Unexpected Love Story (Love 2)

Wiping away a tear falling down my face, I walk to her and sit down on the side of the bed. “We will get through this. I promise you.” I wish I had more conviction. I wish I believed the words myself. I wish I knew how.

“I don’t think I will ever get over this.” She closes her eyes again, getting lost in her memories. Getting lost in the happy dreams, instead of staying here in the darkness, where there are no answers and where there is nothing but pain.

Chapter Four

Gabe

“I can’t believe that in forty-five minutes, you’re going to be a married man,” my cousin Walker says from beside me on the couch. I look up at him, taking in our tuxes.

“I can’t fucking wait,” I tell him while my other cousin Brody comes into the room. “I will also say I’m never planning another fucking wedding again in my life.” I bring the glass of scotch to my lips.

Ever since I proposed to Bethany, my life has been turned upside down. Bethany and I met when we were both in college. My father and I run the best medical clinic in five counties. My father was old school, but when I came in, I brought new technology with me. In the five years I’ve been with him, we have grown tenfold. Out are the old machines, and in are the state-of-the-art machines. It was a gamble we decided to take, and it’s paid off so much. We are even looking at expanding and adding a pediatric wing.

I fell in love with her the minute I saw her, her blond hair perfect, her body even better. She was a debutant, a true Southern woman. I asked her out after a month, and we have been together ever since.

Standing in the middle of the vacant lot I just bought for us to build our dream home on, I proposed. I got down on one knee and promised her the moon and stars. She accepted and then my life went into overload. Between work and the planning of this circus that is now my wedding.

I didn’t give a shit where we did it or who was there, but her parents took over, and it rose to five hundred invites. In the meantime, she was building us a castle. Or at least that was what I thought. Every suggestion I had was thrown out the window, but I didn’t give a shit. I just wanted her to be happy.

“Jesus, I don’t think I’ve seen that many people in my life.” Brody walks in, pulling the collar of his tux away from his neck. “This fucking monkey suit is strangling me.”

Walker laughs at him as he throws himself down in the chair next to him. “The good news is that the house is finally finished and everything moved in. You get to sleep in your bed tonight.” He lifts his glass to me.

“Finally,” I say, thinking about how we’ve been living in Bethany’s little apartment while we wait for the house to be built.

The knock on the door makes me look up, and I see Mila, Walker’s four-year-old daughter, bounce in. “Poppa.” She comes in wearing the white flower girl dress. “I got a basket of flowers.” She tries to climb on the couch, but the puffy dress makes it almost impossible. My gram walks in next, dressed in a brown gown.

“Are you boys ready?” she asks, looking around at us. “Jensen, don’t give him too much to drink.” My cousin’s name is Jensen Walker, but the only one to actually call him Jensen is my gram.

Walker’s father and my father are brothers. Walker’s father passed away the year after he retired, leaving Walker to take over Walker Construction. Like me, he brought in new things, and his company blew up. He married his high school sweetheart, but she left him with a Dear John letter two weeks after his daughter was born.

Left him and their daughter for his best friend. It’s been four years, and I still haven’t seen him on a date. I smile at his beautiful daughter, hoping that Bethany gets pregnant right away. We discussed it, and we both want big families.

“Okay, boys.” I down the rest of my scotch. “Let’s go get me married.” I clap my hand, putting on the jacket to my tux and pulling down the cuffs. Gram takes Mila by the hand and walks out of the room.

“All for one,” Brody starts, and Walker and I both finish, “one for all.” It was our motto growing up. The three of us never strayed far from the others. The three amigos they called us, but we always corrected them with the three musketeers. We thought it sounded manlier.

We walk out of the back of the church and into the side door. I take in the flowers all over the church. The smell of roses hits me right away when I walk in. I step up to the altar, taking in the church. It’s packed to the gill and down to standing room only. I nod at a couple of people who I recognize on my side of the church. My parents sit in the front row, a smile on their face as they watch their only child get married. My father puts his arm around my mother’s shoulders, bringing her in and kissing her forehead.