Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78387 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 392(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 261(@300wpm)
“Are you mocking me, Elle?” Mom asks.
I think about hugging her, but she’d probably kick my ass. “Not at all. Next year, in a vineyard, Dad will walk me down the aisle, and you’ll get all the pretty picture’s you want. Oliver will be our ring bearer or maybe he’ll walk Beau. It doesn’t matter. What does is, Ben and I want a wedding, with all the pomp and circumstance that comes with it.”
“Well except the bachelor party,” Ben says.
“That’s what you think,” Quinn hollers from the side.
I put my arm around Ben’s waist and lean in. “We took a shortcut because it was right for us, but we still want it all. The flowers, the music, the kiss at sunset,” I say as I look at my husband.
“Oh, I’m so happy.” Mom doesn’t hesitate to hug us. I do my damnedest to keep cake away from her face and hair, but she ends up with some on it.
The three of us are in this circle until we hear Dad yell, “Oliver, no.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see a chubby little hand digging into the cake and that cake filled hand going right for his mouth. When he hears his name, he turns and giggles, with cake smeared everywhere.
EPILOGUE
As soon as Ben and I walk into Peyton and Noah’s California home, the smell of roasting turkey dominates the ever-present scent of sea salt air. My stomach growls loudly and a bit embarrassingly. Ben laughs, lets Beau off his leash, and drapes his free arm over my shoulders. In his other hand are thank you presents he bought for my family. Well, our family. I told him he didn’t have to do anything, but he wanted to make sure everyone knew how much he appreciated the support this year.
We walk into the kitchen and find my mom hovering over the stove with Josie and Jenna. My sister, Eden, Paige, and Nola are off to the side entertaining a very chatty Oliver, and the men in my life are in the other room, watching football. You’d think Noah would rather watch something else, but he still enjoys the game.
“Well, it smells good in here.”
My mom is the first to turn and squeal in surprise. It doesn’t matter that she saw us last weekend, she’s happy to see us all the time.
“I’m starving,” I say as I give my mom a hug.
“Good because I made enough to feed an army,” she says. “How are you, Ben?” Every day, she asks him how he’s doing, and thankfully the answer is always the same.
“Feeling awesome.”
I look at him and beam. This year has been rough, to say the least. The difficulties are moments I cherish but also want to forget. I keep them in the back of mind as a reminder of what we’ve overcome and how we got there to begin with. They’re flashes in my life—our life together as a couple—that help us grow, and not something we dwell on. We’re coming up on the year anniversary when things started going downhill for Ben and me. It’s not a day I want to remember, but it’s one we talk about often. We both made mistakes and it took a life-altering situation for us to see the error of our ways. Thankfully, we did.
“What can I do to help?” I ask the moms.
Jenna waves me off. “Don’t be silly, go hang with your sister.”
“But I want to help,” I tell them. I don’t really, but it’s nice to put the offer out there.
“Someday, all of this will be yours,” Josie says. “And the three of us will be sitting on the balcony, with a glass of wine . . .”
“Or the whole bottle,” my mom interjects.
“And our children will be in charge of making our feast,” Josie laments with a sigh.
I hold in my laughter until I see Jenna bend over and crack up. These ladies are too much and by the looks of it, are already in deep with their wine drinking.
“Oh, I know how you can help,” my mom says.
“How?”
“Go plan your wedding. I want to start finalizing everything after the first of the year.”
I roll my eyes and Ben laughs. Marrying him in his hospital room was the smartest thing I’ve done since I told him I loved him years ago. Telling my parents, we got married without them—not so much. At first, they were hurt, which was reasonable, but they understood why we did what we did. However, the “let’s set a date” topic popped up as soon as Ben and I told them we were still having a wedding and we’ve been in planning mode ever since. Ben and I decided on a summer wedding, next year, during a break in the tour. The moms—Katelyn, Josie, and Jenna—are all hands-on deck when it comes to planning. We even consult Brenda on a few of the finer details.