Quit Bein' Ugly (The Southern Gentleman 3)

-Text from Carmichael to Croft

CROFT

Two months later

The wedding march started to play, and I snapped my head up to look in the direction of the double doors at the back of the gym.

Raleigh, who was my best man, stood at my side, sniffling.

The doors opened, and my breath caught in my throat.

Tears threatened my eyes, and it took everything I had to hold them back.

Why didn’t I cry? Because I didn’t want the tears to interrupt my view.

Because, goddamn, was Carmichael in her wedding dress the best thing that I’d ever seen.

The dress she was wearing was white, skin-tight at the top, and flowy at the bottom. There were what had to be a hundred thousand crystals all over her top half, and each time she moved or breathed, the light from above her would catch one and cause it to sparkle.

But though her dress was beautiful, it was her eyes that had me staring in awe.

They were directed solely on me, and they were filled with so much love that I was finding it hard to breathe.

“Damn,” Raleigh gasped. “I don’t know what she sees in you.”

I snorted, my grin widening.

“Me neither,” I admitted.

I’d always felt like that, though.

Each time she looked at me, it felt like I would grow an inch taller.

Flint, who was walking her down the aisle, said something in her ear to make her laugh, and I felt my heart literally stop in my chest.

When it resumed, it was at a much faster beat.

“Congrats, brother,” Raleigh whispered.

Then Flint was there, stopping in front of me, unaware of just what he was giving me.

“Who gives this woman?” the preacher asked behind me.

“I do.” Flint’s voice cracked halfway through.

I licked my suddenly dry lips and reached for her hand.

We’d bucked the traditional wedding vows, and instead decided to write our own.

“You okay?” I asked just as she was about to listen to me recite mine.

“Yes,” she whispered.

Winking at her, I started.

“I choose you. I choose you through good times and bad. I choose you through the pressures of the present and the uncertainties of the future. I promise to give you the best of myself. I promise to always choose you first. I promise to always cheer you on during a CrossFit competition, and never no-rep you. Within reason, anyway. You can’t be cheating blatantly and expect me to give you that,” I teased.

She threw her head back and laughed.

And, while she was laughing, I said, “I promise to always be there for you if you need me. I promise to always come home to you every night. I promise that, when you are no longer of this Earth, there will never be anyone else…”

“Croft,” she whispered.

“Because you’re it for me, Carmichael. You’re my sun and my moon. The stars in my sky. The freakin’ weights to my barbell. I choose you to be my wife.”

At that, she started to cry, wiping away the tears as she laughed so hard.

Once she’d gained control of herself again, she looked into my eyes.

“Croft,” she whispered. “I take you to be my husband. From this day forward, I will forever be there every morning when you wake up. I will never go to bed without you. There will never be another for me, and I’ll have and hold you from this day forward.” She licked her lips. “I promise to never hit you too hard when you’re snoring at night. I promise to never purposefully tempt you with bad food, and always attend every single CrossFit competition you make it into.” She wiped at her eyes that were still leaking tears. “I promise to always listen to you when I want to, and always support you through your grumpy moods after a bad day at the office. I promise that from this day forward, we will always be swole mates.”

“And by the power vested in me.” The preacher was laughing, too. “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss…”

I was kissing her before the words even left her mouth.

• • •

“Oh, man,” Flint said as he saw the wedding cake topper. “That’s so fuckin’ funny.”

It was.

I hadn’t been aware that our wedding cake topper was a groom power snatching his bride.

“Where did y’all even find this?” I grinned down at my wife, squeezing her hip lightly as I asked.

“There’s a couple in Tennessee that makes CrossFit inspired wedding materials. There are these wedding toppers, and some really cool tabletop accessories. I only got the wedding topper, though. I figured having our wedding and reception in a CrossFit gym was enough.”

I dropped a kiss on her head and then pulled her in the direction of my parents.

“Come on,” I urged. “Let’s go talk to my parents. Get our photos done. Then we can go get changed.”

And that was exactly what we did.