Page 135 of Honeymoon Phase
“You’re welcome.”
“Ethan,” Max barks, staring daggers at his son. “That is your second shirt of the night. We only have one more left.”
Ethan shrugs. “I’m just going to ruin that one too.”
Max sighs and shakes his head before looking at me. “You feeling good?”
I smile and find my husband across the room staring at me. “I’m feeling great.”
Max squints his eyes and nods. “It’s always harder for one person.”
I gaze up at him. “What do you mean?”
“It always takes one person a bit longer to come to their senses than the other.”
I tilt my head curiously. “Who held out between you and Cozy?”
“Oh, that’s a very long story.” He waggles his brows and then turns to glance at Luke. “Take care of my baby brother, alright?”
I lick my lips and feel butterflies in my belly. “I intend to.”
Max gestures for Ethan to follow him to go change. Ethan takes off in a sprint in the opposite direction with his dad hot on his heels.
I can’t help but laugh at the older brother speech because Jo said something similar earlier.
“He’s all yours, beautiful girl. Thank you for saying yes to him today,” Jo says, holding me close. Today’s hug is the best one yet, and I love that she’s holding me as if I’m precious to her. “If I may, I want to share some wisdom on marriage as I learned a thing or two in the thirty-eight years Steven and I were married. Love isn’t always easy, but life can be even harder. It’s about saying yes to the man you married. Yes, to the hard things when it would be easier to walk away. Yes, to forgiving him when he screws up, because he will.” I laugh. “And it’s a yes that you say every day to loving him with everything you have.”
And for the first time, I initiated a Jo Fletcher hug, and it was me who held on tighter and longer than her for once.“Thank you for showing me the most beautiful kind of motherhood.”
I smile through my tears, hoping I can be just like her to one of my own children someday, and the fact that that thought alone doesn’t scare the absolute shit out of me just shows how far I’ve come up here on Fletcher Mountain.
“Addison, can I talk to you for a second?” Everly asks, walking over to me and ripping me out of my family building fantasy.
“Of course, Evs. What’s up?”
“I just have to say I’m so sorry for the part I played in the fight you guys had last night. I only wanted the best for my uncle, and I knew you were the best, but it was wrong of us to lie to you. And it was wrong of me to pressure Luke into all of this and I really hope you can forgive me.”
I pin the adorable blonde with a “get the fuck out of here” look before I wrap her in my arms and hug the shit out of her, murmuring into her shoulder, “Everly Fletcher, look around here.”
Everly’s blue eyes scan the room that looks like a winter wonderland fairy tale. The dance floor is hopping with lumberyard friends and Edith has barely let my dad sit down all night. It’s the best surprise of my life... other than finding out my best friend was in love with me, of course.
“You make magic happen,” I state firmly to my new niece. “Please don’t ever change.”
“You really mean it?”
“Yes.” I reach over and hold her face in my hands. “Keep pushing, keep micromanaging, keep not taking no for an answer. And don’t ever let anyone dull your shine. Got it?”
She gets a funny look on her face before she nods, and when the music shifts to a girlie pop anthem, I jump up tomy feet and pull my niece onto the dance floor to twirl the night away.
By the end of the night, I find myself in my husband’s arms swaying on the dance floor.
“Can we get married a third time?” Luke murmurs into my neck before lifting his head to look down at me. “I’d like to know what a wedding would feel like without being miserable for every moment leading up to it. Maybe we could get married every year.”
I stand up on my toes to kiss his lips. “I think we can just celebrate an anniversary, can’t we?”
“I guess so.” He pulls me in close. “As long as we get to have a wedding night each year.”
“I’m hoping for a lot more than once a year, fella.” I poke him in the chest.
