BEAU
Emma sways back and forth to the music, her gown sashaying around her long legs as she does, Maggie on her hip as they scour the buffet line with Nadine, Gemma, Jess, and Kim. I notice Val's absence and smirk when I see that Zach is missing from my side of the table, too. Only his suit jacket remains on the back of his chair.
Ah, lovebirds.
Probably hooking up somewhere in my house.
Nice.
I'll find a way to make Zach squirm about that once we're back from our honeymoon. For now, just enjoying the view - my stunningly beautiful bride, feasting on finger food - is enough.
My eyes trail Emma's every move, my mind still stuck on the absurdity of it all.
That woman is my wife. Emma. The most loving and simply good person I have ever met. She's agreed to put up with me forever. Me.
There will never be a morning when I wake up without Emma beside me.
That right there makes me the luckiest man alive.
A faint smile crosses my lips as she dips her head back in laughter, our daughter quickly imitating her, the reception taking place all around them.
"So fuck me, huh?"
My attention is torn away from watching my girls and fixes instead on Parker, a smug grin on his face. He pulls out the chair beside me and turns it backwards, so he's resting his heaping plate of food on the back of it.
"Hm?" I narrow my eyes at him, before flickering back to Emma, the shape of her spine in the open back of her dress almost making my mouth water.
"You said it clear as day, man. I'm not Emma, and I'm not Maggie." Parker stuffs a bite of creamy pasta into his mouth, speaking when it's full. "So fuck me, right?"
I roll my eyes, unbuttoning my cuff links and pushing my sleeves up my forearms.
"Says the kid still living in my guest bedroom."
He doesn't miss a beat, nodding his head as he shovels more food down his throat. "Point taken." Parker wipes his mouth quickly. "Don't worry, I won't tell Emma that your love is really split three ways instead of two."
Another eye roll.
But Emma is walking over now, Gemma giggling with Maggie in tow behind her, so I keep my voice low and fast.
"And I won't tell Emma how badly you want to fuck her friend, how's that for a deal?"
I wink as Parker's face pales, his fork hitting his plate as he watches Gemma come even closer. His cheeks reddening, he quickly gets off my back and bee lines back to the buffet before the girls are sitting beside me.
I chuckle to myself, shrugging it off when Emma asks what's funny. She settles into my waiting lap and I nestle my face into her neck, more than ready to get this whole party over with.
Our honeymoon awaits. And while I'm excited to see Emma's reaction to the surprise trip I have planned, I'm more excited for the honeymoon festivities than anything else.
Two weeks of uninterrupted, adult, alone time.
I grab Maggie from Gemma and kiss her cheek, sticky with whatever treats Gemma let her get into.
I love my daughter, but my God, I need to have sex with my wife.
No interruptions, no trying to be quiet, just sex. All day if we want. And all night.
"Are you ready?" Emma asks, her cheeks rosy from laughter. She squeezes Maggie's thigh roll as I hand her back to Gemma.
God, yes.
Instead, I tuck her hair behind her ear. "For what?"
She smacks my shoulder, a pretend frown over her plump lips. But her eyes are smiling, big and brown and full of joy. Her freckles dance across her skin under the string lights overhead and as always, my resistance fails.
"Our dance. We're ready to turn up the music and dim the lights, but we're up first."
"Ah." I mumble into the soft skin of her neck, gripping her hips tightly as I rise to my feet, bringing her with me. "A dance with the hottest girl in the room, I'd be honored."
I take her hand and walk her to the center of the dance floor, oblivious to the eyes watching us. It's just me and her and the blush across her cheeks.
"The real question," I murmur, placing a hand on the small of her back and pressing her body firmly to mine, "Is, are you ready?"
My heart beats faster as Emma gently clasps my other hand with her dainty fingers, her head tilted back just enough so that she can gaze into my eyes.
She only asked me to take charge of one aspect of our wedding: the song for our first dance.
"You have such strong musical opinions," She'd said, "I don't want to pick a song and have you hate it. The entire dance, you'd just be thinking 'wow this song sucks,' 'Emma has such bad taste in music...'"
"No, I would not-"
She continued, "'I hope Mags doesn't have her mom's music taste.'"
I'd finally gotten her to stop teasing by tickling her into submission. But try as I might, I couldn't find us a song.
Not for weeks. There was just nothing out there that summed up exactly how I feel about her. Besides my song for her, of course.
So I wrote her another one.
With Parker's help keeping her distracted, I laid down the piano first, added some guitar, and then perfected the lyrics, rewriting and editing and re-recording until it all sounded just right. Until it was perfect.
"Of course I am." Emma replies, not taking her eyes off mine as we begin to sway and slowly spin, the opening notes coming through the sound system as the rest of the world falls quiet around us.
Her brows furrow, her head cocked at me as she tries to place it. A look of wonder passes over her delicate features before my voice finally accompanies the instruments and realization sets in.
I watch as she listens, my breath caught in my throat.
My love letter to Emma. To the woman I fell in love with when we met, to the grey-haired grandmother she will be some day, to the best friend I've ever known, to the mother raising our child.
To the love of my life, to my light in the darkness, to the one girl I will never stop singing about.
The things I should've said and never did, the things I'm lucky enough to remind her of every day from here on out.
Her eyes are watery when she reaches up to kiss me, but I know they're the best kind of tears. The only ones I'll ever make her cry again.
It seems like we're paused in that moment forever, her velvet lips on mine, our fingers intertwined, bodies melding together on the dance floor.
I only know it's not a dream because someone interrupts it. Eyes blinking open to see what it is, I slip back into what still feels like my fantasy world, taking Maggie's plump little self from Nadine and cradling her between Emma and me.
Emma grins, resting her cheek on our daughters head as couples fill in the rest of the dance floor around us.
A steady calmness washes over me. Content. Peaceful.
Happy.
My eyes blink closed as I hold them tighter. Everything else falls away. All that I need, I have in my arms already.
The sky is black, illuminated only by tiny stars, trying their best to poke through the thin veil of the clouds. The limo window is cracked, sending Emma's hair over my skin every few seconds and tickling my arm each time.
"I feel bad that we left Parker in charge of yard clean up tomorrow." Emma makes me jump. I thought she was sleeping, cuddled beside me in the white sundress she'd changed into just before we left.
Our flight leaves at the crack of dawn, and yet here she is, looking as gorgeous as when she walked down the aisle.
"Parker will be fine." I scoff, kissing the top of her head. "It's okay if we make him work a little bit."
I trail my fingertips up her thigh, watching as little goosebumps rise across her skin, and grin at the glint of my wedding band in the darkness. I'll get it tattooed soon.
"What're we going to do about him?" I try not to feel guilty for asking. But we are married now. Things might be different.
Emma's hand becomes still in my hair, her eyes flashing open to stare at me. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, we're married. Aren't we supposed to have privacy or something?"
Her fingers resume their slow drag through my hair. Nestling her head against my shoulder, Emma closes her eyes again, relaxed once more.
"Don't be an idiot." She almost sighs. "It's his home, too."
A weight I hadn't noticed lifts from my chest as her fingers massage my scalp.
I watch her, amazed and proud at the same time. As always, my wife is good.
The fucking best, actually.
Just as her breathing begins to slow, her head lolling to the side with sleep, she jerks awake.
"You think Maggie will be okay?"
"Mags?" I stifle a yawn. My eyelids are getting heavy, the warm breeze through the window pulling me to sleep along with her after a long day. "I think Maggie's going to be the best."
Emma giggles, leaning forward and pressing her palms to my chest. "No, I mean without us while we're away?"
I blink myself awake. The ever present concern I feel looming over me ever since Maggie was born is front and center for just a moment. Until I talk myself down, so I can talk Emma down, too.
"Ya know, I don't think we have to worry about it. I think Nadine would rather die than let Mags get so much as a paper cut. Maybe you're just worried we won't survive without her." I lean my head back, letting out a deep sigh. "Me too. She's awesome."
I squeeze my arm behind Emma's back, tucking her body against my side.
"But..." My eyes flicker down to her full lips, my thoughts on all the delicious things we'll do once we're in Italy. "I can't wait to get busy doing the same activities that gave us the little rug-rat to begin with."
***
The smell of coffee stirs me awake nose first. My stomach growls before my eyes are even open, my hand reaching at the empty sheets beside me.
I stumble out of bed and out to the balcony, following the sweet scent of caffeine, the breeze off the Adriatic, and the assumption that Emma must be enjoying one of our last Italian sunrises over the ocean.
Leaning against the doorframe, I smile at the scene painted before me, Emma's blonde hair a pile atop her head, her long neck dipping into the arch of her naked back, a sheet from our room draped around her as she props her feet on the balcony railing, an espresso in her hand.
The sky is alive in orange and red hues, pink clouds creating a haze in the air as the sun reaches its peak.
"I thought I was done waking up alone." I tease once I'm confident I've committed the image to memory.
Emma doesn't startle, she dips her head back and smiles at me upside down until I come right beside her, cupping her cheek in my palm.
"Hi." She murmurs, kissing the inside of my hand before staring back out over the crystal clear water.
"Whatcha thinking about out here?" I grab the second espresso from the silver tray. Still hot, I woke up just in time.
"Just talking to my parents." She sighs, resting her chin in her hand.
"Whatcha talking about?"
I settle into the chair beside her and pull her legs into my lap.
"How great you are." Cocking her head at me, a serene happiness over her features, Emma continues. "How funny Maggie is." She closes her eyes, the emerging daylight casting a golden glow over her skin, "How lucky I am, how happy I am. How they don't have to worry about me anymore."
A deep ache spreads through me with the reminder that there's a hole in Emma that will never be completely filled.
I'll never know if her parents would've liked me, or if my mother would've taken Emma and Maggie to get their nails done on the weekends, and we will never have to argue over which house we'll go to for Christmas.
I take her hand in mine, squeezing tightly.
But for me, and for her too, I know, this is enough.
"I'm the one who's lucky." I remind her, leaning in and sealing it with a kiss before she even has the chance to argue.
I cannot say thank you enough for all of the love and support you guys have shown me through this little setback period. Thank you thank you thank you for being understanding and patient as I make sure i finish Beau and Emma's story just right
I'm so grateful for you all❤️ more than words can say! (I promise I'll be trying to respond to comments ASAP!)
we've got one more chapter and an epilogue left - who's ready?