Page 49 of Planning on Happily Ever After

“I knew from that day I wanted everything with you. I think I even knew before that.” Ben stared into her eyes, smiling sadly for a moment. “Thanks for being so patient with me and not letting me screw everything up.”

Holly cupped his cheek, rubbing her thumb over his cheekbone. “You would have come to your senses on your own and crawled back to me eventually,” she said with a loving smile.

“Well, thanks for saving us both the time and trouble.” Ben held his hand over hers, his smile turning slightly rueful as he reached under the couch and pulled out a binder, placing it on the coffee table. “There was one other thing.”

Holly stared at the planning binder she had given to his mom at their first meeting, knowing what he was saying, but needing confirmation to make sure she wasn’t getting ahead of herself again. “You want us to use your mom’s wedding?”

He smiled and shrugged as if he hadn’t just proposed and suggested they get married in less than a month. “If you’re okay with it.” He scratched his jaw before flipping through the pages. “I mean, if you think about it, we did most of the planning anyway, and my mom said you told her that you and she had basically been planning your dream wedding.”

“I did say that,” she murmured before looking through the plans that included an outdoor ceremony under a canopy of trees, an indoor reception in the barn covered in decorations of pink peonies and twinkle lights, and a menu filled with their favorite picks from the caterers. Holly looked at all of the work they had done and smiled for a moment before remembering his mom.How hard would it be for her to attend a wedding that was meant to be hers?“What about your mom? Won’t this upset her?”

“Holly, she’s the one who gave me the binder. When she came to talk to me yesterday, I showed her the ring and told her how I planned on asking you to marry me.” He squeezed her hand, his expression happier than she’d ever seen him. “I asked her the same question you just asked me when she suggested we use this wedding, but she assured me that nothing would make her happier than to have something special come from all of this.”

Holly nodded and ran her fingers over the pictures of the barn at Plumberry Farms, already imaging herself there in her wedding gown. “It is kind of perfect, isn’t it?”

Ben nodded. “So, what do you say? Want to get married in three weeks?”

Holly laughed before kissing his lips. “Without a single doubt in my mind.” She deepened the kiss for a moment and slid her hands up his chest, gripping the lapels on his jacket tightly before realizing what he was wearing and releasing them quickly. “Oh my gosh. I almost ruined your tux.” She pulled away from him and frantically smoothed down the fabric, searching the room for a hanger. “We should hang this up. Now.”

Ben stood up and started to strip off his jacket. “You need me naked pronto? No need to tell me twice.” Ben took her hand and dragged her along with him over to the bedroom, and after they spent a good amount of time celebrating their engagement, they had dinner and worked on planning the rest of their wedding. It would be a lot of work in a short amount of time, but they were confident they could pull it off. Holly couldn’t wait to go to work tomorrow because instead of planning a happily-ever-after for someone else, she was finally getting to work on her very own.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Ben

To say that the lastthree weeks of Ben’s life had been a bit of a whirlwind would be like saying the ocean has a bit of water in it. Between finalizing all of the wedding plans, sending out last minute invites, and trying to convince Holly’s father that having a Yankees fan for a son-in-law wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, Ben had hardly had time to breathe. He did make time to meet with the psychologist, and he now had weekly appointments to help manage his anxiety.

The sessions helped, and Ben was determined to keep up with all of the exercises his therapist had suggested. It was a very busy time, but the momentary uptick in stress was worth it every time he saw Holly watching him from across a table filled with paperwork. Every time she smiled, it lit up the room, just as it had lit up his life.

Ben’s anxiety was currently at a low level hum, but it had more to do with making sure everything went right for his bride. Ben didn’t need the perfect wedding, but he knew how long Holly had waited for her happily-ever-after, and he wanted everything to go off without a hitch. He hadn’t had to deal with putting out any fires, and he was sure there was a lot more going on behind the scenes than he was aware of, but he tried to stay focused on his assigned task—to walk his mom down the aisle in just a few minutes.

His coworkers had already been greeted and shown their seats, and while they’d been surprised to get an invite. The few who lived out of state offered their congratulations via email, and one had even sent a bottle of very nice champagne to his address. It was nice to know Ben had more than one friend in the world, and he was once again grateful for putting himself out there a little more over the last few months.

“You ready for this?” Henry asked as he walked into the staging area just inside the barn that stood next to the crop of trees where the ceremony would be held.

“Definitely,” Ben answered confidently. “What about you? I know you aren’t much for dressing up.” Ben eyed his friend who wore a blue tux that was similar to his own, and while Henry looked good, he also seemed very uncomfortable.

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