She looked a bit anxious standing there with her bottom lip caught between her teeth.
Trip elbowed him. “Nervous?”
Should he admit that, like Tessa, he was nervous as fuck? This was a big step. Even though he had claimed Tess at the table over a year ago, today he was legally staking his claim forever.
“Were you?” Easy asked the Fury prez. They’d both soon be adding “in-law” to the end of “brother.”
“Fuck no. Sometimes people are just meant to be and are lucky enough to find each other. Stella’s my ‘meant-to-be.’ She knew it before I did when we were kids. Of course, I was too young, cocky and a complete stupid fuck to realize it back then. Then when our paths finally crossed again, she was too shut-down to realize it. I helped pull her free from her past, just like she did for me. Just like you did for Tessa.” Trip whacked him on the back. “For that I’m gonna thank you.”
“You weren’t so thankful at first,” Easy reminded him.
“We ain’t gonna rehash all that today. Today’s a day for celebration and a reminder to keep movin’ forward, not keep looking back. We’re supposed to learn from our past.”
That was easy for Trip to say when he wasn’t the one clubbed silly or punched in the fucking nose.
But the man was right, they needed to forget any ugly in their past and move forward for a better future. Easy’s future was both in his arms and waiting at the end of the aisle for the signal to walk toward the arch and her future husband.
Someone must have given that signal—Sully most likely—because Tessa and Tucker began a slow stroll through the grass. Tessa was still barefoot from when she kicked off her sandals but it was perfect.
She was perfect.
As she got closer, their eyes met and held. Hers had a sheen to them which caused his to sting, too.
The fuck if he was going to start tearing up in front of three fucking MCs. Christ on a fuckin’ cracker.
He shook himself mentally and shifted Ethan to his other side as Tucker handed Tessa off to him. He’d spend time getting to know his future brother-in-law later, for now he gave the Marine a chin lift in thanks. Tucker returned it and quickly slipped away.
In less than ten minutes, because, thank fuck, Sully kept it short and simple, Easy was officially married.
Biker. Ol’ man. Father. Brother-in-law. Uncle. Husband.
Those were just a few of the labels that described him. But life wasn’t ever that simple or neat.
When he was instructed to kiss the bride, he took his time doing so, not caring that they caused an uproar of hoots, whistles, boot stomping and chest beating from the peanut gallery. It only encouraged him to lengthen and deepen the kiss until they were both breathless and Ethan made his impatience known. Once he finally released Tess, he pressed a kiss to his son’s forehead, too.
And when Sully introduced them as Mr. and Mrs. Ethan Long, he turned Tessa until they faced a sea of grins from the men and teary smiles from the women.
He grinned, too.
Yeah, the Blood Fury had changed so much since he first became a prospect a few years ago.
Even so, he couldn’t think of any place he’d rather be or other people he’d rather be with than where he stood and who he looked at. More importantly, he couldn’t think of anyone he’d rather have standing by his side.
He grabbed Tessa’s hand, threading their fingers together, and gave it a squeeze.
As he walked his wife and son back down the aisle, the first word that popped into his head was family.
The second one was…
Home.
He’d found both, and everything else he’d ever been looking for, right here and he was never letting any of it go.
“And when all that was left was ashes, she would again clothe herself in flame. Rising from the dust of her past to rekindle the spark of her future. She was a Phoenix, her own salvation; rebirthed, renewed, resurrected.”
~ LaRhonda Toreson