Broken Dreams (Franklin Blues #2) (21 page)

I’m wearing a dress that is similar to the one I wore to the gala, only instead of green trim, its blue, the same blue as Lance’s shirt. I’m in the master bedroom getting ready when there is a knock on the door. I look at myself once more in the mirror and go to the door. I open the door and its Aaron standing there.

I always thought I’d ask Shawn to walk me down the aisle, but as much as I love him, I really wanted Aaron to be the one to do this for me. He looks mighty good in his suit and tie, and I know that I chose the right man to give me away.

“Hey Aaron, before we go out there, can you go give something to Lance for me?”

He gives me a weird look, but agrees. I hand him an envelope, and tell him to instruct Lance not to open it yet. I want him to know that I can make him nervous by knowing something that he doesn’t, too. I tell Aaron that I will let Lance know when he can open the envelope, but I want him to have it now so I don’t have to hold onto it. He nods his head and walks out of the master bedroom.

As I stand there looking in the mirror, I think about how much I wish that my parents were here, but I know that they are here in spirit. I can feel my mother all around me today, and I have to admit, I didn’t feel her presence this much when I married Jeremy, thinking his name sends a shiver down my spine, but I vow that I will not think about him today.

Aaron comes back in the room and says that Lance tried to open the little gift I gave him and I smile. I knew he wouldn’t want to wait, that man is so damn impatient. He hates surprises as much as I do, if not more. Aaron asks if I’m ready to get hitched, his words not mine, and I nod my head. I’ve never been so ready for anything in all my life.

He takes me by the arm and leads me out the door. We walk through the house to where we stand at the back door. Hailee and Tyler are standing there waiting for me. They both give me a kiss on the cheek and Tyler walks out first. He decided to get ordained so that way he could do our ceremony for us, and I couldn’t be happier with that decision. I look over at Hailee and she’s already crying.

“Oh Amy, I couldn’t be happier for you. I knew that if you and Lance ever got together, it could be the greatest thing ever. It could’ve been very bad, but I knew in my heart that you guys were meant to be together. You are so much more than a friend to me; you are the sister I never had. I love you so very much.”

Now I’ve got tears in my eyes. I blink a few times to push them back but it doesn’t work. A few tears fall down my face. I hug Hailee and she turns and walks towards the altar. I look up at Aaron and he winks at me. He’s got this mischievous smirk on his face, and I wonder what he’s up to. We turn so that we can get this thing started, and that’s when I notice the gazebo. It wasn’t there a few days ago, and that’s when I realize what Lance has been working so hard on, he built me a gazebo, so that way I could have the one thing I have always wanted for my wedding. Great, now the tears are really falling.

I hear the wedding march and I know it’s our time to go. I turn and let Aaron walk me to the love of my life. I have never more ready to spend the rest of my life with someone. He’s it for me, and I know that we are going to make each other happy for the rest of our lives.

We are walking, and before I know it I’m standing in front of the sexiest man alive. As I stand there and look into his eyes, I notice he keeps looking over my shoulder. I give him a questioning look, and turn around. Right next to Lisa are two empty seats. There’s a flower on one, and a boutonniere in the other. There are signs on the back that say “Reserved for Mr. and Mrs. Masters”. Right next to the signs are pictures. One is a picture of my mom and I from one Halloween, and the other is of my dad and I at a father daughter dance held at my school one year. Now the tears are free falling down my face. I knew I loved him before, but now I love him even more than I could’ve ever dreamed.

The wedding passes by in a blur. I’m surprised that I was able to say “I do” at the right times. I’m pretty sure I’m not even going to remember anything else. Tyler announces us husband and wife, and Lance goes in to kiss me. I however, pull back. I want him to see what’s in the envelope now. I tell him to pull out the envelope and look inside. I can tell he’s questioning me, but I know once he opens it he’ll understand.

He opens it up, and looks inside. I can tell he’s a little confused at first, but then I can see the moment it all clicks. He looks up at me with tears in his eyes, and I nod my head.

He sweeps down, bends me backwards, and lays the biggest kiss on my lips. By the time we come up for air I’m giggling. I knew he’d be happy, and I couldn’t be any happier. It’s been about six weeks since he proposed in the station, and with the planning of the wedding, I was late. I figured it was stress from everything, but I went to the doctor to make sure. When she told me I was pregnant, I couldn’t contain the tears. I was so elated, and I wanted to tell Lance right away, but I also wanted to come up with a good way to tell him too. I figured this would be the best way I could think of on such short notice.

Lance decides to yell to everyone in attendance at the wedding that he was going to be a daddy. Everyone comes over to give us hugs and I look over at Hailee and see her rubbing her own belly, with tears running down her face. I walk over to her and wrap my arms around her neck. We stand there, holding each other until we feel the guys behind us. We look at each other and smile. She knows what this means to me. We walk arm and arm over to the tents where we are eating dinner and have a make shift dance floor set up. We leave Lance and Shawn no other choice than to follow us.

We all sit together at the table and start talking about any and everything baby related. The boys went to get something to drink and we told them to get us whatever. We really weren’t paying much attention to them at this point. I know I should be paying attention to my new husband, but this girl time is important to me. I’m going to need her help more than she knows.

The guys come back with more than drinks; they both come back with food for us too. They take such good care of their girls. Everyone is getting their food and is eating away, not paying any attention to us. It’s like we’re in our own little world.

I’m brought out of my thoughts of food and babies when I hear Aaron clear his throat. I look up and he’s standing, holding a glass of champagne. He starts tapping his silverware against his flute. Everyone gets quiet and waits for him to start his toast.

“Hey everyone, I figured I’d get the toasts started so that way we can get to the party part of the evening. I am happy to get the toasts started tonight. Now, many of you don’t know that Lance and I haven’t always been in each other’s lives. The past ten years we haven’t seen each other at all. Now, the circumstances that brought us back together is one of the saddest moments of my life, but the fact that Amy brought us back together, I will always be thankful to her for. Today isn’t about my brother and I, it’s about the beautiful woman he’s chosen to spend the rest of his life with. I couldn’t imagine anyone more perfect to have as my little sister. They’ve been through hell and back to be together, but it’s only made them stronger. I can’t wait to see where life takes them, and spend as much time with them as possible. Cheers to Lance and Amy.” He raises his glass and everyone yells cheers while holding up theirs.

Hailee stands up next, and I know she’s going to make me cry. “Amy and I have been friends since we both showed up in this town. I was this shy, insecure girl and she was this spitfire, but for some reason we clicked. We literally ran into each other at the grocery store. Knocked over the display of condoms too. Now, whatever she says, she hit me first, not the other way around.”

Everyone laughs at her story and I roll my eyes, it was totally her fault and she knows it.

“Okay, back to my toast. Amy and I have been through some of the toughest times, but we’ve always remained close. Once Lance came into the picture, I knew they’d be perfect for each other. Now that’s not to say that I was worried what would happen if they broke up, because Lance is like the brother I never had, but I knew if they both gave it a chance, it’d be magical and would last forever. Here she is, getting married to the love of her life after going through her own version of hell. I couldn’t be happier for both of them. Cheers to Amy and Lance, may you be happy forever, and also drive each other crazy!”

Cue the water works, I knew she’d make me cry. I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to have these people in my life. When my parents died, I never thought I’d have a real family again, but the moment I met Hailee, Shawn, and Lance, I knew I’d always have a family with them. Now add Aaron and Tyler to it, and we have a very dysfunctional family, but it’s mine and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Lance

It’s been a crazy eight months. After we got married, we took a week and went to Nashville. I’m trying to remember if we left the hotel room or not, but I’m pretty sure that we didn’t. We spent a wonderful week holed up in a hotel room and only left the bed to eat and shower. I’m not sure we even put clothes on all week.

Amy is now very pregnant, and we still don’t know what we’re having. Amy decided she wanted it to be a surprise, and the wait is killing me. She’s now almost a week overdue and she’s miserable. Scarlett is a little over a year old now, and their son, Daniel Wade, was born about six weeks ago. He is the spitting image of Shawn, and he’s definitely going to be a lady killer when he gets older. Hailee is going to have her hands full with those two.

I’m getting ready to pull onto our street when my phone rings with Amy’s ringtone. It’s the song we danced to at our wedding, ‘Die a Happy Man’ by Thomas Rhett. I smiled to myself when she heard it playing over the speakers when they announced it was time for our first dance.

The phone goes quiet then starts back up again. I know something must be wrong because she doesn’t call back to back unless something is wrong.

“Amy, what’s wrong Babe?”

“Lance, I think my water broke. I need you to hurry up and get home, or I’ll have to call Mason in with the paramedics-“

She stops midsentence when what I’m assuming another contraction hits because I can hear her take deep breaths through the phone. I turn my lights and sirens on and speed towards the house. I keep her on the phone with me the whole time.

I pull up in the driveway and leave the engine running. I know I’ll be out here again in a few because I’m going to grab her and go. We’ve been waiting on this day for over a week. We thought she’d go sooner, but apparently our son or daughter is as stubborn as their mother.

I run into the house and don’t have to go very far before I spot her. She’s sitting on the couch, hands on her stomach. She looks up at me when she hears me come in, and right away I can tell she’s in pain as she has tears running down her face.

“Alright Baby, I’m here. Let’s get you to the hospital, shall we?”

I pick her up and carry her back out to my car. Her bag has been sitting by the door since before last week. Like I said, we thought she’d go earlier so it’s been sitting there, right next to the car seat.

With the lights and sirens on we make it to the hospital in record time. I’m so happy that she made a big fuss about being preregistered because it’s saving us a lot of time right now. We get her in a room and immediately she’s asking for the epidural. The doctor says she’s not even dilated to a two yet, so there’s no point in giving it to her now as it would wear off. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so pissed off before, and I’ve seen her pretty pissed off in these last nine months.

Every time she has a contraction she’s cursing me for putting her in this much pain and how we are never having kids again. I laugh at her, which causes her to yell at me even more. I can’t help that I’m laughing, I always laugh when I’m in uncomfortable situations.

She is gripping my hand so hard, I’m sure she’s going to break it, but I will endure the pain if it helps take some of hers away.

Finally, the doctor comes in and says she’s dilated to six and she can have her epidural. I breathe a sigh of relief and thank the heavens above because maybe now she won’t be in so much pain.

An hour later the guy comes in with a very big needle. I never was a fan of needles so as much as I love my wife, I’m stepping out for this one. I can hear her cursing at me from behind the closed door.

When I walk back in after the guy leaves, she’s glaring at me. “Babe, I’m sorry but I couldn’t be in here for that. You know how I am with needles; they creep me out.”

“Yeah so you say. Yet how many tattoos do you have? Plus, you have your dick pierced, so you can’t hate needles that much. Nice try asshole.”

She has a point and she knows it. I sigh to myself because I’m not going to win with her today, and I’m totally okay with that.

We’ve been sitting her for what seems like forever, when the nurse comes back in to check her progress. I’m sitting next to her bed holding her hand when the nurse says there’s still no progress. They are going to up her meds to see if that will help her along.

Another three hours pass when the doctor comes back in. She’s a tiny Hispanic woman who tells us Amy still isn’t dilating. As she stands there and watches the contraction monitor and the babies heart monitor, and her face changes. She tells us she’ll be back and walks out of the room. A couple minutes later she walks back in with a nurse. They pull Amy’s blanket back and ask her to put her feet back into the stirrups. She’s looking at me with tears running down her face. She’s scared, and there’s not anything I can do to help her.

“Alright, Mrs. Underwood, you aren’t dilating anymore and that in of itself is cause for worry. Now, on top of you of you not dilating, every time you have a contraction; both your and your baby’s heart rate slows down to an almost stand still. We are placing an internal heart monitor on the baby. This will give us a more accurate reading on what the baby is doing. Sadly, you can’t push with only being dilated to a six so we need to see what’s going on.”