Mine To Have (Southern Wedding 1)

"I love you more," she says and turns to walk away from me. "Don’t let him scare you."

I put my hands on my hips, shaking my head and turning to walk toward the barn. I take a look around to see that most of her cousins are here with their own kids. I step inside the barn and see Casey standing in the middle of the barn. His legs are spread shoulder width apart, and his arms are folded over his chest. I heard a rumor that he trained with the Navy SEALs for fun. "I have to give it to you." He starts talking first. "You got some big-ass balls showing up here." He laughs. "Even more balls by asking to talk to me."

I’m about to say something when I hear someone walking toward us and turn to see that Olivia is coming. "Harlow sent me in to be the peacekeeper," she says, smiling sideways at me. "I came to make sure that you," she tells Casey, "keep your head cool." She wraps her arms around Casey’s waist, and I wonder if she is doing that so he doesn’t charge at me. "Now, what did I miss?"

"He was telling me that I have big, um." I try to think of the word that is better than balls. "That I have some nerve showing up here, and I was about to say that I had to do it," I share. "Might as well get it all out now." He just glares at me, while Olivia just looks at me. "Before I start or say anything, I just want to say I’m sorry for how I acted."

"You mean when you were a dipshit," he says, and I have no choice but to laugh loud now.

"Casey Barnes," she says between clenched teeth.

"Yeah, when I was a dipshit ding dong," I add in the words Elodie said. "I never, ever wanted to hurt her. I couldn’t let her give up her family for me." I take a deep breath in and slowly exhale it. "I know how much she loves her family and that she had a plan and I couldn’t be the one who made her change it. Breaking up with her was the single hardest decision I’ve ever made."

"What about when you asked someone else to marry you?" he says, and I know he’s going straight for the jugular with this question, and he is going to get all of the answers.

"When I broke up with Harlow, it took me two years not to have this pain in my chest." I shake my head. "When I met Jennifer, I liked her enough, but it was never like Harlow, and I thought to myself that what I felt for Harlow wasn’t as big as I remembered. I kept telling myself that it was all in my head. But one look at her again, and it’s like everything I was lying to myself about was right in front of my face." I run my hand through my hair. "I don’t even think I would have been able to marry her that day. I knew from the moment I saw Harlow that I was making a mistake." I swallow. "I want to marry her." Olivia gasps, but I don’t stop. "I know in my heart that she is the only one for me. I let her go four years ago, and now that I have her back, I’m not letting her go. You can hate me." I shrug. "For the rest of my life. I won’t give her up for it. I’ll take whatever it is you have for me. I was leaving my practice," I tell them both and they both look at me shocked. "I couldn’t do the long-distance thing and I’ve already lost so much time I just couldn’t do it. So I was going to move here and be with her. I can’t live without her. I can’t breathe without her."

"Oh, Travis," Olivia whispers, wiping the tear from the corner of her eye.

"You don’t get it," Casey says, his voice softer. "You won’t get it until you have a child of your own. But we watched her for the last four years skid through life. She was here with us, but the light in her eyes was gone. She would laugh and smile, but you could see that it was just a front. It’s the single hardest thing watching your kid not living life. She had everything she ever dreamed of, yet she was missing something." He shakes his head. "Then a month ago, she goes to your wedding, and the minute she came back, and I mean the second I saw her, that light was back. Her shoulders didn’t fall forward anymore. Her eyes would light up when she smiled. She was back, at least a little bit of her was, and then her plans would change, and you could see the dim come back." My chest literally feels like an elephant has just decided to sit on it. "She came to me and asked me to help her, and as her father, I would help her do whatever the hell she wanted, even if it was to go back to you. Even though I don’t think you deserve her."