Max
Technically, we could be talking to him if you’d just relay the fucking message.
Tank
I’m the best man, not the mailman.
Tucker
I’m still not sure how that happened. Didn’t you used to hate him?
Tank
Dude, you realize he WILL see these messages eventually right?
Tucker
Watching Lauren adjust to our new normal over the last twelve months has been nothing short of astounding. Her first day as COO I had people calling and texting me non-stop that I better not do anything to lose her because I couldn’t possibly do better—all things I already knew. She took on her new position, has been involved in every step of the building process of our house at the ranch, and planning our wedding without so much as batting an eye. Today, I get to make this amazing woman my wife. Tank and I rushed to make it to the hill after I put her wedding gift in our honeymoon bag. It’s the desk plaque with her name andChief Executive Officeron it and a new pair of red-bottomed shoes for her first day in her new position as owner.
She planned the wedding on Shadow Hill, requesting it be a small ceremony with only our closest friends and family, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I walk Gran to her seat next to Pops on the front row, then take my place. My heart feels like it could run laps around this entire ranch with the anticipation of seeing Lauren in her wedding dress. Tank stands next to me, along with Max, Tucker, Sawyer, and even Hendrix. Littlestinker weaseled his way into my heart over the last twelve months and there’s no way I wasn’t having him up here with us as I marry his Aunt Lauren.
All the baby boys, Poe, Theodore, and Alex, are in the crowd with Taylor and Leah’s parents, whom I’ve come to realize are like the group’s parents. Cece walks over the hill first, holding Ruby’s hand while she throws yellow and blue flower petals on the ground, her sweet little smile lighting up the hill. They take their place at the front next to Frank, who is officiating for us today, then Shane, Taylor, Leah, and Luther walk up, falling in line behind Ruby. The pianist, whom I still have no idea how Lauren convinced to haul a piano all the way up this hill, begins playing a familiar song for her to walk down the aisle to. All I can hear as it plays is Lauren singing along the day I played it at our place in the city. When she tops the hill with her arm linked through her dad’s, I feel the emotion creep all the way up my chest, and into my cheeks as I fight to see through my tears. She’s a vision in white silk, her dress hugging her curves until it flares at the bottom, the sleeves falling elegantly off her shoulders with a veil tucked into the loose bun she wears in her hair.
Fuck it. I’m not fighting it.
A full sob racks my body and I squeeze my eyes to let the tears fall, not wanting to miss a moment of my bride walking down the aisle to me. When I meet her gaze, her baby blue eyes are sparkling with tears as well, and her bright smile, which heals every bit of my torn and tattered heart, fills me with more joy than I ever knew I was capable of feeling.
“Wow. She looks like a princess,” Hendrix says from down the line, and I laugh.
“Yeah, she sure does,” I agree. When she makes it to the end of the aisle, I step down to take her hand, and her father gives me a nod. I’m thankful they were able to mend their relationship,even if I wasn’t able to mend things with my parents. I get to start a new family today, and I’ll be everything for Lauren and any kids we might have in the future, that I wish my dad had been.
“You may be seated,” Frank announces. I can hardly focus on anything but her the entire time Frank speaks. I’ve always had a problem focusing when she’s around, but today? Impossible. I take in every detail of her dress and veil, the pearl necklace she wears around her neck, matching the small ones on her ears. The way her cheeks shimmer with blush, makes me excited to see the natural blush she’ll wear for me later tonight. The way her thumb caresses my hand as we stand at the altar, and how the whole world fades away with her—until Frank gets to the vows.
“Lauren, whenever you’re ready.” She smiles at him and pulls her vows from the pocket of her wedding dress. She wags her eyebrows at me and I know that was the selling point of this dress for her.
LAUREN’S VOWS:
Vince,
You may not know this, but when you came into my life, I was at my very lowest. Me not remembering our first meeting may have been a good giveaway of how I was handling things, but I was bitter and angry, and to be honest, I didn’t like myself very much. When you showed up, you pushed me at work, started pressing every button I had, and drove me absolutely crazy. Then when youweren’t around, I realized I missed your annoying presence. The things I thought I disliked about you, were the very things that would brighten my day. Then after an emotional morning and mindless rambling, you offered to take me to one of my best friend’s weddings so I wouldn’t be alone—and you haven’t let me feel alone ever since that night. You took every snarky comment, every hangry attitude, every eye roll and quirk that I had, and showed me that they weren’t flaws, but things that simply made me the woman that you loved. Meanwhile, I fell in love with you too. With the way you command a room, with the way you encouraged me and paid attention to the things I liked and disliked. I fell in love with the way you were always yourself when you were with me. The day you told me you loved me, was the best day of my life. Because I secretly wanted every single thing you claimed to want that day as well. To grow old together and dance in the kitchen to old records playing, and to be nauseatingly in love with each other. Your initials were carved into my heart long before we put them into that tree, and I’ve never once wanted to remove them. Today, I vow to love you for exactly who you are, for the rest of our lives, to always roll my eyes at you, and to dance in the kitchen, whetherthere’s music or not. I vow to never stop encouraging you to chase your dreams, and to always remind you how proud I am of you for going after them. I vow to love you unconditionally, for better or worse, and when the day comes that we’re turning into wildflowers underneath this tree, even still, I will love you.
FITZ’S VOWS:
Lauren,
You’ve been a troublemaker ever since the first night I met you, and I’ve never wanted to cause trouble with anyone as much as I want to with you. I knew from the moment I first saw you, that you would be a force to be reckoned with, and dammit was I right. Getting you to remember me was the single best assignment I ever had, and the payoff was greater than any that came before it. You are smart and kind. Loyal and fierce. Funny and empathetic. You fill my life with so much joy that I never thought was possible for me. Your smile heals me, and your touch steadies me. Your very existence is a gift to this world, and I feel like the richest man alive that I get to be the one to call you my wife. I have watched you fallapart and put yourself back together. I’ve seen you show up for your friends when your own heart was broken and I’ve watched you sacrifice your own happiness for the well-being of the people you love most. Today, I vow to never let you go through life feeling like you have to handle it all on your own. The pain, the joy, the sacrifice, and the rewards, I will share them all with you. I vow to never stop paying attention to you and to take care of you every single day, the way you’ve always taken care of everyone else. I vow to never stop reminding you how proud I am of you and to never stop looking at you the way I have since the very beginning. Like you’re the sun that has lit up my world since the moment you stepped into it. I too, will love you, even when we’re turning into wildflowers beneath our tree. I love you, Lauren. With all that I am, and all I’ll ever be. My heart has only ever belonged to you.
The exchange of rings happens, and when Frank tells me I can kiss my bride, I kiss thehellout of my bride. I dip her as my tongue slides into her mouth, and our friends and family cheer. When we finally stand again, we get announced for the first time as?—
“Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Fitzgerald.”
A phrase that I never in a million years thought I would happily hear.
Lauren Fitzgerald, in all her troublemaking chaos, came into my life and turned me into the version of myself I always hopedto be, giving me the family I always dreamed of having. I’ve gained so much more than a wife today, I’ve gained the life I was never brave enough to go after for myself.
Until her.
Trouble.
My wife.
My life.
I can’t wait to take it all on with her.
THE END.
