My gaze never faltered from my wife. We may have been saying our vows for a second time, but she had already been mine in every way: body, heart, and soul.
When she stood in front of me, I rose to my feet and stared into her dreamy, chocolate-brown eyes that were shimmering with tears. Both Griffin and I stopped singing, our fingers stilled, and for a moment, there was silence.
Until Patience unhooked her arm from Gramps and threw herself at me, her beautiful daisy scent filling my nose, and her body making mine vibrate with awareness. With my guitar still in one hand, I wrapped my other arm around her to hold her against me.
And just like that, it wasn’t quiet anymore.
Everyone was making some sort of noise or laughing. Griffin giggled and threw his arms around our legs.
“Guess she didn’t change her mind,” I heard Kace say.
“Ouch,” came next.
“That’s what happens when you act like a dumb?—”
Patience giggled into my chest as Gyth caught himself before finishing that sentence. Wedding or not, I’m sure Embry and her bionic ears would have heard and marched right up to collect her payment.
“You ready to get married, brother?” Lyric asked from beside us. “Again, that is.”
“More than ever,” I told him, reaching over to hand him my guitar.
Patience pulled back but kept her hands on my chest. “I can’t believe you sang to me.” Then she looked down at Griffin. “You did so good, sweet boy.”
Our son beamed back at his mom. “We’ve been practicing.”
She smiled at him with so much motherly love in her gaze that it made more tears push at the back of my eyes. When she looked at me, I expected her to be ready to start the ceremony, but just as I surprised her, she shocked me.
“I didn’t have a true family growing up. It wasn’t until the day I met you and you shared yours with me that I finally felt loved. You were my savior, my best friend, and the man of my dreams.”
My sister sniffled next to us, and I heard Gyth say something to Kace about not knowing we were starting; I almost laughed, but then Patience's mouth was on mine.
“We aren’t at that part yet,” Kace teased.
Of course, I ignored him, and tuned everyone else out.
It was our wedding day; my girl could do whatever she damn well wanted.
PATIENCE - RECEPTION
I melted further into my husband’s arms as we swayed to the music.
It had been the best darn wedding a girl could dream of. Sure, some may have thought it was simple and not extravagant enough, but after the lonely life I’d lived before meeting Jett and his family, to me, it was perfect.
In high school, I’d sought out the wrong kind of attention because my home life was less than stellar. I could never call it a mistake, though, because it brought me my son and also put me in Jett’s path.
Since that day, I had never looked back.
My husband, his family, and our friends were all I needed to make every day as special as my walk down the aisle had been. And after I’d been serenaded, the vows were said, cake was cut, gifts were opened, and our first dance was over, we were all still having the time of our lives.
A wrinkled, scarred hand slapped down on Jett’s shoulder, and I pulled my head from my husband’s chest to see Gramps. “Move out of the way, boy.” He was staring at Jett. “It’s time I got to dance with my granddaughter.”
Heart bursting, I smiled at the old man. Jett would tell you time and time again how much he owed his grandpa, along with his sister Ruby. I had to agree with him on both accounts. Not only had they made a huge impact on Jett’s life, but they had on mine too.
Not going to deny his gramps anything, he released me—but not before he laid a smacking kiss on my lips. Gramps chuckled and moved in, snatching me up, and without wasting any time, he was spinning me around the makeshift dance floor that had been installed in the backyard.
I giggled as I twirled, my eyes taking in the scene thatpassed by in somewhat of a blur—Gramps could still move when he wanted to.
Some of our friends were on the dance floor with their spouses, the kids were bouncing around together, and my heart flipped over at Dusty dancing with Griffin. It was the cutest thing in the world to see my new bestie and my son together.
