Making Me Sane (Sanity Book 2) (34 page)

S
he said yes.

She cried as she hugged everyone. She cried while we were at the courthouse. She cried while she was getting her hair, nails, and makeup done. I could hear her crying when she went into the bathroom to put on her mother’s dress, which ended up fitting her as perfectly as her mother said it would. I shed a tear when I see her, which in turn makes her cry some more. And when we get to a beautiful rose garden in the area, she cries when she sees all the red roses in the altar that was made.

“I’m sorry,” she says while we wait because the minister is late.

I wipe away some of her stray tears. “Why?”

“Because I was seriously getting pissed at you and was extremely worried because you were keeping something from me and I didn’t know what. Please, no more surprises.”

I laugh. “Okay. No more. And no apology is needed. I need to ask you something, though.”

“What?”

“You remember how I killed two birds with one stone by making my romantic date that I owed you also what we did for Valentine’s Day?”

She nods. “Yes, you can use your trip to Italy as our honeymoon.”

I grin. “I promise a second, third, and maybe fourth honeymoon in exchange.”

“Even better.”

“I’m here, I’m here,” the minister says as he walks toward us.

About fucking time. Probably not the best thing to think in the presence of a minister, but I’m ready to marry my girl.

“I’ll see you in a minute. Any last words as my girlfriend?”

“I’m ready to be your wife,” she smiles.

“Good last words. I’m ready to be your husband.”

“Then go.” She pushes me to follow after the minister to take my place.

I take my place next to the minister. Soft music plays as my dad walks Amy and Jane down the aisle and to the four seats. Ben and Melissa come next. Ray whispers something to Brittany that makes her cry again. He wipes her tears away and then she’s coming toward me. Her mother’s dress is beautiful. It’s amazing that Jane was right. She said Brittany is about the same size she was, so it should fit her. I hope we have a girl, so the tradition can continue.

I still can’t believe she’s pregnant. Since everyone saw her puke, she went ahead and shared the news. Almost everyone was crying then. We could have a small pond of tears at this point. Ray gives her away and I lift her veil. Let me just say it was easier than I expected to get Ray on board. I guess after we were there at the beach with them, after he had his talk with me, I was back on his good side. He asked me then to be honest, tell him my intentions, and how things were going between us. He wanted to hear my side of things after Brittany called for that heart to heart. I guess he wanted to make sure he gave her the right advice.

Brittany smiles as we hold hands. The minister starts the ceremony immediately. We don’t need anything exaggerated or drawn out. I’m not listening to him anyway. I have an ear out for my cue, but in the meantime, I’m drinking in the sight of my wife. I can hear the clicks of the photographer and the sniffles of our guests.

Then, I’m given my cue. “I’ve already told you that I love, want, cherish, need, and trust you. Today, I’m promising to love, want, cherish, need, and trust you from this day forward. I promise to never plan a big surprise again. I promise to make sure you know I’m always going to be here for you and I’ll do anything for you. I promise to be yours. I promise to treat you better than the way you deserve to be treated. I promise to be a great father to our kids. I promise to be a husband who makes mistakes, apologizes, works hard, talks to you, who makes sure you know you’re loved, holds you on the bad days, and celebrates the little things as well as the big. You are the love of my life, and I can’t imagine life without you, Britt.”

She’s crying again, so I wipe away her tears.

With a laugh, she says, “I’m so overwhelmed by everything you’ve done today, my mind is blank.” She takes a deep breath. “Give me a second.”

“Take your time. I’m not going anywhere.”

Brittany smiles and slowly inhales and exhales. “You are easily the best thing to ever happen to me. We’ve struggled, but I’m oddly thankful for that because we’re so much better individually and together. You take care of me. You hold me. You’re perfect for me, and I couldn’t imagine spending my life with anyone else.” She pauses before laughing and shaking her head. “Sorry, I just thought about the baby and hoped he or she won’t be too big since you’re so tall.”

My dad snorts. “Good luck. He was long and nearly ten pounds.”

“Oh gosh. Okay. Sorry,” she tells me. Her hands are trembling a bit in mine and I give them a good squeeze of reassurance. “You’re the love of my life, Trace. So, I promise to love, want, need, cherish, and trust you. I promise to listen when you talk to me. I promise to always be here for you. I promise to be your wife from this day forward. I promise to do my best, talk to you, be a good mother to our kids, to lie with you in the recliner on good days as well as bad, to always fight for myself, for you, for our kids, and for us. I promise to be with you and love you for as long as I live.”

“Do you, Trace Lexington, take Brittany Rogers to be your lawfully wedded wife?” the minister asks.

“I do.”

She slides the ring I picked out for myself onto my finger.

“Do you, Brittany Rogers, take Trace Lexington to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do.”

I add a wedding band to the ring on her finger.

“Then I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride.”

I dip my head and press my lips to Brittany’s as she wraps her arms around my neck. “I love you,” I mutter.

“I love you, too,” she whispers.

“You’re my wife.”

She grins. “You’re my husband.”

“We’re going to be parents.”

“Yes, we are.”

“Kiss me. I’m not sure this is real.”

Brittany laughs, kisses my cheek for fun, and faces our families and friends. My father steps up to her after her parents have hugged her.

“I never apologized for my behavior the last time we met. I’m sorry. I hope we’ll have better times ahead of us.”

“Of course,” she says. “We’ll have plenty of time to create better memories over Thanksgiving.”

He hugs her, whispers something in her ear, and she starts crying again.

“Okay,” Melissa speaks up. “Can we all stop making the poor girl cry?”

“Yes, please,” Brittany agrees. “And I’m hungry. I haven’t eaten since this morning.”

Everyone, all at once it seems, talks about how the pregnant lady definitely needs to eat. We don’t have to wait for photos to be taken because since the minister was late, we took photos then.

“How do fried pickles sound?” I ask her.

She grins and then frowns. “As long as I can keep the nausea at bay, we’ll be fine. Can we change first?” Brittany turns to her mother. “I love your dress, Mom, but I need something more functional.”

“Whatever you want,” I say. “We’ll stop by the house to change and then go.”

“It’s your dress now,” Jane tells her, which makes Brittany start crying all over again.

Everyone heads to my house to change into casual clothes before we head to the restaurant.

“When did you find out what he was up to?” Brittany asks Melissa while we wait for our food to be brought out.

“Once you told me what Rebecca said, I asked Ben who told me he was interviewing the photographer.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask. What did Rebecca say?

“She saw you at lunch with her and told me about it,” Brittany intercepts before Melissa can talk. “That’s all.”

“You never told me that.”

She shrugs. “She could’ve been lying, and I didn’t like what she said. I wanted to forget about it. Besides, I trust you.”

Then it clicks. Rebecca saw me with another woman at lunch and she told Brittany I could be cheating on her. For her to ignore that, not say anything, and continue things as normal with me? She must’ve had little to no doubts about it. That explains her falling out with her friend. As far as I know, they haven’t spoken since.

“When did you know, Mom?”

“I believe Trace called us the day he realized what he wanted to do. He asked for our permission and if we thought you’d go for it. I told him I thought you would, especially since he was going to make sure it was the way you wanted based on what you told him.”

“My biggest worry,” I tell her, “is that I’d overwhelm you into a panic attack with everything that was happening. That, and trying to keep it a secret without stressing you out or pissing you off over being secretive. I was doing okay until right here lately.”

Brittany shakes her head. “No, you weren’t. The moment you started saying you were working late or couldn’t make dinner with me, I started worrying. It snowballed from there until I couldn’t keep my frustrations to myself anymore.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell her as I kiss her temple.

“It’s okay.”

The waitress drops off our food and conversation moves to the pregnancy. Our parents share stories from our childhoods and we joke to Ben and Melissa that it’s their turn, which gets the girls started on wishing for their kids to be close in age and friends like they are.

Later, we’re quiet as we drive home. Ben and Melissa went home. Our parents are off to a hotel. We get to spend the night in our house as newlyweds.

“I think we should look for another house.”

“Why? I like yours.”

“Exactly,” I say. “I want one that’s ours. Besides, with a baby on the way, we need more guest rooms.”

“Or we can buy a couch with a fold-out bed. We have our trip, Thanksgiving, and then Christmas, all while I’m pregnant.”

“Wouldn’t you rather move into a bigger house now rather than later? What if we have more than one kid? Or what if you’re carrying twins? A two-bedroom house is too small.”

“Can we talk about it later? You proposed, we got married, and we found out there’s a human inside of me. That’s enough for one day.”

I laugh. “Or two.”

She rolls her eyes. “You just better hope a ten-pound baby doesn’t have to come out of me. Like, I can barely imagine giving birth at this point. That’s just pushing it right now.”

I park in the driveway and run around to open her door. “Want me to carry you inside?”

“Why are you asking? Of course I do,” she answers as she steps out.

I hook an arm under her knees and lift her in my arms. She uses her free hands to unlock the door and push it open.

“Hey, Lily,” she laughs as the dog tries to jump and greet us.

“We’ll pet you later,” I say to Lily. “Right now, I believe it’s time for me to take my wife straight to the bedroom.”

“Yes, that sounds like a good idea.”

I gently set her on the bed. Brittany is already taking her clothes off, so I follow her lead. Once our shirts are off, she grabs my hips and tilts her head back to look at me.

“Are you happy?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No. I was a little worried to tell you about the baby.”

“Why?”

“Because you said maybe, Trace. Maybe is not yes.”

“I want anything and everything when it comes to you,” I tell her.

“That’s what I was hoping for.” She smiles.

I push her shoulders so she lies flat on her back. I lean over her and kiss her stomach. That goofy my-boyfriend-just-did-something-great grin is on her face. Which, I guess now it’s the goofy my-
husband
-just-did-something-great grin. A grin appears on my own face as I kiss up her torso while I unfasten the button on her shorts. A happy sigh leaves her as her fingers dive into my hair. This is my girl. My wife.

How can life get any better than this?