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I smiled and looked up at my father.
“Oh, daddy. We deserve each other,” I teased.
He rolled his eyes. “You’re not a father, you wouldn’t understand.”
As he said it, he looked down at the top of Lock’s head, brushing his lips against his fuzzy, still not quite all there, hair.
Making my heart squeeze in my chest.
My father and I had had a rocky relationship for the first four months of my pregnancy.
I was still, quite understandably, upset about what had happened.
My father didn’t offer any apologies, and I hadn’t expected him to.
In the end, I’d decided to forgive him.
I missed him. I also missed my mother who was torn between my dad and me.
So, I became the bigger person and let him back into my life, with the promise from him that he’d stay out of my business if I wanted him to.
He’d reluctantly agreed, but I could tell that he trusted Downy to take care of me.
Otherwise, he probably would’ve never agreed, and we’d have gone on living as I did before I’d met Downy.
We arrived at the beginning of the rug that ran up the length of the aisle.
I smiled at the attendees staring at me, but it didn’t take long before my eyes found the man at the end of the aisle, staring at me with an expression of shock on his face.
He looked like he’d literally been punched in the belly.
“What’s wrong with Downy?” I asked my dad.
“That’s what the face of a man who’s just seen his bachelor days fly the fuck away,” he teased.
I smacked him on the arm and left him where he stood, chuckling at his own joke.
He didn’t bother to try to catch me, only stayed back as I hurried down the aisle towards my future.***“I, Downy, take you, Memphis, to be my understanding and forgiving wife. To have and to tickle from this day forward. I promise to always make sure the lids on the jars aren’t twisted on too tight. I also promise to try to put down the toilet seat, but I can’t say for sure that I won’t slip up from time to time,” he teased, causing the crowd around us to laugh.
His massive hands clamped down on my face, one on either side of my head, and he said, “I also promise that I’ll do everything I can to make sure you’re happy. I promise to never leave your side without you knowing I’m going, and to always answer your calls. You’ll never want or need for anything, because I’ll always be here to give you what you need.”
My face blushed at that last part, causing him to chuckle before he leaned in to place a tiny kiss on my nose. “You’re my happily ever after, my saving grace, and the breath in my chest. I’ll love you until the day I die.”
I was crying, big fat tears were rolling down my face as he gently placed one more kiss on my cheek before he let me go.
“Memphis has also written some vows that she’d like to share with everybody,” our reverend said.
I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, it was to see Downy laughing at me.
He knew how I hated talking in front of crowds.
He also thought it was funny.
Which he would, because the man had absolutely no problem speaking in front of a hundred people, let alone the entire county.
Deciding that honesty was better than the cheesy lines I’d written weeks before, I winged it…like a boss!
“I, Memphis,” my voice cracked out. “Promise that I’ll allow you to leave our family dinners without a word from the peanut gallery…i.e. me. I promise that, when you change a dirty diaper, I’ll give you the acknowledgement that I know you need. I also promise that I’ll allow you to open the jars because it emasculates you when I can do it myself.”
The crowd started to laugh, but I continued. “I also promise that I’ll wait up for you. When you’re on a call, I’ll be waiting for you to get home. I’ll pray for your safety, but I’ll never make you quit, because being an officer of the law is a part of you.”
He grinned and started to lean forward. “But that also means that as an officer of the law, and my husband, you have a duty to take care of any unwanted tickets that I may have.”
With that, I pulled a slip of paper out of my bra, thankful when I didn’t expose anything else to him when I did so.
Handing it over, I let him read it.
It took a moment for him to understand, but when he did, he started to bellow with laughter.
“You never paid it?” He laughed until tears started leaking from his eyes.
I shook my head.
He grinned, then turned and started walking to the chief who was four rows back.
He was sitting with his arm around his wife, grinning like a loon.
He knew I didn’t pay it.
I refused to.
I actually think I had a warrant, too, but that wasn’t ever going to be upheld, not in Kilgore, anyway.
It was the ticket that ex-Officer Prescott had given me for going one mile an hour over the speed limit.
The one I’d received over a year ago. The one that had spawned a lusty sex session in the backseat of Downy’s truck.
The chief took the slip of paper warily as Downy said, “Take care of that for me while I’m on my honeymoon, would you?”
Chief Rhodes just shook his head as he read what was on the ticket, then looked at me like I was nuts.
I shrugged, unrepentant.
The ticket was stupid! And the guy wasn’t even a cop anymore! Why should I have to pay for it?
Four hours later, with my baby boy sleeping in my arms, and my husband’s arm around my shoulder, we were getting ready to leave.
The party had still been going strong, but I was tired. Especially now that I was pregnant again.
Something I’d yet to tell Downy.
