“Noah,” Grace whispered as she started to cry.
“Then, I lost myself. I lost myself to a dark world after my mother passed away.”
Emily’s cry
ing could be heard from my left side. Turning, I gave her a wink and she barely smiled as Mitch wrapped his arm around her. Glancing back toward the front, I captured Grace’s eyes. “I pushed you away, Grace. So many times I pushed you away, but you never left my side. You were the one to find me again, Grace. You brought me back to life. Each morning I wake up to your beautiful smile is a testament to the love that we share. We might have taken the long road getting here, but I’m so glad that road was traveled with you, Grace.”
Grace and I had picked out an oldie but goodie for our wedding song, Tim McGraw’s “My Best Friend”.
I started playing the cords to the song and said, “Since our wedding day has been far from the normal side of things, and since you can’t really dance to our wedding song,” Grace and I both looked at Alex.
Alex dropped her mouth open and said, “It was a just a small push!”
Winking at Alex, I looked back at Grace. “I thought I would do our wedding song a bit differently. Take us back to that day in the park. Do you remember that day, Grace?”
Grace nodded her head as I sung the words to her. I fought like hell to keep my voice strong and steady as I heard sniffles and cries erupt all around me.
Focusing only on Grace, I kept my eyes locked on hers. In this moment, it was just the two of us.
Finding Grace was truly finding my life . . . my very existence.
By the time Grace and I finally stood in front of Pastor Roberts, my nerves were settled and I had fallen in love even more with the breathtaking woman standing beside me. Pastor Roberts’ cleared his throat and said, “Never a dull moment with this crowd.”
Laughter erupted as he continued on with the ceremony. I wasn’t even sure I heard a word he said as Grace and I stared into each other’s eyes. The only thing I was sure I heard was, “I know pronounce you Mr. and Mrs. Noah Bennet. You may kiss your bride.”
Cupping Grace’s face gently with my hands, I brushed my lips against hers as I whispered, “I have just one little bit of bad news.”
Grace laughed and said, “Hit me with it.”
“The hotel messed up our reservations. We don’t have rooms booked until next week.”
Closing her eyes, Grace inhaled very slowly through her nose before opening her eyes again and giggled. “Looks like we’ll have to find something to do before then.”
“Kiss her already!” Luke shouted.
Giving her a wink, I said, “Oh, I can arrange that.” Pressing my lips to hers, Grace wrapped her arms around my neck as we quickly got lost in our kiss. Feeling someone tap my shoulder, I pulled my lips back.
“Dude, my dad looks like he’s ready to step in and break y’all apart, so I’d wrap it up.”
Pushing Luke out of the way, I kissed Grace quickly on the lips again. Pastor Roberts motioned of us to turn around. Facing our friends and family he said, “Ladies and gentleman may I introduce, finally, Mr. and Mrs. Noah Bennet.”
Everyone stood up and started clapping. Seeing my sister standing there with her hand on her stomach caused my heart to feel as if it had stopped for a moment. I glanced over to Luke who was clapping. I could see how happy he was just by the smile on his face. He told me this morning that he and Libby were expecting another baby. My eyes then fell on Grace.
God she was beautiful. And mine. She would always be mine.
Grace turned to me and said, “Should I hop down the aisle or have my father carry me again?”
Frowning, I said, “He won’t give you back.” Leaning down, I scooped her up into my arms and walked down the aisle with her. As we neared the end of it, I took a deep breath and decided to be honest with Grace. I wasn’t sure if now was the time to spring this on her or not.
Walking Grace up and into the house, she looked back and said, “Noah we need to do pictures!”
Setting her down in the living room, I dragged in a deep breath. “Grace, now might not be the best time to talk to you about this.”
Narrowing her eye at me, Grace said, “Holy hell. You better hope what you’re about to say is not more bad news.”
Letting out a nervous chuckle, I said, “No. It’s just, well I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately and seeing Emily and then Luke telling me that him and Libby are pregnant.”
Graces eyes lit up and she smiled the brightest smile I’d ever seen. My heart pumped hard and fast in my chest and I was too scared to even hope that she might feel the same way.