I shook my head. “No, it’s great. It’s perfect. Seriously. I’m so damn happy. It’s the best Christmas present a guy could ask for.”
A few tears spilled loose onto Billie’s cheeks and I wiped them away. “I love you,” she whispered. “I love you so much. I can’t wait.”
I kissed her, and felt like maybe all those Christmas movies got it right—miracles, in one way or another, did happen this time of year.
Epilogue: Billie
Pike had been content to have a long engagement while we sorted everything out with our lives, but I had wanted to go ahead and get married soon, even if it meant a smaller, less fancy wedding, because of the baby. I wanted everything to be sorted before our child arrived.
Of course, that meant walking down the aisle in a dress while pregnant, but that was fine. I could always take the dress in later if I wanted to wear it again. I’d designed it myself, in fact, with some help from Michelle. And hey, that meant I didn’t have to freak out about the dress arriving in time for the wedding.
Six months of planning and the day was finally here.
It was June, a perfect day—not too hot yet, the real summer heat not setting in just yet—and the birds and the bees were all out, buzzing and chirping all around. Pike and I had picked out a lovely local meadow to have the wedding in, taking advantage of the warm weather. And it meant we didn’t have to worry about crowding anyone into a building. Although, there weren’t a lot of people to crowd.
I waited at the start of the aisle, staring down at the flowered archway that had been set up at the end, where Pike, Morgan, and the officiant stood waiting. Michelle and Amber were standing there as well, having just walked down the aisle ahead of me. I had to admit, Amber was getting… easier to deal with, since the whole fake boyfriend thing. She genuinely liked Pike, even if she was no longer in love with him, and seemed eager to become friends with me. She was a handful, but she wasn’t quite as bitchy as I’d always thought her. And if she was, at times, I was quick to rein her in.
Her wedding was going to be in a few weeks. And obviously much more ostentatious than this one.
My father offered his arm. “Are you ready?” he asked, smiling.
Mom and Dad had always loved Pike, and despite their initial surprise (or at least Dad’s original surprise) they were delighted that the two of us were together.
“I’m definitely ready,” I told him, rather than letting him know I had been ready my whole life. Or at least what felt like my whole life.
This was my dream. The day that I had imagined for years as a teenager. Only this wasn’t just a daydream while I was in history class. This wasn’t a doodle in my chemistry notebook. This was real.
Dad walked me down the aisle as music played from the speakers we’d brought, because none of us were lugging a piano out here to a meadow. Mom was crying already, like I’d known she would, and everyone else was beaming at me.
But I only had eyes for Pike.
He looked handsome as sin standing at the end of the aisle in a tailored suit, a white rose in his lapel, smiling at me softly in awe. He was looking at me almost like he had never seen me before, or like he was a man who had been blind and could finally see. It made me blush, made my eyes water, made heat climb up my spine.
Here I was, only about a month out from delivering the baby, looking like someone had stuck a gigantic balloon to my stomach, and he was staring at me like I was radiant to him.
I didn’t know what I’d done to earn a man who looked at me like that, but it must’ve been spectacular.
Except, no, I knew what I had done. I had called him out on his bullshit. I had defended him to my brother, and to anyone else who tried to tell us no. I had believed in him and supported him. I had earned our love, just as he had.
Dad got me up to the end of the aisle and handed me off, smiling warmly at Pike. Pike had been so nervous about my parents rejecting him. He had looked up to them like they were his own parents for so long, and now he was officially going to be part of the family. I couldn’t imagine a better day for him.
Pike took my hands, squeezing them. I smiled back at him, already feeling my eyes getting wet. Damn pregnancy hormones turning me into a sap. I cried over a commercial for dog food the other day, that was what I had been reduced to.