While Brie and Chloe were both already married, Amara and Cal had only gotten engaged a few months before on their daughter’s first birthday. Owen had proposed to Delia last November, and they were planning a ceremony for the upcoming October, right before Delia’s birthday.
“I couldn’t do life without you guys,” I said to them, sniffing and tipping my head back to avoid any tears spilling free and ruining the makeup Delia had painstakingly applied.
Seriously, she threatened bodily harm if I ruined it.
“Ditto,” Brie said, and we squeezed each other’s hands. “But this is just the beginning for us. The guys…they’ve only made things better, haven’t they?”
“They have,” Chloe agreed. “And the babies.”
I grinned as I thought of my nieces—Aleah, Cora, and Brie and Ezra’s daughter, Harley. They were the lights of our lives, and I was seriously looking forward to the day when Liam and I welcomed our first into the family.
“Our last names are changing,” I said, trying to smile through the tears, “but we’re Delatous forever.”
“Forever,” they agreed. I don’t know which of us moved first, but suddenly, we were pulled into a group hug, each of us sobbing noisily.
“What the hell is going on in here?” someone asked, and we broke apart to find Mom standing in the doorway, hands on her hips, glaring at us. “I mean, seriously? Can’t you guys hold it together for like…I don’t know. An hour?”
“No,” we all blurted at once, then immediately started laughing.
“Well, figure it out,” Mom said, moving toward the bed and gathering two of the bouquets—which I’d designed and Fanny arranged when she’d arrived a few days ago from Arizona—and handed them to Brie and Delia. “The ceremony starts in ten minutes.”
My sisters and I all shared a shocked and horrified look, thenburst into motion. Delia quickly touched up everyone’s makeup, Chloe and Amara made sure the girls were ready to walk down the aisle with their flower baskets, and Brie called Ezra to make sure he had the rings.
It was pure chaos, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
All the nervous and excited butterflies I’d been feeling up to that point flew away as I stood before the closed patio doors of the winery, Dad on my right. This was finally the moment all my dreams came true, and I couldn’t wait to get down the aisle, marry Liam, and start our forever together.
“You’re happy?” he asked me.
“More than I’ve ever been before.”
He pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you five. These men…I couldn’t have asked for better for my babies.”
“Stop it,” I hissed, taking the hanky from his hand and dabbing at my eyes. “If you make me cry, Delia will kill you.”
Dad scoffed. “I can take your sister.”
One by one, my sisters disappeared with their partners until all that stood between me and Liam were Aleah, Cora, and baby Harley, who the older two towed behind them in a little red wagon.
I could hear my guest’s laughter and coos of happiness and excitement as the girls made their way down, and I waited for my cue, the moment the song I’d chosen to walk down the aisle to would kick on.
The opening strings of “God Bless the Broken Road” filtered through the doors, and Dad glanced at me.
“Ready?”
“Let’s do this.”
Any hope I had of not crying evaporated the moment I laid eyes on Liam, who was the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen, standing beneath the archway I’d spent hours on in his cream-colored suit, almost the same shade as my dress. And the second he saw me walking toward him, he choked out a sob, doing his best to keep his eyes on me and hold it together. Ezra, who was his best man, settled a hand on his shoulder and whispered something that had Liam laughing and swiping at his eyes.
At last, we reached the end of the aisle, and while I’d given the officiant strict instructions not to ask the archaic “who gives this woman to be wedded to this man” question, Dad still approached Liam and shook his hand, then joined our hands before letting go.
“I love you, my girl,” he whispered as he kissed my cheek, then went to take his place next to Mom.
“Hi, Wildflower,” Liam mouthed.
“Hey, Wills,” I grinned.
As we’d opted for traditional vows, the ceremony passed in a blur, though it felt as though Liam and I were the only two people on the planet as we exchanged them and placed rings on fingers. The ceremony wasn’t the important part, anyway.
