AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Easy for you to say. Oliver made sure you had a crazy amazing wedding. He even flew everyone to Vegas.” I was a jerk for even saying it, but it was true.
“Yes, but he was an idiot before then. Oliver wouldn’t have known a romantic gesture if you whacked him upside the head with it until I let him know he needed to step up. And Ally? Seth sat on the fact he was in love with her for years. Men are dumb, okay? You know what’s not dumb? This great guy rushing you to get married.”
“But why is he rushing?”
“So you don’t get away, you idiot. Guys who don’t want to get married will make any excuse to avoid it. Dare? Nope, he wants you forever. So stop looking at the bad side of this, okay?” Sage held up a finger. “Okay, maybe I need to sit down now.”
Ally flew forward, holding one of the chairs that had lined the wall. My mom ran for a cup of water and rushed back to Sage’s side.
For the first time, tears actually filled my eyes. “You think so?”
“I know so.” Sage took a swig from the water. “I also know so because I saw him freaking out in the hallway. The boy is toast. Put him out of his misery, woman. Time to put a ring on it.”
I tipped my head back so the tears wouldn’t fall and ruin my makeup. “I didn’t think of it that way.”
“Of course you didn’t. Because you’re our sweet Kelsey with a big romantic heart.” She made gimme hands at me and I went over to crouch in front of her. “You just have to alter your thinking about romance a little. Dare’s a little rougher around the edges. He’s more likely to do maintenance on your car and take it to get vacuumed as a sweet gesture. He’ll learn how to be a bit more romantic with some subtle training.”
“You’re good,” Ally said with a laugh. “And she’s right. Seth is a big smushball now, but he sure wasn’t when we were first together. I have the contract to prove it.”
I frowned. “What?”
Ally waved her fingers. “Never mind. Just know that the boy definitely took a lot of wrong turns before he got it right.” She held her hand out to me to help me up. “Now, we have a wedding to go to, right?”
I nodded and straightened my dress. “We do.” I hugged Ally, then Sage. “I’m so ready to do this.”
“Good, now help me up,” Sage said with a laugh. “Getting out of chairs is the suck.”
We both grabbed an arm and they lined up to go out ahead of me. I squeezed my mom’s hand. “He’s a really good man.”
“I know it. But if he wasn’t right, I’d take you home right now.”
“Thanks, Mom.” I brushed a kiss over her cheek. The familiar scent of White Diamonds settled my nerves.
On the other side of the doorway was my dad. My eyes overflowed again. Evidently, the tears had just been trapped and now I couldn’t control them.
He held out his arm for me to take and my mother flanked me on the other side. We all walked down the hallway with the late day sun streaking over the worn vanilla-colored tiles. As we reached the room, I saw more sunflowers tied to the benches and two more swags of them on the bench behind the town judge.
We’d gotten our wedding license on our lunch break the day before. Again, so clinical and quick. Thirty minutes out of our day to sign for permission to do this. The paperwork had been rushed through thanks to our friendship with the Hamiltons, who might as well have owned Crescent Cove.
Sage and Ally were blocking my line of sight as they walked down to stand on my side of the aisle. Then it was just me and my parents on the threshold of the room. Dare was there with Wes holding onto his pinkie, our ring box clutched in his little hand.
The strings version of one of my favorite songs filled the room. The words weren’t right yet. And Dare might not know how fast I’d fallen for him. I didn’t even know how to put the feelings into words. But they were bursting inside me and suddenly, I knew that this was right for us.
For our little family.
It didn’t matter that we were doing it in a courthouse. We were doing this because we believed that being a family meant more than a ceremony. It was the safety of his arms and his home that we’d make ours. And this little life growing inside me who I loved already. He or she wasn’t a mistake, just a new start.
Exactly what I’d been looking for.
Dare cleared his throat as my dad kissed my cheek and took my hand and put it in Dare’s. My mom moved up to cover both our hands and then pulled Dare down for a quick kiss on his cheek before she did the same to me. While I sniffled, they walked to the bench behind us to join my sister Rylee.
Dare wasn’t sure what to do with Wes, so I just held my other hand out to him until we made a little triangle in front of Judge Hamilton. Dare gave me that fierce look again and I didn’t care if the tears flowed. This rough, intense, frustrating man was going to marry me today.
Both of these Kramer men were going to be part of my family from today on out.
Dare stepped closer to me. His hand never left his son’s, but he was definitely intent on saying something. He dipped his hand in his pocket for a moment, fisting his hand before withdrawing it and taking mine once more.
“All that matters to me is that you want this.”
