“Shh, it’s okay, Kitten.”
“I don’t know if I can do this…” she says quietly with a shaky voice.
“You can, Veronica. I know this is hard, but I promise you, this won’t change anything. I love you, and I know you love me. But so does Gabe. You’re focusing on me when you should be focusing on him,” he whispers back to her.
“I don’t want you to hate me…”
“I could never hate you, Kitten. We’re forever.”
“Forever,” she murmurs in return.
They’re silent for a few seconds before Noah speaks up again. “You should see how excited he is. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this happy. He’s probably going to cry when he sees you.”
“You think so?”
“I do, or he’ll just be smiling like a goofy person.” He chuckles.
She giggles softly. “That does sound more like Gabriel.”
Noah sighs. “You look beautiful, Kitten. Now wipe those tears away and go make our guy the happiest man in the world. I’ll be standing right at his side the whole time.”
“Okay,” she whispers, then it’s followed by some smooching sounds.
“You’ve got this. I’ll see you soon.”
Noah exits my walk-in with a smile on his face, nodding to us as he leaves the room. Ronnie comes out seconds later with a newly determined expression. “All right! Let’s get me married!” she exclaims and we all come in to hug her.
“Knock, knock.” Amanda’s voice pulls us away from our little cheerful moment. “It’s time.” She beams at us all.
We make our way to the patio doors that lead to the backyard and find our partners all waiting for us in a line with Ronnie’s father at the back. Through the doors, I can see John standing in the center of the archway with Gabe looking sophisticated beside him, and as promised, Noah is standing alongside him.
Since there aren’t many guests aside from us, our parents, the Storms, as well as Maze and Bear, who managed to make it, we’ll all be sitting once we reach the end of the path. We’re just doing the walk down before the bride as the couple’s bridesmaids and groomsmen.
The Burkleys stand together at the front, then the Hayeses, followed by the Fords, and ending with Shane and I, the soon-to-be Jeffersons. I smile at the thought as I take my place beside Shane.
“Hey, you.” I kiss Shane’s cheek and hold onto his arm.
“Hi, Angel. How are you feeling? Not too tired? I know this was a big day for you, and you didn’t get a chance to nap.” He smiles down at me as we take a step closer to the doors, waiting for our turn to step out.
“I’m good. You don’t need to worry about me.” I lean my head against his arm.
“I’ll always worry about you, Aubrey. It’s my job to.” He kisses the top of my head as we take another step closer, now only Emma and my brother left in front of us.
I look through the doors and spot Julian, looking displeased as always, in one seat beside his brothers. “You managed to find Julian? Where was he hiding?”
Shane chuckles. “In the pool room.”
I giggle and shake my head as we take the final step. “Of course, he was hiding there.”
Shane looks out toward the ceremony we will be joining any second. “I can’t wait to do this with you,” he says quietly.
I tighten my hold around his arm. “I can’t wait to do this with you, too.”
We smile at each other as Amanda gestures for us to go. We make our walk down the aisle, smiling at Gabe and Noah and everyone else around. Once we reach the end, Shane and I part ways, him going to the right with the rest of the groomsmen, and me to the left with the rest of the bridesmaids.
The music stops and a new melody begins to play as Ronnie and her father walk toward us. Her eyes are watery as she wears the biggest smile on her face, one that looks identical to Gabe’s. When they make it halfway down, Stephen stops and kisses his daughter’s cheek.
Ronnie looks at him with confusion until she notices Noah walking toward her. A quiet sob falls from her lips as he takes her arm and finishes the walk with her, kissing her temple along the way.
