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“Psst,” I said none too softly, causing some of the guests seated on the lawn surrounding the gazebo to laugh softly. Including my beaming parents and Macy, who toasted me with a warm mug of something that probably wasn’t entirely java.
“Do you have my bouquet?” I asked my sister.
Rylee was staring straight ahead, transfixed. Her mouth moved, but I wasn’t entirely sure her brain had engaged. “Yes. It’s sitting on the dashboard in my car.”
“Oh, that’s helpful. I’ll just go get it right quick.” I dashed away from the walkway, one hand on my now precarious tiara and the other holding my belly.
Gasps sounded behind me, and all too swiftly, I realized the crowd thought they had a runaway bride situation on their hands.
“Sorry, no, I’m not running away, promise.” I stopped dead and gave my stricken groom a sheepish smile.
Dare looked absolutely crestfallen, as if the idea of me escaping was the worst possible thing that could happen. And wasn’t that sweet?
Lord, I was crying again.
So, this ceremony wasn’t altogether different from the first one after all.
Thanks, baby boy. I’m blaming this sobfest on you.
“I’ll get the flowers.” Rylee dragged me back onto the walkway leading to the gazebo, casting one more glance over her shoulder at the waiting men. “And then I may not come back.”
“Um, okay, thanks?” She was already sprinting up the sidewalk to the long line of cars parked along the curb as if she wasn’t wearing six-inch spiked heels and there wasn’t a fine layer of snow on the ground.
/> I debated if I should wait for her or just keep moving, since the wedding march was winding down and I still had not made it to the gazebo. Maybe she really didn’t intend to come back? Something had spooked her for sure. Possibly just the idea of the wedding itself, though Dare and I were already married. And she hadn’t seemed out of sorts at our first wedding.
“Kelsey!” Wes called, falling silent as his father set him down and clamped a hand on his shoulder. “I mean, Miss Kelsey.” He shrugged as if he didn’t know what his father was correcting him for.
Everyone laughed. Not me. I was too busy sniffling as I made my choice.
No flowers were worth missing another second of this ceremony.
Holding up my lacy white dress—I’d worn the one from our first ceremony with an added white cloak due to the weather—I ascended the stairs in a hurry, unable to drag my attention from Dare’s face. He was smiling down at me, but his brows were furrowed and his gorgeous eyes still held worry from my momentary flight.
He extended a hand to me, pulling me up that last step, and I totally broke protocol by reaching up to pull his face down to mine for a quick kiss. Oohs and aahs registered around us as I spoke against his lips. “I’m not going anywhere. Ever.”
“Damn straight you aren’t.” He squeezed my hand and I reached for Wes’s, making that same triangle we had the first time around.
With the Christmas lights twinkling and the snow softly coming down over the lake, we made our vows to each other in front of our friends and family and all of Crescent Cove who wandered by. I caught a glimpse of some of the townsfolk out of the corner of my eye, standing on the sidewalk in their winter best, watching us with glowing smiles. It felt like everyone in town wanted us to be happy.
“I pronounce you husband and wife—again,” Judge Hamilton said with a grin and a wink. “You may kiss the bride.”
And this time around, Dare didn’t keep things quite as chaste. He nudged my veil out of the way and dipped his head to mine, taking my mouth with that hint of aggression I’d never stop loving.
My gruff, rough, sweet-as-heck husband, kissing me for the whole world to see.
Including his son. Our son now.
“Eww, my eyes,” Wes wailed, yanking on the hand I still gripped so he could cover his face.
Laughter broke out around us and with that, the ceremony was over. Sage rushed forward to hug me hard, followed by Ally and my parents and Dare’s parents. His brother, Gage, stepped forward, his handsome face creased in a smile, but he came to a halt as heels pounded up the steps.
“Really? Isn’t this overkill?”
I turned at the sound of my sister’s voice. She was staring hard at Gage, and frozen petals from my bouquet of winter white roses were fluttering around her feet.
“Um, can I have that, please?” I asked. “I’d like to dry the flowers,” what remained of them anyway, “and press them into my planner.”
Rylee stuck the bouquet out at me and propped her other hand on her hip. “I thought we agreed on no repeats. So you, what, stalk me here? Seriously, dude, not cool.”
