“I love you so much. How do you read my mind like that?” she asked while reaching for the drink. He pressed a kiss to her temple and held it for a beat while wrapping an arm around his shoulder.
“Years of practice. Plus, you just finished talking with one of your aunts so I figured you could use it.”
They both chuckled while looking out at all the bodies before them. In the two months since their engagement, Hailey had correctly suspected her and Avery’s mothers would go crazy with planning and their engagement party was currently going off without a hitch.
Thankfully, they let Avery and Hailey have fun with themed drinks and foods to get some of their geek flair into the mix. Along with the Spidermanhattan Hailey was sipping, they had a Captain America Old Fashioned, Loki’s Lemonade and some Gandalf the Earl Grey Tea to go with dessert. Avery was most excited about the Batman burgers while Hailey had way too many bites of tomato bookschetta and Daredeviled eggs. She even managed to throw in some dragons around the house for decoration as a nod to her book.
“I still can’t believe we’re going to get away with this,” Avery said under his breath in case anyone was listening. Hailey took a quick look around to see they were actually getting a moment of privacy before she gave him a light elbow to his side.
“Don’t jinx us! We didn’t even get started yet. Have you heard from Cole?”
Avery used his free hand to pull his phone out of his pocket, then laughed as he read the screen. He angled it so Hailey could read the messages from Cole.
COLE:The eagle has landed
COLE:The falcon is driving the eagle crazy about chair placement.
COLE:The nest is prepared and the eagle is ready to lead the sparrow and blue jay into battle.
Hailey barked out a laugh at Cole’s code language. She could only guess that the falcon must be Elena and her and Avery had to be the sparrow and blue jay. It looked like everything was ready for them and now all they had to do was make the announcement. She could only hope that her second surprise of the night was going just as well for Abby. She’d have to wait and see.
After Bridget’s wedding with dress fittings, rehearsal dinners, flower arrangements and a million other things Hailey didn’t want to think about, she realized she didn’t want a big wedding, and Avery was in the same boat. A big wedding would mostly be for their parents and a bunch of people they didn’t even know. Tonight was just close friends and family to celebrate her and Avery finally finding each other, which is what they really wanted to focus on.
She knew both of their parents would be disappointed, but the money and stress they’d save would be worth it. Plus, neither of them wanted to wait. It already felt like they’d waited years for this. After one more look across the room full of party guests, with their closest friends missing, her and Avery shared one more look and both nodded.
Avery grabbed a champagne flute off a table nearby along with a butterknife and began clinking it to get everyone’s attention. The muttering around them quieted and all the heads in Hailey’s parents’ open kitchen andliving room turned toward them. Avery cleared his throat while she reached around him and squeezed his waist.
“Hi, everyone! Hailey and I just want to thank everyone for coming tonight and being with us tonight as we celebrate our engagement. We’ve known each other a long time and I just can’t wait any longer to be with her. So, if you’ll all make your way to the basement, we both have a surprise for you all.”
At this, Avery lifted his glass to the crowd and drained it while Cole’s voice came booming over the silence and confused glances. He was standing by the basement door.
“This way, folks! We’ve got quite a show for you so just make your way downstairs and find a seat.”
Avery leaned down to press one more kiss to the top of Hailey’s head and gave her a meaningful look before making his way toward Cole and helping usher everybody downstairs. She could hear him say, “You’ll see,” over and over as she scanned the crowd.
“Dad!” Bruce’s head turned to his daughter and he made his way through the crowd over to her with an amused look on his face. “You’re going to stay with me.”
“Sweetie, what’s going on?” he asked as the last person made it out of the room.
“You’re about to give me away.”
Bruce’s brows furrowed as Hailey unzipped her sweater dress to reveal a simple white sundress, then shebent down to open a cupboard and pulled out a simple bouquet of white carnations.
“Holy shit. Right now?” he said as tears gathered in the corners of his eyes.
“Right now. Let’s go.”
She looped an arm around her dad’s as they made their way to the top of the stairs. Now she just had to wait for her cue. She could hear plenty of voices downstairs guessing at what was about to happen, including both Avery and Hailey’s moms commiserating together. When she heard, “Oh my goodness, for me?” and “Aw, honey, they’re beautiful,” she knew Avery had just handed them each a bouquet of their own, which meant they must have been seated.
The first notes of Pachelbel’s “Canon” soon made its way up the stairs, stopping the chatter, and Hailey pulled her dad down the stairway. The basement was a big open area off to the side of the covered stairway and no one would be able to see Hailey or her dad until they got to the bottom.
When she reached the landing, she turned up the aisle that her friends created while the rest of the party was upstairs. The fifty or so attendants were all seated on either side and at the end of the aisle stood Avery, beaming at her and trying to discretely wipe at the corner of his eyes. Everyone else disappeared as Hailey and Bruce made their way up the aisle and she felt like shewas floating toward Avery on a cloud.
When they reached the front, Bruce shook Avery’s hand and gave him a pat on the shoulder while shaking his head in amusement. Then, Avery brought his gaze back to Hailey. They joined hands as everyone around them spoke in hushed whispers and then Bridget cut the music.
In hindsight, Cole was probably the absolute worst person to give the job of officiant, but once they told their friends their plans, Cole swiped tears from his eyes and practically begged for the job. He had been both Hailey and Avery’s friend as long as they’d been each other’s so they went with it. If anything, they knew it would be fun.
Hailey stole a quick glance to where her parents were seated in the front row and smiled, seeing her mom’s eyes filled with tears and a big smile on her face. She let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding and turned back to her soon-to-be husband.
