“Just like Dad wanted,” I whisper
Chapter 24
Jude
Marion,
Marion,
Today you become my wife. When you do, I will become the proudest husband in the world.
My love for you grows deeper and stronger every single day and I already know I’ll love you more tomorrow and the next day than today and all the days before.
I can’t wait to start our lives together, love. You’re my soulmate, the owner of my heart, and the woman I want to raise a family with, make memories with, and build a legacy around that will be remembered for generations of Wilsons and Coopers to come.
You are the strongest, most beautiful, most reverent woman I have ever met. I promise to spend the rest of my days giving you everythingyou’ve ever dreamed of until the day I take my last breath.
And even then, I will carry you with me until the moment you join me and we can be together again.
Forever Yours
Henley
“Do I even bother askin’ you if you’re nervous this time?” Wy asks with a smirk.
Today, two weeks after we arrived back in Timber Falls and just a week before Christmas, I’m getting ready to marry my wife again. Though this time, we enter into it knowingly, loving each other and planning a long life together.
Instead of being nervous I’m itching to get out there and get it done.
“Nope,” I tell my best friend.
Wy looks at his watch. “Lucky it’s time to get married then.”
I roll my eyes. “We’realreadymarried.”
“You know what I mean.”Yeah. And it can’t come soon enough.
Twenty minutes later, I stand underneath the tall old tree in the meadow next to the main Cooper Ranch house and Case’s Christmas tree plantings. Our family and close friends wait with me as two trucks full of Wilsons pull into the driveway, the twins and Ash in the front and Dare driving Em behind them.
Not that I’d ever admit it, but I have butterflies just waiting for her to get out.
“You should face me now,” Pete muses from his spot next to me. “Renewal or not, you should never short-change yourself from the experience of getting’ that first look at your bride, Jude. Believe me, it’s somethin’ you’ll remember for the rest of your life.
I turn to find Pete smiling at me, his expression soft and joyous.
We both met with him at City Hall last week to ask if he would officiate the ceremony for us today. The way he spluttered and asked, “Are yousure?”, is something I won’t forget. And when Em got up and hugged him, telling him it would be our honor to have him stand up for us again, I knew there was no way the man would deny my wife her request.
Pete leans in. “Promise I won’t registerthisone,” he teases.
I chuckle. “Considerin’ we’re already man and wife in the eyes of the law and up high, you can do whatever you like with it.”
He grins. “Good answer,” he says before glancing over my shoulder, his smile grows impossibly wide. “Now,thatis a sight worth waitin’ for, Jude.”
That’s when the opening notes of Belong by Leon Bridges starts playing, the singer’s soulful voice washing over us like a promise, a prayer, and an oath all in one.
Wyatt nods and nudges my arm, giving me the sign I’ve been waiting for. I stare at the tree where HC 4 MW is still visible on the bark-covered trunk and with a deep calming breath, I slowly spin around and lay eyes on the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen.
Em wears the same white dress from the first time we married. Her hair is pinned half up, half down, with Marion’s silver pin sitting pride of place against her blonde locks. What’s new this time is a white tulle veil draped softly over her face,though it does nothing to hide the love shining in her beautiful blue eyes or the smile gracing her perfect blush lips.