails behind her.

And it feels like a hundred lifetimes pass before she finally makes it to me.

She turns to Atticus, who lifts her veil and kisses her cheek, whispering something I can’t hear that makes her laugh before she turns to Rhys, who kisses the top of her forehead and turns to me with her hand in his. He gives it to me. Givesherto me. Even though the look in his eye says he’d rather die than do it. “Keep her safe.”

“With my life,” I answer and take her hand in mine. “You are breathtaking, wife.”

Her cheeks flush the prettiest pink when she smiles. “We’ve got about an hour before you can call me that, husband.”

I gently brush my lips over hers. “Then let’s do this.”

“So romantic,” she teases softly as we move to our places.

The bishop clears his throat, and I grin.

“We are gathered here today...”

LENNON

Marry a man whose voice can calm you and seduce you in the same sentence.

—Lennon’s Secret Thoughts

“You ready for this,principessa?” Maddox takes my hand in his as we stand just outside the tent that’s been erected in his uncle’s beautiful backyard for our reception, waiting to be announced.

“Probably not,” I laugh and shove the heel of my palm into the side of my stomach. “Your son apparently really wants to join in on the party though. He’s been dancing all day.”

“Well, tell him to back off. He can have you soon enough. But for right now... you’re mine.” He lifts me up, cradling me in his arms, and the photographer snaps another shot.

I’m not sure I’ve ever had this many pictures taken of me.

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