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Fuck, I already love wearing this ring. I make a promise to myself right here and now that I will never take it off. It will become a part of me.
As soon as the words “kiss the bride” fall from the minister’s mouth, I’m diving toward my wife. With her cheeks in my hands, I press my thumbs to her chin and press our lips together. She meets my kiss with the same urgency, and it takes everything in me not to groan in approval.
The crowd hollers, and someone claps me on the back, but as I drop a hand to Braxton’s waist and pull her into me, I don’t give a shit who’s around. I continue to kiss my wife until she pushes away, a furious type of love in her eyes.
“Save some for later, husband,” she teases.
I squeeze her hip and bump her nose with mine. “Be careful what you ask for, wife.”
And fucking hell, if finally calling her my wife doesn’t sound like the most beautiful thing on this earth.
* * *
BRAXTON
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to calling you my sister-in-law!” Addie squeals, carefully brushing a few hairs out of my face.
We’re taking a minute to hide in one of the bathrooms in Oakley and Ava’s house after the past few hours of absolute insanity that is a big wedding. She’s helped me change out of my wedding dress and into a looser, knee-length white dress with thin straps and a modest neckline. For the first time since this morning, I can take a full breath without the corset crushing my lungs.
“I know. I don’t think it’s fully hit me yet,” I breathe, glancing down at the wedding ring on my left hand. Flutters fill my stomach as I twirl the band.
“How does it feel to be Mrs. Braxton Hutton?”
My cheeks warm. “Like it was meant to be?”
“God, you two are adorable,” she sighs.
I smooth my hands down my sides and lean over the counter, taking in my red cheeks and slightly swollen lips in the bathroom mirror. There’s a red mark on the side of my throat, and I think my cheeks flush an even deeper shade of red as I remember how that mark got there.
“I just feel really lucky, you know?”
“I can. But remember that he’s lucky too. Dox might be my brother, but you’re amazing too. You deserve the best kind of love, and I’m so glad that you’ve found that with my brother.”
I look at Addie and smile, pulling her into my arms. “For someone so young, you’re incredibly wise.”
She laughs. “I think that’s because I had all of you guys to watch growing up. I always wanted to be one of you, and I think that made me grow up a bit faster.”
“You were always perfect the way you were, Addie. And you’re perfect now.”
“Thank you,” she says softly, squeezing me once before letting go. “How do you feel now? Ready to go back out there? I know we can be a little crazy and overwhelming.”
“I’ll take a little crazy over whatever the hell is going on with my family,” I say, bitterness burning my tongue.
Addie scowls, and it looks wrong. Her soft features and bubble-gum-pink lips aren’t meant to twist that way.
“Have you spoken to your dad yet today? I was surprised when I saw him in the crowd at the ceremony,” she says.
I turn my back to the mirror and fiddle with the dainty tennis bracelet on my wrist. A gift from the Hutton family for my wedding day.
“He caught Dox and me right after the ceremony finished. Wished us a rushed congratulations and then left. I don’t know whether I should be grateful that he showed up or annoyed that he couldn’t get past his issues with your family to stay for the entire thing,” I admit.
My relationship with my father hasn’t changed all that much in the past couple of months besides him not being out to get my husband. He seemed to take my threat seriously the day I told him to leave his past with Maddox alone, and while he hasn’t made much of an effort to build on the weak foundation of a relationship that we have, he hasn’t broken it further.
It’s really the bare minimum, but as long as he leaves my family alone, I’ll continue to try and encourage a relationship with him. He is still my father at the end of the day, even if he’s not the greatest one.
My mother, on the other hand, she’s flourishing. Her boyfriend is here with her today, and while our initial meeting was fifty shades of awkward, he seems like a nice guy. He treats my mother well, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s all that matters. How and when they met doesn’t change anything in my eyes. We’re closer than we were months ago, and when Maddox and I decided to get married before moving to Ottawa for his first preseason on his new team, Mom was so excited to be included in the planning. I’m so, so happy to be able to see her smile again.
“I think you’re allowed to be both. Happy that he showed up and annoyed that he couldn’t put you first again and stay,” Addie says.
