"Damn, girl," he remarks. "You look gorgeous."
"I thought you weren’t supposed to see me before the wedding," I giggle, and he shrugs as he pushes the door shut behind him and comes over to slide his hands around my waist.
"Couldn’t resist," he murmurs, and he nuzzles into my neck and I squirm against him. He’s going to be a distraction, I can feel it. Not that I mind much. Not one little bit, actually.
His family is outside, along with all of our friends and the staff from the cidery – it's a bigger wedding than I think either of us planned it to be, but I like it. I want the whole world to know just how crazy I am about this man, just how happy he makes me, just how alive with love and adoration and comfort I feel when he is close to me.
His mom and dad have welcomed me into the family as though I have always belonged in it. Sometimes, I still feel a stab of sadness, knowing that my mom will never get to meet the man I’m going to spend my life with, but I know that she would have loved him. And that’s enough to convince me that I am doing the right thing.
There’s something else I need to tell him, too, something that he needs to hear – I had been planning on keeping it secret till after the ceremony, but now that he’s here, I can’t think of a more perfect moment to share it with him.
"Hank," I murmur to him, and he pulls back, seeming to sense the seriousness in my voice.
"What is it?” he asks. "Is everything okay?"
I don’t know how to put it into words, so I just reach for his hand and guide it down to my belly – down to where our firstborn is growing, blooming like an apple blossom on a tree in spring. He takes a moment to work out what I am getting at, but when he does, a smile spreads over his face and his eyes light up.
"Are you telling me...?"
"Yeah, I’m telling you," I laugh, and he tosses his arms around me and scoops me up off the ground at once, a delighted laugh escaping his lips.
"I can’t believe it," he says once he puts me back down on the ground – he drops down to his knees and plants a kiss on my belly through the flowy fabric of the dress I’ve chosen for this day.
"How long till I get to meet them?" he asks.
"Her," I correct him. "I mean, I don’t know yet, but I feel like it’s a her. And about eight months, I think. Not long at all."
He smiles, gazes up at me for a moment, then rises to his feet again.
"You know what we’ll call her?" he asks me. I cock my head to the side.
"What?"
"Luna," he replies. "After the rare breed of apple. Because she’s going to be the most special thing that’s ever come to life in this place."
I beam back at him, and plant a kiss on the corner of his mouth once more. His sweetness makes my heart ache sometimes, but I know that it’s the best kind of ache possible.
"I love you," I murmur to him.
"I love you, too," he replies. "Now. You want to go get married?"
"I really do," I laugh, and he slips his hand into mine and leads me towards the door.
"Then let’s do it," he tells me. And I follow him outside, where the rest of our lives are about to begin – and where the home that I have found will always be waiting for me.