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“To best friends and soon-to-be sisters.” Arianna hugs me so tight I feel my vertebrae popping. I nod, pulling away but not completely out of the hug. “Let’s go.”
We walk out of the suite, down the hall and into our future, holding hands.
* * *
Jack
“Well, best man…”
“No, you’re my best man…”
“This is fucking nuts.” I shake my head, but I’ve never been happier.
“Listen,” Carter says as he finishes knotting his bow tie. “You know, there’s got to be some ground rules. You’re marrying my sister—”
“You’re marrying my fucking daughter. So…”
He waves his hands and turns toward me. “I just…I’m happy for you, man. I’m happy for me.” He slaps his chest. “But, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to take any sort of…” He blows out a breath, thinking before he finishes. “Don’t ever tell me anything about you and Layla’s…you know. Bedroom life.”
I nod. “Fair, and not a fucking word about anything you do with, or to, or even think about with my daughter.”
Carter shoves out his hand. “Deal. Shake on it.”
I grab his hand and we seal that moment but it’s way more. We’ve had some tense moments since we found out the deal, but we’ve mostly handled it like gentlemen, and things are back to solid between us.
“Ready guys?” Harrison Higgins comes to the door. “The girls are heading down.”
We both nod, looking at the other. “Ready,” we say in unison.
As we walk down the hall at the Manor House Hotel, and take our places at the double doors leading into the aviary, I glance around at the white and pink roses and lilies. The girls had so much fun planning this day, even if they didn’t have very long.
It’s extravagant but simple. It’s just the four of us and the pastor and his daughter. The girls had no budget, but in the end, they had more fun putting most of it together themselves.
A minute later, it’s time. We turn to see the girls walking our way, smiles beaming, and I think my heart is going to ram through my chest as my eyes start to burn.
“They’re so beautiful.” I hear Carter’s voice crack and I look to see him swiping the back of his hand over his eyes, and I chuckle as he shoots me a look. “Oh fuck, don’t act like you’re not crying too, you big fuck.”
“It’s true.” I slip my fingers under my eye and wipe away my own tear as Arianna comes to my right arm, looping her hand there and giving me a smile.
“Dad. Are you crying?”
“No,” I grit out as I see Layla give me a wink, taking her place to Carter’s right just as the music starts to play.
“Here we go,” Layla says, and we all take our first step forward together.
We walk up the aisle, pausing in front of the pastor who nods at each of us.
I lean down, lifting Arianna’s veil from her face and giving her a soft kiss on her cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Dad.”
We exchange our girls, handing the most important possession we each have off to the other.
Carter leans in to whisper in my ear. “You better make her happy.”
“And you better make her happy.”
We nod at each other, the girls pulling us back to the moment, and as I look down at Layla, the tears start to flow.
The next few minutes go by so fast, I hardly even notice what’s happening. You think your wedding is going to be this big deal. And sure, it kind of is. But for me, my life with Layla started already and the ceremony is only to confirm to the whole world what I already know: that I’ll never let her go, or let her down, or let a thing happen to her. I think I sob through the whole ceremony, but I don’t fucking care.
I’m Layla’s husband.
Her lover.
Her best friend.
Her confidant.
Her everything.
And, most important of all…her Daddy. Forever.
Chapter 13
Jack
Nine months later
God, please, don’t let me fuck this up.
I wipe my eyes as the nurse hands me the little bundle and I turn and see Layla beaming up at me.
“She’s perfect.” The tears well up again as my wife reaches for me and I come over and lay Penelope on her chest.
“She is perfect.” Layla’s face is flushes, her hair a beautiful mess around her face but she’s never looked more beautiful.
She settles Penny into the crook of her arm as I pull the covers up and over her bare breasts. It’s chilly in here, and I don’t want her feeling anything but warmth and comfort right now.
“How women do this, I’ll never know.” I slide into the bed next to her, kissing her temple as she leans her head into my shoulder.
“We’re tougher than men,” she answers on a giggle. “That’s not true, but right now, I gotta say it feels true.”
