“The courthouse might give her time to think... but we could take her to the new teahouse she’s been talking about. We can book one of their private gardens. Have it there.” Lincoln was the best. I’d never have thought of that.
“Doesn’t that take months?” The place had gone viral on social media, so my guess was they were still booked out for months.
“No… maybe. Let me see what I can do.”
Ten minutes later, my mate had a reservation for their smallest, most private garden for later this afternoon. He had also called in a favor with someone at work who was a justice of the peace and could marry us. All we had left to do was go to town hall and get our license.
“They open at ten,” he said. “Call your mom and invite her to tea. Tell her it’s the fancy kind with the gloves. She’ll love it.”
He was right about that. When I told her that we had a reservation in the garden for afternoon high tea and that a hat and gloves were required, she squealed, mentioned something about having to find something to wear, and got off the phone.
“Do you think your parents and brother would come too? Even though it’s a human thing?” It would make the event special without making it huge.
“I can call and ask.”
His family said they would “make it happen.” We were doing this, and I was excited about the actual ceremony for the very first time since my mom decided she was going to plan our big day. If my mom came out of this mad about the way we did this, she could plan another wedding another time and I’d show up.
What I wouldn’t do was be a part of the planning process. It was far too stressful for me now as a pregnant omega, and I was sure doubly so when our little one was here. She could make all the arrangements and we’d show up. That was the best I could do for her.
Town hall was easy-peasy. We filled out a couple of papers, gave them some money, and were done. Once upon a time, there were waiting periods and blood tests and who knew what else. But now, you just paid and you were done with it. I liked it.
“Our family is coming in fancy attire, so we should probably pick some up for ourselves,” he said.
I wasn’t sure if his family would be as decked out as my mother, but that didn’t matter. They could come in shorts and a hoodie and I’d be just as happy to see them. Knowing they dropped everything for a ceremony that didn’t really mean anything to their kind was huge.
I groaned at the thought of getting new clothes. I wasn’t huge yet, but I definitely wasn’t fitting into my own suits. We went to the fancy suit store, and they had multiple outfits that fit me, to my surprise. The man assured me it would be usable after my pregnancy with only minor alterations. I called it a win.
“We look good.” I stared at the reflection in the mirror as I stood next to my mate, wearing his own new suit.
“Better than good.” He took my hand in his. “So good, in fact, we should probably do something special, huh?” He tapped my nose.
“What about a wedding?” I teased. “We could get married.”
“Sounds perfect to me.”
The old man who had helped us was giggling in the background. He was apparently amused by us, even if he didn’t understand why we were spontaneously getting married on a random day.
My mom was already in the garden when we arrived, and true to form, she was dressed to the nines. My mate’s parents and brother were there only a few minutes later.
The atmosphere was perfect. It was private, the flowers in bloom, and it felt like we’d walked into a novel from days gone by. I loved it.
“Oh, don’t you two look handsome!” Mother said. “What’s the special occasion? Is there a birthday I missed?” She looked straight at my mate and then to his family.
“No, Mom,” Lincoln said. I loved it when he’d started calling her that recently. “We just thought it was a good day to get married.”
“We have the wedding all scheduled!”
I crossed over to her and took her gloved hands in mine. “Mom, I’m pregnant. I want to be married. We can talk about having the big wedding another time, but for now, I want to be married in front of the people who mean the most to us.”
To my surprise, she choked up, hugged me, and said, “Anything for you, Son, as long as you’re happy.”
The man Lindoln arranged to do the ceremony was already there, waiting in the wings. We said our vows with our family as our witnesses and followed it with the most luxurious high tea I’d ever seen. It was the perfect wedding, even my mother agreed.
21
LINCOLN
My beast didn’t see the need to attend birthing classes because omegas had been giving birth for thousands of years, but as I pointed out, he didn’t have to give birth to a baby. Not the one Bronson was carrying and not any baby ever. And we supported our mate.
