Page 103 of Fate Forever and Always

She looked up at me. “Can we? Tomorrow?”

My stomach filled with excitement, but I knew she deserved more than that. “What? Callie, we can't elope. Our friends and your mom would kill us.” I stated.

“We don’t have to elope. Let's just tell everyone we're going to city hall. I don’t want to spend one more day not being yours.”

I picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around me. “Baby, I don’t need a piece of paper to know that you are mine. Let them have their wedding time. I want to give you the wedding you deserve. I want to have fun planning it and give you everything you wanted.”

She looked at me in disbelief. “I don’t want anything but you, Nick.”

I gave her a serious look. “Baby, let me do this for you. Please.”

She looked at me, seeming to consider something. Then she spoke against my lips. “I will love you forever, whether we are married or not.” She gave me another passionate kiss.

When we pulled away, I looked her in the eyes, and we said it at the same time… “Forever and Always.”

Callie

Epilogue

May

Ijust called Brielle to make sure she was on her way to help me set up for Aubrey’s engagement party at the restaurant. Luckily, the weather held out, and we could have the party on the roof deck just like we were hoping.

She was talking to me through her car’s Bluetooth since she was driving, so I could barely hear her.

“I will be there in twenty minutes. I had to pick up Eli.”

“Hey Calster, what’s up, girl?”

Calster?His speech was very slurred, and alarm bells went off in my head. There was no way this man was going to show up to a party where his best friend is celebrating and be sloshed. He was the best man for crying out loud.

“Elijah, are you drunk? It is ten in the morning.”

“It’s five o'clock somewhere, babyyy,” he said, dragging out the “E” sound.

I slapped my hand to my face in disgust. “You better not be too drunk. I will kick your ass out. Do you hear me? This is an important day for Aubs and Link.”

“I will be fine I—”

Brielle cut him off. “I will watch him. He is fine.”

“No, I will have Nick watch him. You are the maid of honor. You have more than enough to do.”

“Callie, I got it, okay?” She sounded very mad and I didn’t see that side of her often, so I let it go.

“Fine. See you in twenty.”

She hung up, and I immediately notified Nick and Link. I didn’t want anyone ruining this for Aubrey.

A few hours later, everything was going off without a hitch. Aubrey was surprised. We told her we were going to do it in the summer, and then moved it up because her dad, August, and his wife, Liza, were going to be up here for a few days. I loved surprising her because she hated surprises so much. She literally had to know everything, all the time.

Nick was doing a good job of keeping an eye on Elijah, so it made my life a lot easier. Brielle made a speech and had everyone crying. Including myself. I still believed she should be a writer since she was so damn creative, but she's always stuck to art and photography.

I saw Amani flirting with Beck and one of the other guys. It almost looked like both guys had their hands on her, but I couldn’t see that well now that it was getting dark and the fairy lights were the only light source.

Nick asked me to dance, and when I went to protest that he needed to stay with Elijah, he motioned over to Elijah who was having a heated conversation with Brielle. I knew that conversation would take a few minutes, so we danced.

As the song was ending, I saw Brielle excuse herself and go into the bathroom, so I walked over to talk to Elijah.

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