Everyone got a little misty eyed for a moment there, including me.
Everyone was Vice and Trace, who were grinning like loons.
Here we go, I said with a glance heavenward for fortitude.
“Jaken, do you take this woman to have and to hold, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?”
“I do,” he said, with an earnest expression. I nodded my approval.
“Colleen, do you take this man, to have and to hold, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?”
“I do,” she said, her pretty little face serious but brimming with joy.
“Then, if no one has any objections, it is my great pleasure to proclaim you man and wife.” I took a deep breath and said a silent prayer that all hell was not about to break loise. “You may kiss the bride.”
Like two devils, Vice and Trace moved faster than I could believe. Trace kissed Colleen, bending her backwards. While Vice scooped up the maid of honor, lifting her into the air so that her feet dangled while he kissed her soundly.
Jaken pulled Trace off, shoved him away and asked Colleen if she was alright. When she said yes, he kissed her, long and thoroughly.
When they stopped, they noticed what the rest of us were staring at.
Vice was still kissing sweet little Penny.
And Penny was kissing him right back.
Six months later
Jaken
A crowd was gathered outside as I led Colleen down the walkway to her new home. To our new home. Her eyes were closed under a blindfold, so I scooped her into my arms, worried that she might trip on her cute little feet.
“Jaken,” she squealed in protest.
“Almost there.”
I squeezed her, grinning down at the cute little package in my arms. She was the perfect woman for me. She might be the most perfect woman on earth, as far as I was concerned. I set her down on her feet, and Penny handed me the giant scissors I’d gotten just for this occasion.
I tried to ignore the fact that Vice was standing right behind her.
“Open your eyes, sweetheart.”
Colleen barely breathed as she stared at the heavy wood front door to our new house. The door was wrapped in a bright pink ribbon.
“Cut the ribbon, love.”
She gasped and stared at me, then at the scissors in her hand.
“What… is this?” She asked breathlessly.
“It’s our new home,” I said, tenderly brushing a strand of hair away from her face. We were up on a hill and it was a little bit windy. But the views were well worth it. “Your new home.”
She looked at me, then at the door, then back down at her hands.
“You… bastard,” she said as she cut the ribbon. But she was smiling. Penny grabbed the scissors as I lifted by gorgeous wife into my arms.
The crowd of friends and family erupted as I carried her over the threshold. Kids and bikers were everywhere in minutes, piling into the house, running around, eating, drinking, and talking. It was family. It was home.
There was even a lucky horseshoe over the door from my Nan’s house.
I’d gone home to get it and to visit after my brother had turned himself in. He was serving a light sentence since he hadn’t actually gone through with the crime. He’d gotten lucky. And it was a damned good thing he had been a juvenile at the time. Still, he had quite a few years to serve.
Colleen and I planned to visit him soon.
He’d made mistakes. But he was paying for them with dignity. And he had changed. He wasn’t the selfish little prick he had been. Nor was he as hotheaded. He had taken care of his big brother for once.
He gave me my life back. He gave me my name back. I still used Jaken, but now I could be Patrick O’Neal, too.
A life I had no intention of squandering.
I kissed my wife and gave her the grand tour. She ooh’ed and ahh’ed every step of the way. I’d gone overboard trying to give her every little thing she might have wanted. Two dishwashers. A laundry room on the second floor. A mudroom with a tile floor and a powder room right off it, for when the kids came home muddy. There were bedrooms for all the kids, a guest room, and a couple of rooms for any kids that might come along, the good lord willing.
The piece d’resistance was a private master bedroom on the other side of the second floor, with a massive master bath made for adult relaxation.
Finally we stood in the center of everyone. I pulled her into my arms and stared down at her. She was the center of my universe. She was my everything.
“I love you, Colleen Winstead.”
“And I love you, Jaken Patrick O’Neal.”