Page 91 of Moonlit Kisses

Molly jiggles her. “Sure. Come on, Munchkin.” She turns back to everyone. “Maybe we can talk about it later. I promised the kids I’d play with them and I always try to keep my promises.”

“We can come too,” the women offer. “The guys can organize the food.”

Molly presses up to kiss my cheek. “See you in a while, Fiancé.” She winks as she turns away with Kenny on her back and Lachlan, Austin, and Noah trailing behind, followed by five women all itching to help plan a wedding. She reminds me of the Pied Piper.

I chuckle to myself as I head over to Dad to see if I can help him with the barbecue. “Need any help?”

“You don’t fancy talking about wedding planning?” He chuckles and Theo joins in.

“It’s not that I don’t want to.” I glance across to the nature play area where the girls are chatting while the kids play. “I wanted to give Molly the opportunity to bond with the girls. I don’t expect she’s ever really had that because it was only her and her mom for such a long time.”

Theo nods, but Dad’s the one who responds, “Good thinking, Son.”

“I know Em and Sarah will help wherever they can. Sarah was a great help to Em. Em’s probably still got her wedding folder somewhere. She was incredibly organized, she had little pockets for everything.” Theo’s eyes seek Emma out across the park.

Dad hands Martin, Cristo, Theo and me a beer each and I take a drink, then respond. “Beth’s a wedding planner. I’m assuming the girls will probably have everything sorted out quickly.”

“Beth’s got all the contacts you two need. She loves planning a wedding, but I think this one will be special to her. She already thinks of Molly as her daughter,” Martin adds, then takes a long drink.

“Family is incredibly important to Molly.” I give Martin a meaningful look. I hope he doesn’t hurt her.

Martin returns my look. “I know what you’re thinking. I don’t plan on hurting her. Ever. She’s my daughter, whether or not I was with her while she grew up. I’ve got a lot of time to make up and I intend to do so.” He steps closer to me. “I’ll be talking to Molly about the wedding when I get the chance, but I’d like to give you a heads up. I’d like to pay for everything, including your honeymoon. If the two of you will let me.”

“That’s a mighty generous offer, Martin. If you’re doing it to win Molly over, you’re going about it the wrong way. She’s not about material stuff. She’s about time, care, and commitment.” I study him closely. “But that’ll be between you and her. I’ll go along with whatever she decides. It won’t be an expensive event. We’ve already discussed keeping it small with little fuss.”

He nods. “Fair enough. I’m not doing it to get in her good graces. I want to do it because I missed out on so much of her life.”

The afternoon is great fun, and we all agree to come back in the summer to allow the kids to enjoy the lake.

CHAPTER46

–molly–

Driving home from the lake,I fill Max in on everything the girls told me. “Beth’s going to work on getting the permits we need to have our wedding ceremony on the beach. Apparently, you normally need longer than five weeks, but because she deals with that sort of stuff all the time, she’s pretty sure she can get it approved more quickly for us. She’s also got a celebrant that she uses regularly, so she’s going to check if she’s available.” I draw a breath.

“Sounds good, Dimples.”

“Yeah. And Emma told me about the florist her and Theo used.” I wrack my brain, trying to remember the name. “Blooms and Balloons, I think.” I glance across to my groom-to-be. “I think we’ll have everything organized quickly with everyone’s help.”

“That’s where I got your roses from. Cassia, the owner, is incredibly helpful.” He lays his hand on my thigh. “Don’t forget I can help too. Give me a list of tasks and I’ll get them done.” And there I go, falling in love a little more. “It’s my wedding too. I don’t expect you to do everything, especially since I’m the one who wants to get married quickly.”

“I want to get married quickly, too. There’s no point in waiting.” I flick my eyes across to Max, then look back at the road. “Did Martin talk to you about paying for everything? He wants to cover the whole thing, including our honeymoon if we want one.”

“He spoke to me about it and I said the decision would be yours. It’s an incredibly generous offer.”

“I know. He said it’s the least he could do since he hadn’t contributed financially while I was growing up.” Max’s hand lands on my thigh and he squeezes it. “I didn’t accept his offer because I wanted to speak about it with you. I hadn’t realized the two of you had already spoken.”

We pull into our driveway and head inside. Max pulls me into his arms. “It’s up to you. It might help Martin with some of the guilt he’s carrying about letting Nicole and you down.” He shrugs and leans forward, pressing his lips tenderly against my forehead.

“I’ll think about it, but not right now. I’ve got a gift for you.” His eyes widen as I pull away to collect his present. “Go sit in the living room. I’ll bring it to you.”

He’s sitting on the couch when I return. I’m hoping he likes his gift because I struggled to figure out something at short notice. “Happy birthday, Max.” I hand him the gift bag.

He accepts it with a curious smile. “You didn’t need to get me anything. Organizing the barbecue at the lake with our families was more than I ever expected.” He takes my hand, kissing the palm. “My favorite part was the way you woke me up this morning,” he says as he wriggles his eyebrows.

Leaning forward, I chuckle as I taste his lips. “Open it.”

He pulls out the large square gift to open first. I’m hoping he doesn’t think it’s a stupid idea. He peels away the paper, revealing the custom map I had made. He reads the inscription. “When Max asked and Molly said yes.” He looks at me. “What is this exactly?”

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