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“Watch it, Murph,” Dad tells him.
Poor Linc stares in shock or maybe awe. I can’t tell. “Damn, Cooper said you guys are crazy, but seriously, I feel like I’m in an episode of the Kardashians.”
Nat laughs, “The Kardashians have nothing on us.”
Once dinner’s done and everything’s gotten somewhat back to normal, talk circles back to our engagement. “We really don’t want to wait. We don’t want anything big. We picked up our license today and are just going to go to City Hall one day this week,” I tell the table.
“Fuck that,” Murphy says as Katherine glares. He pulls out his phone then looks back up. “I can get certified online right now. I’ll marry you right here.” Murph looks around the table and rubs his hands together. “Let’s do this.”
Belle squeezes my leg under the table. “Everyone we love is here, Dec.”
“Your mother’s not here, Declan,” Dad reminds me.
My mom and I barely talk these days. She’s living the life of a retired model in Italy with a boyfriend a few months younger than Nattie and Cooper. “Somehow, I think she’d be okay with missing it,” I tell my dad. Nattie and Cooper agree, and I turn to Belle. “What do you say, Belle? Wanna marry me tonight?”
She smiles at me and then turns to Murphy. “Murphy, I swear to God, if you utter one single, solitary cuss word during my wedding, I will projectile-vomit on you. Go ahead and try me. It’s my new superpower.”
His lips tighten as he makes a face that’s a mixture of fear and disgust.
“Give me your phone, Murphy.” Dad reaches for Murphy’s phone and then turns to us. “If anybody here is going to marry the two of you, it’s going to be me.”
Belle laces her fingers with mine. “I’d love that, Coach.”
“Annabelle, I think it’s high time you started calling me Joe, sweetheart.” Yeah, I love my dad.
A few minutes later, Katherine has the formal living room in the front of the house set up perfectly for us. The lights are off in the massive open space. Vaulted ceilings with old wooden beams arching across the room frame a two-story brick fireplace that Dad and I are standing in front of. The mantle is covered in tapered red and white candles arranged within an evergreen garland. More candles are lit and scattered throughout the room, giving it a golden glow. A beautiful twelve-foot-tall blue spruce Christmas tree, dotted with hundreds of tiny white lights and red velvet bows is lit behind us. The girls grabbed all the poinsettia plants wrapped in red velvet from around the house and arranged them in two rows to make an aisle for Belle to walk down.
“You ready for this, son?” my father asks me as I wait for my bride to enter the room.
I look around the room at our friends and family. Sabrina’s standing next to Murphy, Carys is with Katherine. Bash and Chloe are on the other side of the room with Linc and Brady.
And then I see Nattie enter the room with a few red and white flowers that I think were in the arrangement that sat at the center of the dining room table during dinner. They’re tied together by a small red velvet ribbon. My sister is smiling at me the way she used to when she was little and thought I could do anything.
Nattie nods toward Carys, who surprises me when she starts to sing an a cappella version of “Forever Young.” It’s gorgeous and haunting and so perfectly Annabelle.
My next breath is stolen from my lungs when my kid brother helps the kid I’ve come to love like my own walk Annabelle Hart down the makeshift aisle to me. Her beautiful creamy-white sweaterdress clings to her curves and stops mid-thigh. Her brown boots stop below her knee with a cute little white ruffle popping out of the top. Her wild caramel-colored hair is down around her shoulders, and I think Katherine wrapped up the rest of her dinner-table arrangement and gave it to Belle to carry.
Cooper hugs my girl and whispers something in her ear that makes her smile, then moves to stand next to me. I step forward and offer Tommy my hand. He smacks it before running over to sit on the floor with Rocky.
When the beautiful woman in front of me graces me with her smile, I know I’ve won my last inch. She laces her fingers through mine. “I love you, Declan Sinclair.”
When I kiss her lips, Dad clears his throat. “I didn’t have much time to put anything together to say tonight, but watching the two of you, it looks like my job is pretty easy.” He looks between us. “Have you thought about vows?”
I smile and take both of Belle’s hands in mine as we turn to face each other. “Annabelle Hart, I feel like I’ve been waiting my entire life to find you. And now that I have, I promise to earn your love and your heart every single day. You, Tommy, and these babies will always come first. I promise to love you, support you, protect you, and dance with you for the rest of our lives. You’re the love of my life, Belle.”
She lets go of one hand to wipe away the tears streaming down her cheeks. “Oh, wow.” She sniffs. “That was really good,” she laughs lightly. “Declan Sinclair, I promise to always give you my love freely. We’ve earned each other. I think somehow, my parents led me to you so you could love me enough for me to realize I was safe enough to love you back. So you could give me you and your family and make me feel secure enough to not lose my mind when I found out we were starting our own family so soon. Thank you for bringing the magic back to my life. I promise to love you with my whole heart and soul.”
I raise my hand and cup her face, my thumbs wiping away her tears.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see my dad wipe away his own tear before speaking, “By the power vested in me by whatever website Murphy found, I now pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Declan Sinclair.” He turns to me with complete delight on his face. “You may kiss your bride.”
We step toward each other. My hands cradle her face as my mouth claims hers. After a moment, I hear shouts and clapping. We pull apart and turn to face everyone. Nattie is crying harder than Belle was, wrapped up in Brady’s arms, and she’s the first one to step forward and hug us. She’s followed seconds later by Cooper, who wraps his arms around the three of us.
“Oh my God, you’re my sister now!” Natalie proclaims.
Dad joins our group hug, telling Belles, “Welcome to the family, Annabelle.”
