Feels Like Home (Southern Bride 5)

I thought Drake was going to tackle-hug my fiancé.

“Great, now we’ll never be able to get him to leave,” I mumbled as Drake shot me a dirty look.

Anson went through the rest of the plans and, we discussed things that should be tweaked or added. Once we were finished, Anson put steaks and veggies on the grill while Mindy and I made a fresh salad from everything in my garden.

Of course, I took photos as we went along. I was planning an Instagram post for an easy dinner on the grill, featuring the veggies from my garden and the steak from a cow off of Anson’s family ranch.

“Are you nervous?” Mindy asked.

I looked up from chopping tomatoes and smiled. “Not a bit. Excited and anxious. I know eventually it’ll come out that we were pregnant before we got married, but right now I simply want to enjoy all of this.”

Mindy went back to making the lime vinaigrette I also planned to feature in the post tonight. She even took a picture of it in the glass bottle I had found while shopping with my mother at a vintage store in Fredericksburg.

“What about you? Are you nervous about making your relationship with Drake public?” I asked with bit of a teasing in my voice.

Her cheeks blushed as she looked down at the engagement ring my brother had given her a few nights back. It was the most precious proposal I had ever seen. Ida had been in on it, of course, and planned on having my parents, as well as Mindy’s, over for dinner. Anson’s folks were there too. We sat on the back porch, and Anson pulled out the guitar I had given him so many years ago and started to play it softly. When I saw it sitting in his house in Nashville back in April, my heart soared. He told me every song he’d written had first been played on that guitar. When he started to play one of Mindy’s favorite songs, she smiled and stared off into the fire pit. I didn’t realize Anson was in on the surprise too until he started to sing “To Make You Feel My Love.” When he looked at me and sang, I had the suspicion he was singing not only for Mindy and Drake but for us as well.

“I want to shout it from the rooftop,” Mindy said. “I honestly never thought I could be this in love.”

I couldn’t stop the grin on my face if I wanted to. “He loves you and the baby so much.”

Tears filled her eyes. “I know he does. It’s so strange to have someone love you so fiercely. I hadn’t realized someone could love another person like that. And could love a baby who wasn’t his. Drake is absolutely amazing.”

“Have y’all…you know?” I asked. “Done the deed.”

“No. I mean, he’s taken care of my…urges…but we haven’t had sex. We want to wait until after the baby is born. It feels right to wait.”

“Fair enough. At least he’s taking care of you in other ways.” We both started laughing as I waggled my eyebrows at her.

“What all do we need to do for the wedding this weekend?” Mindy asked, clearly ready to change the subject.

“Nothing. Everything is done. Ida, my mama, and Pearl have pretty much planned this entire wedding.”

“I really love that y’all are keeping it simple.”

With a sigh, I replied, “I sort of didn’t mention something.”

Her brow rose. “Oh, Lord. What?”

“So People magazine wanted get the first look at our wedding. Anson talked to me about it, and we both agreed to do it if they made a sizeable donation to a charity Anson started back in Nashville to help kids from low-income families take music lessons.”

“Will they be there at the wedding?”

“No, the photographer who’s shooting the wedding and the editors of People have worked out an arrangement to publish some of our wedding photos. I honestly don’t mind. I feel like I’ve stolen Anson away from his fans, so this is the least I can do.”

“Well, your Instagram has gone up to what, over five million followers? And it’s growing every day.”

I groaned. “Yes. Some of the comments are so mean!”

She laughed. “Some make me laugh so hard. Especially when you post pictures of Anson.”

I rolled my eyes but chuckled. “Well, Anson and I talked it over, and we’ll share bits and pieces when we’re on the honeymoon. He figures if we give them a small glimpse into our world, they won’t feel a need to poke around.”

“That makes sense,” Mindy said as she carried the salad and dressing over to the table. “Well, this will be the last meal we have with you being a single, knocked-up woman.”

“It sucks neither one of us can even drink a glass of champagne,” I added.