Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 105846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105846 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
“This July?” he questions, and I nod.
“Yes. This July, I want to marry you in our backyard, in the same spot where we watched shooting stars with Summer.”
His smile is soft, and his kiss is even softer as he places one to the top of Autumn’s head before pressing one to the top of my head too. “I want that too.”
…
Bennett
Saturday, July 9th
Today, with my precious baby Autumn in my arms, I say “I do” during the prime of the hottest season.
My wife-to-be picked this date on a whim of symbolism and the inclusion of our sweet Summer, and to be honest, I can’t think of any better way to do it. Autumn is just over six weeks old, and when it comes to making our family complete, it feels like I’ve been waiting forever.
Clay stretches out on the tan chaise in the corner of my studio, and I bounce up and down and all around to keep my girl happy.
Breezy, Josie, and Lillian are in the house with Norah, getting ready for our backyard wedding. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, she’s got to be laughing at how opposite it is from the aisle she didn’t go down.
“You think Josie’s going to like me in pink?” Clay asks from his reclining position, fiddling with the silk fabric running down the center of his shirt, and I roll my eyes.
“Clay, I swear to God, if you make a scene with that sweet woman today, I’m going to have to kick your ass.”
“You can’t threaten to kick my ass while you’re holding a baby,” he replies through a scoff. “That’s, like, illegal.”
“Illegal or not, I’ll do it. Give Josie some peace for the day, for fuck’s sake, okay?”
“That’s easy advice for you to give, seeing as you’ve got the woman of your dreams walking down the aisle to you today, bud. But I’m still missing mine. Cut me some slack.”
“Yeah, she’s walking down the aisle today, but we’ve walked through fire to get here. Why don’t you start by making whatever you did to fuck it up with Josie right in the first place? I feel like that’d be a better strategy than constantly getting in her face.”
“Fourth of July wasn’t my fault. They practically sealed us up together in that fireworks tent!”
“Right.” I guffaw. “And Easter? What about that? Was that your fault?”
Clay sits up and shrugs. “I maybe coulda hid the eggs somewhere other than her shop.”
“And who can forget New Year’s in the square and Halloween at Earl’s party?”
“All right, all right, I get it. I’ll let it be today.”
I smile, holding Autumn’s head close and breathing in her baby smell. “Thanks. I appreciate it. I want today to be perfect for Norah.”
Clay jumps up and comes over to give me a pounding slap on my free shoulder. “It will be, dude. Whole town’s been working all night to make sure of it.”
…
I stand at the altar, and a drape of bright pink fabric Norah made from the blanket we lay on with Summer to see shooting stars hangs over a golden bar behind me. It blows in the breeze, carrying heavenly memories with it, and the bulk of the town sits in white folding chairs down the slight hill of my pasture. Norah and her bridesmaids wait in the barn for the beginning of their march, and Clay holds our sweet baby Autumn at my side.
Breezy steps out first, carrying a bouquet of vibrant pink roses and wearing a matching pink dress, and I imagine Summer smiling down at all the touches of her that Norah’s made sure to include everywhere.
I take a deep breath and then another, waiting impatiently for my bride as Lillian and then Josie make their way down the aisle too, forming a line on the other side of the altar and waiting.
Finally, as the music changes, Norah steps out in a white lace dress that falls off her shoulders, her natural, wild, curly hair floating all over the place. She has a pink belt at her waist and a pink bundle of flowers too, and her bare feet showcase glittery pink toenail polish.
Sheriff Peeler smiles like a loon at her side, an elbow linked through hers as he escorts her down the aisle.
The whole town is here again, just like at the fake wedding we had for Summer last year. But other than our sisters, people linked to us by blood are noticeably absent.
Her mother Eleanor wasn’t invited. Though, I don’t imagine she could have made it even if she had been since she’s awaiting her trial, set to start this fall, in a Manhattan correctional facility, along with Thomas Conrad Michael King III. Clearly, they’re not wearing pink today, but instead, orange.
Just the thought gives me a zing of joy I can hardly describe.