Page 86 of Half Baked
“Mrs. Silberman.” He grins. “But our secret is safe with her.”
“Then let’s go get married.”
Hand in hand, we rush down to the car. He opens my door for me revealing a lavish bouquet of mixed white blooms waiting on my seat. Again, it’s perfect. I couldn’t have planned a day better than this.
“How do we get our friends to go to town hall?” I ask, climbing inside and sliding the flowers onto my lap.
Hayden crosses around to the other side and removes his charcoal suit jacket before taking a seat. He turns and lays it in the back, dropping a kiss to my shoulder as he faces forward once more. “I already did that.”
“How?” I gape.
Chuckling, he turns the key for the engine and starts us towards town. “I just texted them all and said I needed help setting up a proposal.”
“That’s brilliant.”
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear the surprise in that,” Hayden says with a grin. Reaching over, I loop my hand in his and rest my head on his shoulder. An hour from now, this smart, caring, strong man is going to be my husband.
We remain like this for the whole drive, weaving through the streets decorated with pink and red banners until he parks around the back of town hall. Hand in hand, we sneak into the building, hearing the echo of our friends’ voices down thehall. I already can’t stop smiling, and the ceremony hasn’t even happened yet.
“Why do you think Hayden is proposing here?” Wren asks, her voice carrying out from the meeting hall.
“Maybe because town hall is where they fought over the bakery building?” Ivy guesses.
I stifle a giggle as Fitzy ushers us into the mayor chambers that connect to the meeting hall. “Everyone’s here,” he whispers before pulling us into a hug. With an arm around Hayden and the other around me, the mayor squeezes us tight before taking a step back and grinning ear to ear. “Ready?”
Hayden looks over at me as he responds, “I just want to be married to this woman.” Tears prick my eyes as I nod in return. I’ve never been more ready for anything.
Fitzy opens the door to the annex and announces, “Slight change of plans, all. You aren’t here for a proposal.”
We step out behind him, my bouquet poised in front of me, and our arms linked together. “You’re here for a wedding,” Hayden finishes.
A collection of gasps and cheers rise from our closest friends, and I take a moment to scan the room. There’s Ivy and Tripp, and Stevie and Beckett. Wren stands beside them, flanked by Wes, Jamie, and Nash. It seems like a lifetime ago that I was blaming this group for forcing me to be around Hayden, too stubborn to admit what was always there between us.
“If everyone will take their seats, we can get started,” Fitzy instructs, motioning for Hayden and me to join him up front. Passing my flowers to Stevie, I step across from the man of my dreams and allow him to take both my hands in his own. “These two are some of the most determined people I have ever met. And they are determined to be married as soon as possible. So, I won’t make them wait any longer with a big speech. Poppy, Hayden, anything you’d like to say to one another?”
I nod, releasing a hand from Hayden’s grasp to swipe away a tear. “I sat down to write my vows this morning, but realized I didn’t actually need to write them. Because what I have to vow is already ingrained in my heart. Hayden, you are the love I sat under a peach tree and dreamt about my whole life. Those hopes I cast out into my orchard were already in motion, long before I was ready to realize it. You’re my best friend, and my most formidable challenger. And I vow to be all in as a partner and lover for life.”
Hayden gives my hands a squeeze as he begins next, already causing the tears to fill my eyes at the mere fact that he’s about to recite his vows to me. Because really, he’s been vowing himself to me all along. “Poppy, you are my siren song, and I am so happy to finally be forever at your mercy. I vow to love you as steadily as an endless summer. I vow to love you for your stubborn heart, to love you through every disagreement, always.”
My mouth falls open, that final sentence is nearly word for word what my nana used to say my grandfather did for her. Something I had told him only once. Hayden smiles knowingly, clearly pleased that I understand what he’s referencing.
“I vow to do everything in my power to make all your dreams come true,” he finishes. He was making a promise in my kitchen that day after all.
“Then without further ado, by the power vested in me, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride!”
Sweeping me off my feet, literally, Hayden dips me and brings his mouth to mine. I open to him, savoring my first kiss as his wife. Bringing one hand up around his neck, I press the other against his heart. As we straighten, Fitzy holds his hands out wide and announces, “May I present to you for the first time, Mr. and Mrs. Hayden and Poppy Thompson!”
And oh my, does my stubborn heart flutter happily at the sound of that. It turns out that this heart of mine was going to be the key to all my dreams like Nana said. It just had to find its twin flame.
