“I’m pregnant.”
“What?” I pulled back and grabbed the microphone. It hadn’t caught that, but I wanted to be safe. I passed it off to Mason and looked back to Heather. “You’re sure?”
She nodded. “Channing knows, but don’t tell anyone. We’ll announce it later. Will you be her godmother?”
Her.
I touched my chest. I was going to be a godmother. “Yes! Yes.”
And we were back to hugging.
I had a feeling we’d be doing this all night long.
After we settled back in our seats, Matteo made a toast. Courtney and Grace did one together, and even Channing stood for a few words. After that, it was our parents’ turn. Malinda cried the whole time, so it was really just David speaking, but when he’d finished, she grabbed a piece of paper and shoved it into his hand. He read from it, so we heard Malinda’s word through him. Then it was James and Analise’s turn. Everyone tensed slightly, but James only laughed.
“This would be the perfect time to get you back, Mason, but I won’t,” James said. His eyes filled with mirth. “I’m hoping Logan will forget the favor I promised him too, so I’m going to be the doting and proud father I always should’ve been when you were growing up.”
And he was just that. He talked about how proud he was of Mason, how Mason was the man James aspired to become, and by the end, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. Analise took the microphone next, a tender smile on her face.
She looked exceptionally beautiful tonight, but my mother was always stunning—especially lately because she’d continued to be stable since she returned from her long hospital stay. She’d even helped me pick out my wedding dress, and advised on the decorations too. I knew she’d offered to take control of the cleanup, but that was a job in itself. Still, it meant a lot. It meant more than a lot. We weren’t daughter and mother, but we were becoming friends in a way. It felt good. It felt right, and her toast was short, but very sweet.
“I have loved you since the day I met you,” she said. “I have loved you when I couldn’t show you. I have loved you when I was hurting you.” She began crying, and so did I. “And it was because of my love for you that I sought help. I loved you every day I was in the hospital. I loved you every day I was in the residential home. I loved you the day I came home, and I have loved you every day since. I will love you every day that you’ll let me, and if you choose not to, I will continue to love you even after that. I will never stop loving you, Samantha, and I am not the reason you are the amazing woman you’ve become, but my heart couldn’t be any prouder. Like Mason has done for his father, I thank you for showing me the type of woman I should be. I love you.”
I went to hug her, then moved to hug all the others.
There was more talking and celebrating after that. Helen stood up. Garrett stood up. My little sister even made a speech, and everyone melted into puddles when she waved her little hands in the air.
But then Logan announced it was time to party, and soon we were all on the dance floor.
A couple hours later, I began to wonder: Do newly wedded couples stay until the end of their receptions?
I had this idea in my head that they slunk off halfway through the night, eager for their time alone, and everyone else stayed dancing and partying until the deejay quit working. I don’t know if that’s the truth, but it’s not what Mason and I did—not because we didn’t want to be alone, but because we’d already broken the tradition of not seeing each other the night before. We not only saw each other, we slept in the same bed, and had some hot and rough sex. Oh yeah. We shattered that tradition, and we were also the last to go at the end of the party.
After the deejay finally cut the music and packed up his things, all of our friends remained in the banquet room for another hour, talking and laughing around a table. Logan held Taylor on his lap. She leaned against his chest, her eyes half closed the whole time. Nate was beside them, with Heather and Channing next to him, holding hands under the table. Matteo sat with Grace, and Courtney was beside her. Finally, with exhaustion growing, people began saying their goodnights and goodbyes.
Courtney was first to wave goodbye with tears in her eyes. She wound her little arms around me and whispered in my ear, “I wish all the blessings and happily ever afters for you, friend.” She squeezed me tight one more time. “I know you guys will be fine.” She kissed my forehead and waved to everyone else as she left.
Grace and Matteo were next, holding hands.
He went for the side-hug with Mason, but Mason wasn’t having it. He went straight for a real hug, and the two clasped each other tight. Matteo pulled back and flicked away a tear like it was never there as he reached for Grace again. I knew she meant it when she said congratulations to me.
Heather and Channing were third in line, and we shared hugs all around. Mason was my best friend. Logan after him, but then it was Heather for sure. No girl, not even Taylor, would ever fill Heather’s shoes, and this hug wasn’t really a “I’m unsure how this will affect us in the future” hug, but one that said “I love you to death and call me when you wake up so we can laugh about everything all over again.”
As Heather and Channing left, I knew we’d be seeing each other or talking very shortly. They were lifers with us.
Then there were five.
Nate (his date had slipped away to their hotel room for the night already), Logan and Taylor, and Mason and me.
I don’t know who started it, but we all stood and moved out to the lobby. We stopped there, and I curved into Mason’s side, his arm around my waist. Taylor had curled into Logan, and Nate’s hands were in his pockets. Their tuxedo jackets were long gone, as were the slim black ties they’d worn, and the ends of their shirts had untucked from their pants.
Mason’s eyes were tired, but alert, and his hair had been raked through so it stood up a little bit. It suited him. He could’ve been a CEO after an all-nighter, and one day, I was sure he would be.
I knew he would eventually tire of football. He and Logan were already talking about business ventures, starting up a tentative idea, and I had no worries about it. I was certain that eventually they would be CEOs, rivaling their father. Until then, they were going their planned routes. The NFL for Mason, and law school for Logan.
“This is it.” Nate glanced around the group, a twinge of sadness in his eyes.
I wasn’t sure what Nate was going to do. He’d followed Mason to Massachusetts and was working in a business there, but he’d kept quiet about his plans for the future. I had a feeling that wherever Mason was, Nate would be too.
Mason’s hand tightened around my waist; I felt good and anchored, and I needed it. The tiredness was getting to me. I yawned.
Mason nodded. “This is it.”
Nate looked at Logan. “I’m going up to wake my date. You’ll be at the house later?”
That house was the one I’d moved into and started this whole process. James and Analise had kept their promise. They’d moved out, and it was left for us to use whenever we wanted. Everyone had stayed there this past week, but some got hotel rooms for tonight. And I knew Mason had plans for us.
We were heading to Europe for a month of backpacking. We’d stay in hostels unless they were too nasty, then we’d spend the money for a nice hotel. But we had plans to stay as grassroots as possible. I was excited about the honeymoon trip, but I knew tonight Mason was intending to take us somewhere else completely.
“Yep. We’ll be there,” Logan told Nate. “We’ll see you later.”
Nate nodded and pointed toward the elevators. “I should get up there before I can’t wake her up anymore.”
There was another round of hugs, but we’d see Nate tomorrow evening.
Nate was family. He’d never venture far from our side.
Logan and Taylor walked beside us out to the parking lot. Once we got to Mason’s Escalade, Taylor didn’t linger. She broke from Logan’s side, coming to hug me and whisper, “He’ll stay forever i
f I don’t do something. Love you, sister, and I’ll see you guys tomorrow for dinner.”
We hugged once more, then she hugged Mason and turned to Logan. “I’ll be in the car. Not too long, okay?”
He nodded, and their hands swiped as he handed off the keys.
Then there was three.
We looked at each other, and Logan blinked back a few tears. A crooked grin showed, and he sighed, “The Threesome Fearsome.”
He looked at Mason, then me, and I matched his crooked grin, saying, “Always.” I slipped my hand back into Mason’s, but I gave him some space.
This was it. This was the final hug goodbye. In some small sense, things would be different after this. Mason was my husband.
I grinned up at him, feeling the same breathlessness I always did when he entered a room. But I also felt flutters in my chest and stomach today for the same reason Logan was trying not to tear up.
Mason was my husband now. My real family. It was him and me. Husband and wife. God, I was someone’s wife. I was Mason’s wife. I felt a whole new tingle at that thought. I’d never get used to it. It was all so surreal, but that was our Twosome Fearsome.
The Threesome Fearsome would remain, but it was different. Logan had always been on Mason’s other side, but after this, he would stand behind us. It would be Mason and me, side by side. We’d follow our own trail, and eventually Logan would start off on his own path with Taylor.
Logan cursed. “Fuck. Why am I sad all of a sudden?”
“Logan.” I opened my arms, and he moved in, hugging me tightly and burying his head in my shoulder. I smoothed a hand down his head and brought him closer.
Then he turned, and Mason gripped him in another hug. They stood together for a long time. When they stepped back, both wiped a hand over their eyes, and Mason reached for me again.
He flicked a finger up to the corner of his eye, looking away as he said, “I knew getting married would be emotional, but shit . . .”
I laced our fingers, and he took another breath and seemed to calm a little.
We waited another moment, and he looked back to his brother. He had steadied again. “I fucking love you.”
Logan nodded. “Same for you.” His eyes found mine. “You too.”
I felt punched by what I saw there.
He was like a little boy again. There was no wall. He wasn’t flirting with Taylor. There was no sarcastic joke on his tongue. His eyes weren’t flashing from mischief or the need to fight. He was just simply there, staring at us like we were the two pillars he’d been leaning on the last six or seven years of his life, and we were crumbling around him.
It wasn’t true.
“Logan.” I reached for him with my free hand and tugged him close to us. “We’re not going anywhere.”
He nodded. “I know.” He squeezed my hand, and the three of us formed a circle. We stood like that until Logan finally broke away.
He went to his Escalade, and I waved at Taylor inside. She waved back, her face streaming with tears. When Logan got in he leaned over, and I saw her reach for him. After a moment, he wheeled the Escalade out of the parking lot.
Then it was two.
I looked up, leaning back against my husband’s chest. A smile curved my mouth. “Husband.”
He looked down at me with an answering smile. “Wife.”
No other words needed to be said.
I got my happily ever after one night when I parked at a gas station with two drunken friends. I just hadn’t known it then.
He leaned down for a kiss, and I sighed as our lips met.
It was perfect.
ONE LAST RACE
“Kade!”
I heard my name barked out next to me, and I jerked.
“What?” I snapped my head up, irritated, but I already knew who it was and relaxed right away. I quieted my tone. “What is it, Coach?”
I half-snorted at the name. He was my coach, trainer, sadistic torturer, and grudging father figure all rolled into one. He was my Olympic trainer, and he gestured out to where the other runners had started to congregate.
“You ready?” he said.
I nodded, but I wasn’t.
I was lit up like a starving dog that saw its first steak, ever. I was almost salivating, but I was distracted at the same time.
“You were supposed to sleep a full night last night.” He watched me with narrowed eyes, his black jacket zipped all the way up under his jaw and whistle in hand. He dropped it, letting it fall back against his chest. “Kade. Did you—”
“Yes, yes.” I waved him off. “I’ll be fine. I’m ready.”
Had I slept all night? No.
Would my running suffer because of it? No.
Or, I hoped not.
I scanned the rest of the runners. I’d run this race before. This was my second time at the Olympics. And I ran. That’s what I did. Granted, that’s what all of these people did, but it had been my life source at one point.
I knew once I walked to that starting line, everything else would leave my mind.
I was born to do this. I would be fine.
I told my trainer this, and he nodded, but I knew he didn’t quite believe me.
He stepped back and pointed to the starting line. “Go and kick ass. Again.”
I clipped my head in a nod. That was what I would do. When it came to running, that was all I did. I went and finished my stretching. My mind wandered off, but as I took my place at the line, I looked over and saw the reason for my scattered thoughts.
The first warning sounded.
I had good reason to daydream.
“Set!”
Mason waved from where he stood, with our daughter in his arms. We’d named her Logan Malinda Kade—we called her Maddy.
BOOM! The gun went off.
And I ran.
The end.
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