And just my luck, the closed door isn’t enough to diminish Woolf’s roar of release as she finishes him off. I lean back against the wall and jam my hands down into my pockets, waiting for my brother to zip up and get his ass out here so we can meet my bride down by the river.
Fucker. I can’t believe he’s in there getting a blow job on the second most important day of my life, the first being the day Zoey was born. And yeah… maybe that’s a little bit of jealousy on my part since my girl gives the best head ever and I had to sleep apart from her last night. Casey insisted on staying at a hotel in Jackson with her crew because she wanted to preserve some wedding traditions.
The door suddenly flies open and Carlie Payton stumbles out, giggling at something Woolf says with her lips all puffy and red. I hadn’t recognized the waitress from over at The Shady Pine bar when she was blowing my brother, but I nod a greeting at her.
“Hey Tenn,” she says breathlessly, and then turns to accept a deep kiss from Woolf, who practically bends her in half.
“That was amazing, baby,” he says just before releasing her. Giving her a quick pat on her ass, he turns her around and pushes her toward the hallway.
“We still on for some tag-teaming at Scandalous tomorrow?” she asks as she walks backward away from him.
“Yup,” he says with a charming grin, his eyes raking up and down her body. “Looking forward to it.”
She blows him a kiss followed by a husky laugh and spins away.
“What the fuck is tag-teaming? And what the hell is Scandalous?” I ask him as I push away from the door and follow him down the hallway while he refastens his belt. He’s wearing a mint-green western shirt along with his ratty, old, brown Stetson, but at least he’s washed and pressed. He loves that fucking hat more than life itself so I don’t say anything.
“It’s just a private club over in Driggs,” he says vaguely and then completely changes the subject on me. “You have the rings?”
My heart lurches for a second, and then I remember I had put them in my back pocket. I reach back and pull out a simple, platinum wedding band that I bought last week along with another platinum ring flashing with diamonds. Three to be exact.
The center one is a cushion cut and weighs in at just over two carats. There are two trillion diamonds, one on each side of the center diamond, and total carat weight came in at just under four carats total.
This is Casey’s engagement ring that she insisted she didn’t want or need, but I couldn’t fucking help myself. She should have something nearly as perfect as she is on her hand and for the third time in my life, I dipped into my trust fund.
So fucking worth it and I can’t wait to see her face when I put it on her finger. Granted, it will go on maybe a second before the wedding band goes on, making it the shortest engagement in history, but Casey is the one that hurried this whole wedding along so it’s all good.
As I hand the rings to Woolf, we make our way out of the house and over to the garage, deciding to drive the Gator down to the river.
In just under fifteen minutes, I’m going to make Casey Markham mine forever.
Casey
I figured I’d have butterflies in my stomach or my hands would be sweating, but I actually feel a sense of immeasurable peace within me as the wagon rocks back and forth as we head down to the river.
Tenn has no idea how I’m arriving to the wedding. He hasn’t asked for any details but even if he did, I wouldn’t tell him. I’m going to enjoy seeing the look on his face. I can imagine what it must look like now as he stands down at the river with only Woolf, Kyle, Bob Stoops, and the minister. I can’t help the small giggle that escapes imagining the look of confusion on his face that no one else is there.
But when I decided I wanted to get married in Tenn’s second favorite place in the world—the first being me—I knew it would be important to have my family and friends with me. And when I mean with me, I mean with me.
So I arranged to have this wagon pulled by two of the ranch horses take my crew down to the wedding site. For me, it symbolizes that they are all giving me away to Tenn.
Probably very gladly.
I’m so lucky that they were all just able to drop everything in their lives to travel out here to watch me get married. My mom and dad, of course, being the most important part of the equation. While they were a little shocked over the speed with which I decided to move, they’ve been fully supportive. Truth be told, I think they had given up hope for me so they are actually quite excited I want to get married.
My brothers, as well, would never have missed this. Apparently, I must have inspired Gabby and Hunter with the rashness of my actions because just last week, they decided to elope down to South Carolina to get married. They went by themselves, and even stopped at the ever fun but completely cheesy South of the Border, which sits on the North Carolina/South Carolina state line and ate tacos and drank a beer for their “honeymoon.” It was completely outrageous, yet I wouldn’t have expected anything different from them.
The wagon is filled with those people most important to me. My parents, Hunter and Gabby, Brody and Alyssa, Gavin and Savannah, and Wyatt and Andrea, who have finally decided their wedding will be next summer in the Outer Banks. And clearly… something is in the air because apparently Gavin must have finally gotten inspired to make Savannah an honest woman. Last night, he got down on bended knee at the Million Dollar Cowboy bar and proposed to her in front of about five hundred strangers. And shit… her engagement ring was so big I was afraid she’d topple over. It’s so shiny that her daughter Clare is right this very moment plucking at it with her little pudgy hands while she sits on Savannah’s lap.
Oh, man… I can’t wait to have one of those. Two actually… a boy and a girl, and I hope they both look like Tenn, although he tells me he hopes they look like me.
Sweet man.
As our wagon exits the dense forest and hits the field laced with wildflowers and sagebrush, I finally get my first look at Tenn standing on the river’s edge along with Woolf to one side and Kyle and Bob to the other, the minister just a few feet back. The smile on his face is bright as he takes in the huge wagon filled with the North Carolina crew, and he just shakes his head in amusement.
There’s no wedding march, only the sound of the rolling river and the wind softly rustling through the treetops. It’s absolutely perfect.
The driver stops the wagon as instructed about twenty feet from the groom’s party and everyone unloads. The men jump down first and are handed the babies, then they help their women down in gallant fashion. I left it up to everyone what they wanted to wear, and in trying to keep with the western setting, I’m happy to say everyone doesn’t look even slightly out of place in their cowboy hats and boots.
When everyone has gotten down, that leaves two women in the wagon.
Zoey and me.
I hold my hand out to her, and she places hers in mine. She smiles at me and says, “Ready to do this?”
“I was born ready,” I tell her.
“Do I have to call you mom?” she asks with a mischievous grin.
“I’ll smack you around if you do,” I tell her seriously, and then we both stand up and walk to the edge of the wagon. Brody helps me down while Hunter helps Zoey.
And then we all arrange ourselves exactly as I had envisioned it. Zoey and I holding hands tightly with our other hands holding matching bouquets of miniature white roses and fragrant clippings of wild sagebrush. The rest of my crew forms a large semicircle around me and after I take a deep breath, I take the first step toward Tenn.
As a pair, Zoey and I walk together.
As a group, my family and friends surround me, each of them sharing in my joy.