Page 162 of The One With the Mountain Man

"And you're radiant." There was no other way to describe him. His smile was incandescent.

"Can you believe this town?" He shot a glance at the crowd.

"You built me a cottage to show me how much you love me." I turned him so he could really take in how many people were here. "They all came out to show you how much they loveyou."

He frowned like he didn't believe me but wasn't about to argue as we said our vows. I would have been happy to utter a few short sentences, say I do, and kiss my man, but I also wanted to say every word, imprint it on our future.

When Jackson kissed me the crowd erupted into cheers. "You're my wife, Lee."

"And you're my husband, Jackson."

He squeezed me tight and buried his face in my neck. "Time to party."

We took pictures with our families while Scottie tried to manhandle the wedding setup into a party setup. The only time Jackson didn't smile like he couldn't quit was when he took pictures with his mother and Nora.

They promptly left right after. No fun times for them. I was convinced they were genetically incapable of enjoying anything.

Somehow Scottie had acquired a bullhorn. It squawked to life and got the crowd to quiet down. "All right you meddling, gossipy wedding crashers, food is in the tent. Thanks to everyone who contributed, if you get food poisoning it wasn't from me. Blame Agnes."

"It wasone time!"A strained feminine voice called out.

The crowd tittered.

"Try to keep the trash situation civilized. We'll have dancing in an hour. Please let the bride and groom enjoy their food. They're not going anywhere. You're going to see them in town tomorrow. Well, okay, maybe next week, but you know what I mean. If you don't get to personally talk to them, deal with it. Let's eat!"

Half the crowd raced for the tent while the other half crushed towards us.

The bullhorn squawked again. "Leave them alone!" Scottie bellowed. "Invited guests first. One at a time. Make a fucking line. What are we? Sasquatches?"

Travis dropped a kiss on the top of my head. "I'm just going to stand here and look scary so they actually comply."

"Good, then you can tell my husband that all these people crashed our wedding because they love him."

Jackson shook his head again, but before he could say anything Sharon was squeezing him tight. "Oh, I'm just so happy for you. For you both." She cupped his face. "This is what you deserve. What you've always deserved."

She kissed my cheek. "Plotting date next week?"

"It's on the calendar." Sharon already had the major plot points plastered to a murder board and now she was hard at work on details. We were actually writing a murder mystery together.

Red thumped Jackson's back so hard it had to hurt, but he didn't even wince. "Congrats." He fought back tears. "I really love this for both of you." He squeezed my hand. "Thank you for bringing back his smile."

It kept up like this. His high school baseball coach, his sixth-grade math teacher, Digger's dad, Travis's mom. Aunts and uncles I'd never met before, all of them sniffling and overcome with emotion.

"What is up with everyone crying?" Jackson whispered in the small break we got in the changeover from invited guests to uninvited guests.

Travis laughed and shook his head. "You should listen to your wife. She's right."

Jackson shook his head. "They're just nosy. They want to see what I look like now and to confirm all the gossip is true."

And while I did get asked about the new book and if I'd be willing to sign something later, not today, the vast majority of people standing in line to congratulate us went to Jackson first to tell him they were so happy to see him happy and that he deserved it.

"Naw, brother. You're a private man and you tried to keep your family shit handled. And trust me, you did a damn fine job. They might not know the details, but they got the gist. They admire you for taking care of your siblings and they're happy that you found a way to come back and be happy. They mean every word they're saying to you. Listen."

I got the extreme pleasure of watching as Jackson realized we were right. One by one, person after person, he finally heard what they were saying and why they were so choked up about it. His shock melted into disbelief and then finally into his own heavy emotions.

Travis gave his shoulder a squeeze when the line in front of us finally ended. "Love you, man."

"Love you too."

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