One Love
Epilogue
Grace
I was feeling kind of grouchy as I walked up the steps to Charlie’s house after my mom practically shoved me out the door of my own home. The twins—because of course Hudson knocked me up with two babies the night he finally took my virginity—were going through a hungry phase, and I hadn’t had much sleep the past few nights. All I’d wanted to do was put on my jammies to get comfortable, but she’d insisted that I get dressed up and head over here to take my cousin out to cheer her up. Withstanding my mom’s guilt trips was nearly impossible, so I’d put on a dress and heels, slathered some makeup on my face, pulled my hair back in a low ponytail, fired off a quick text to my husband so he’d know where I was at when he got home from a late night at the office, and headed over to her place.
A sticky note on her door let me know it was open and directed me to the backyard. I strode through her house and pasted a smile on my face as I neared the French doors that led outside. I didn’t have to fake my smile for long, though. Not when I walked into a fairyland of twinkle lights and candles, with Hudson down on one knee in the center of all that beauty. “What in the world is going on?”
He flashed me a cocky grin that made my heart flutter as he reached into the pocket of his suit pants to pull out a small, navy blue jewelry box. “I wanted to surprise you, baby.”
“You definitely accomplished that.” I hurried closer, curious as to why he’d gone to such trouble to give me a present when today wasn’t a special occasion. “How come?”
He flicked the box open with his thumb and plucked a diamond contour band that was a perfect match for my engagement and wedding rings. “Because my girl deserves the memory of an all-out romantic proposal.”
“Oh my gosh.” I pressed trembling fingers against my lips as tears welled in my eyes.
He reached for my other hand and placed the ring on the tip of my finger. “Gracie, my one love. Will you do me the honor of marrying me again?”
“Yes,” I gasped.
He slid the ring into place and wrapped his arms around my thighs, lifting me as he stood and twirling me around in a circle. Then he slowly lowered me, kissing his way up my shoulder and neck as my body slid against his. When I was back on my feet, he claimed my lips in a deep kiss that left me breathless.
“You seem awfully happy that I said yes.” I peered up at him, tilting my head to the side. “I’m not sure how you didn’t realize I was a sure thing since I’m already your wife and the mother of your children.”
He grinned down at me, humor shining from his gray eyes. “It’s probably because I had a brief flashback in time when I referred to you as my girlfriend to Charlie’s guy right before you got here.”
My nose scrunched up as I asked, “Why’d you do that?”
“I needed them to get out of there and didn’t want to waste time explaining why I was proposing to my wife.” He shrugged his broad shoulders. “And it worked because they were gone before you arrived.”
I couldn’t imagine that it would’ve taken very long to explain what he was doing, but I tried to avoid asking too many questions when guy logic was involved. “You’re such a boy.”
“You’re such a girl,” he retorted with a huge grin on his gorgeous face. “Which is why I know you’re going to love putting together a huge wedding where we can renew our vows with all of our family and friends surrounding us this time.”
Hudson had given me the perfect proposal, and I could hardly wait for us to have the wedding of my dreams. “I really will.”
* * *
Four months later
It was a good thing that Hudson and I were already married because our wedding was turning into a comedy of errors. On the way to the venue, the limo broke down, and my bridal party and I had to wait thirty minutes for a new car to rescue us. By the time we got there, my hair was a frazzled mess. Audrey called the hairdresser and resorted to shameless begging to get her to agree to come fix the style that had taken her almost an hour to do earlier.
Then we discovered that the florist had somehow mixed up the bouquets for my bridesmaids with the ones for another wedding across town. She was hurriedly trying to create three more for me since the other bridal party was smaller than mine. Luckily, the colors were similar enough for us to get away with using them because the other bride had apparently been reluctant to give up the gorgeous arrangements that were a match to my bouquet. I’d assured the florist that I was totally fine as long as she figured out a way for all of my bridesmaids to be holding flowers of some kind in time for us to walk down the aisle.