“Your gifts will continue to support the rescue and the animals my wife loves, and remember my wonderful mother, who we all miss dearly. She would have been the first person on the dance floor tonight, so I want to see you all out there for her. Thank you.”
I sat down, and Trixie pulled me into her arms and gave me a kiss. I looked over and connected eyes with Dad. He smiled and tapped his chest twice over his heart.
The rain kept up as the sun went down, and everyone took my orders seriously. Most of my teammates were out there tearing it up on the dance floor. My siblings were making fools of themselves, as was to be expected.
Isak had his tie fashioned around his head like a headband and was making sure to ask every single lady in attendance for a whirl around the floor. Flynn held his new girlfriend Tempest close and swayed to the beat, while Gryff and his girl Artie moved like they had no joints... or rhythm. It was painful to watch, but you couldn’t look away.
Someone had even thought it was a good idea to let Luke out of his rolling prison and onto the dance floor, where he was boogieing along with most of the Mustangs’ O-line.
I made eye contact with Trixie, who was chatting with an aunt who had come in from out of town, and winked. Just a few more hours and I’d have her all to myself. I couldn’t wait.
Suddenly there was a loud crash as one of the more exuberant dancers accidentally bumped into a member of the waitstaff who was clearing a tray of glasses, causing it to topple to the floor. The noise scared Luke, who made a run for it straight off the dance floor and out the barn doors and into the rain.
“Luke, no,” Trixie called, and she ran after him into the night.
And I ran after her.
Outside, Luke made a break for it like a chicken with its head still on, and Trixie tried to follow him, but the yard around the barn had turned into a swamp. She reached out to grab him and ended up slipping in the mud, landing on her stomach.
I got to her as quickly as I could, but when I tried to stop, I quickly found out that dress shoes and mud just don’t mix. I ended up in a heap next to her in the muck.
We both sat up, looked at each other, and burst into laughter. My beautiful bride was absolutely covered in filth. Rain was pouring down her glasses and I wasn’t sure she could even see me. I suddenly regretted choosing a white tuxedo jacket, as it made everything so much worse.
Luke, the asshole, had the nerve to stand there and look at us like we were crazy.
I helped her up out of the dirt, snagged Luke and tucked him under my arm, and we made our way back to the covered porch of the Welcome Center, where Ciara and my family were waiting.
Ciara took one look at us and shook her head, but with a smile. She lifted a walkie-talkie to her mouth and said, “Wes, initiate backup protocol Dirty Birdies.”
My father looked at us, then at the chicken, then told Isak to get the chicken back home.
Luke’s glare was filled with betrayal as he was returned to his stroller and prepared to go home.
“Well, it’s not like we didn’t plan for this,” Ciara said.
“You planned for us to end up covered in mud at our wedding?” Trixie asked, looking at me.
“I, um, might have asked Rose Vond to make us backup copies of our wedding outfits in case there were any accidents.”
For a moment I thought she was going to scold me for being so ridiculous, but she just smiled and said, “That’s my husband.”
Whoa. Instant boner. With my whole family looking at me.
Think about the damn chicken. Think about the god damn chicken.
“Wes will meet you with some towels over by theluxurytoilet trailers on the east side so you two can get cleaned up,” Ciara said. “I’ll let security know to tell everyone they’re temporarily out of service.”
“Luxury toilet trailers,” I repeated with satisfaction. “Yes, they are.”
Ciara grinned and patted my arm. “Hop to it. You two have a cake to cut. Mud or no mud, this wedding is staying on schedule.”
“I think she can’t wait to be rid of me,” I said to Trixie as we headed out. The monogrammed umbrellas sure came in handy.
“I think she’s just very serious about her job,” Trixie replied. “Besides, she isn’t really getting rid of us. We’ll be seeing her again in July for Kelsey and Declan’s wedding in Aspen.”
“True.”
Wes met us at the trailer as promised with fresh towels and garment bags, and we got to work. This was not exactly how I’d pictured taking my wife out of her wedding dress tonight, but we managed to get off our dirty clothes and into the dry-cleaning bags she had provided. We soaked some of the towels in warm water and, almost like magic, managed to get all the dirt off our skin and dry off.
