“No.” She slid it off her finger and she held it up to the light. All around the inner band the word “mine” was written. She counted seven times, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine, mine. A smile she couldn’t contain spread on her face. Any doubts she might have had instantly disappeared.
32
FOUR MONTHS LATER
Nothing about todayfelt real as Deacon stood on the wide-planked back porch of the Lockhart main house, an hour before he would walk down the aisle and say “I do,” for the second time. He and Jenna had already made things official a week after they got engaged. It turned out he wasn’t a patient man, and thankfully, he had two cheerleading girls on his side who asked for only one thing for Christmas. To have their parents get married. That wasn’t all they got, of course, he got in a little trouble going overboard for Blake, but she’d given him the greatest gift of his life, and she was the best big sister to Tabby, so pretty much, that girl could dono wrongin his eyes.
The ceremony at the Pine Ridge County Clerk’s office was short and sweet with only ten attendees. The girls, Poppy and AJ, Liam and Frankie, Asher and Ava, his mom and Chuck, and Yaya and Mr. Santino, who had always struck Deacon as a loner but seemed to be embracing the large, loud Greek family and extended family he’d married into.
Today was the wedding Jenna never got to have, the one she’d always dreamed of but never thought she deserved. It was a surprise to her. She had no clue they’d been planning it. Two months ago, Blake found a Pinterest board on her mom’s computer that she’d had for over a decade and continued adding to and asked her about it. Jenna told her it was silly, that even though she’d been married three times, she’d never actually had a wedding because when she married Asher it was because she was pregnant with Blake, she married James and was ashamed because she cheated, so sometimes she just daydreamed about what it would be like to be a bride and have a wedding. Silly.
When Blake came into Deacon’s office with another serious look, saying they needed to talk, and told him what she’d discovered, he knew it was time to start making his wife’s dreams come true.
So today was the day. Jenna was currently in town with his mom and the girls getting their nails done because they were having “family pictures” taken. She was due back any minute. Jenna thought they were coming up for a visit to see his mom, which was true, he’d also flown half of Hope Falls up as well, and they were all staying at the dude ranch as guests.
The Lockhart Ranch was, by all measures, an absurdly extravagant spot to get married: over ten thousand acres of manicured pastures and old-growth oak, the faint tang of salt on the wind from the Pacific, and the distant thunder of whitecaps visible on a clear day like this. The blue sky was almost cartoonish, a primary color painted thick above the copper rooftop, so endless and electric it felt like it belonged in a children’s book. Below, the grass ran in perfect emerald swathes up to the fence lines, and beyond those, horses grazed in clusters, their dappled flankscatching the sun in a way that made the whole scene shimmer. Sometimes, if he squinted, Deacon could almost believe the place was a movie set and that he’d stumbled onto it by accident, a trespasser in someone else’s dream.
He rested his hands on the cedar railing, the wood warm against his palms, and tried to steady his pulse. The ranch was a working operation, but even that word felt too unrefined for what the Lockhart’s had built: there was a world-class vineyard tucked in the hills, a five-star spa, and longhorns that could have been bred for a Texas cattle baron. Every outbuilding gleamed with fresh paint; every turn of the gravel path was a cue for another perfect Instagram photo. The mountain ridges in the distance were dusted with gold and shadow, and further west, a blue haze marked the ocean’s edge.
It was honestly the most breathtakingly beautiful place Deacon had ever seen in his life. He and Jenna talked about splitting their time there after the girls were grown. They were definitely going to be spending a lot of time in the summers at the ranch. It was a short air commute from the ranch to We-C-U headquarters in Seattle, and now that the cat was out of the bag, Blake wanted to intern there over the summer. The girls loved their abuela and Papa Chuck, their crazy uncles, and, of course, all the animals. Blake was obsessed with the horses, and Tabby couldn’t get enough of the mini goats. Both girls loved Rex, Ranger, Lady, Duchess and the ranch cat Banjo, who might be the tiniest of the fifty plus animals but was the mightiest of them all and ruled the ranch with a flick of his mischievous tail.
Deacon got in a little more trouble because after their last visit, he bought Blake a horse to board at Hope Falls Stables. In fairness to him, it was for her sixteenth birthday, and he’d been with Asher when he got it. Bothmen decided it was an ask for forgiveness than permission situation, but Deacon was the one who dealt with the costakisses. He was fine with that. The look on Blake’s face when he drove her to the stables was worth it.
Since getting married to Jenna, it was like all the pieces of his life just clicked into place. He no longer felt like an outsider in Hope Falls. He played basketball on the same team as Asher, AJ, Niko, and Liam every other Thursday night. Through the league he’d gotten to know most of the HFPD and HFFD guys, not to mention all the guys that train at Lucky’s Gym for MMA. He’d never had a large group of male friends before or siblings, but now he had an embarrassment of riches in both departments.
All he’d ever had was Cillian, who he was still so grateful for and was his best man today.
As if he’d read his mind, Cillian came up from behind him and grabbed his shoulders. “How did you go from an only child to having four sisters and five brothers?Nine siblings. It’s fucking crazy.”
The Lockhart men and Liam were all gathered around the fire pit talking. Poppy, Phoebe, Paulina, and Pippa were all inside the house getting everything ready for when Jenna got home. He’d ordered every single dress she’d pinned and also some she hadn’t that Blake, Tiana, and Zion Ash, who was big in the fashion world and would be taking the “family photos,” aka wedding photos, today, had chosen.
“I know. I never thought this would be my life.” Deacon shook his head.
“I couldn’t be happier for you, boyo.”
“You too, man. You are finally having your boy.”
Cillian and Leanne found out the week before that she was three months pregnant, and this time it was a boy.Cillian beamed as Deacon’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out and read the message.
Mom
We’re almost home
“She’s back,” Deacon said to himself as much as his friend as he walked around the wraparound porch and down the front steps.
He watched his mom’s truck driving down the half-mile road that led to the main house. When his wife’s face finally came into view, he could see her shock and disbelief as she took in the preparations. Both girls in the back seat were talking nonstop. He was sure they were filling her in on what was going on.
The truck came to a stop, and Jenna climbed down. She had tears in her eyes. He thought they were good tears. He hoped they were good tears.
His girls got out of the back and ran past him giggling, instructing Jenna, “Wait here.”
“Just wait, Mom.”
He knew they were headed in to make sure the bridal suite was up to par. Blake had a veryspecificvision of what she wanted Jenna to walk into.
“How did you do all this?”
“Money,” he teased.
