Page 55 of Last First Date

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Abernathy shakes his head at me. "We're not there yet," he says quietly.

"Well I figured that out, thanks. Now give me a hint what I'm supposed to say."

Abernathy murmurs to me gently, "Vows, baby. It's time for your vows."

"Oh," I say, a burst of nerves tying my stomach up in knots.

Abernathy peers at me again. "Darcy, are you okay? I told you not to drink too much last night. You look like you're going to lose it."

I feel like I'm going to lose it. I've been writing and re-writing my vows over and over again, but I don't have a single romantic bone in my entire body. I've made peace with that, and now all our wedding guests get to make peace with it too.

I take a shaky breath. Here we go. "Thomas Abernathy, when I met you, I was certain you were the most disgusting man I'd ever met."

He barks out a laugh and his eyes light up. I know how much he loves it when I push back with him.

"It turns out that you were both the worst and the best man I'd ever known. You went out of your way to keep me at a distance, but you had an entire part of you and your life that is devoted to serving others and your community, and that's what made me fall in love with you. I'm proud of the man you are and the man you work every day to be, and I am grateful for the ways that you make me work harder to be better at everything that I do."

I swallow against the hard knot of emotion that is clogging my throat. I am not a crier anymore, and if these roughneck firefighters see me crying at my own wedding, they'll never let me live it down. "You've been the man who came to my rescue every single time since that mentorship luncheon, where I really saw for the first time what you had to offer."

His lips quirk up into a smile. He remembers that long-ago bogus luncheon as well as I do, because that's how he first got me to escape from my mother's matchmaking.

"I couldn't ask for a better partner in life. If you keep coming to my rescue, then I'll come to yours whenever you need me. I love you, and I promise to always do my best to make you proud."

My eyes slide over to where my mother sits, dabbing at her eyes with a crisp linen handkerchief. She flashes me a watery smile and mouths the words "I love you" to me. Then I direct my attention to the man standing across from me, my happily ever after, Thomas Abernathy.

He squeezes my hand again. "Let the record reflect that I do too." The crowd ripples with polite laughter.

"Darcy, I am beyond lucky to have met someone like you. You're strong and smart and beautiful, both inside and out. You're a genuinely good person, and I'm so grateful that I get to be the man by your side."

He pauses for a moment. "I see you, Darcy Albrecht. I see you for exactly who you are. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are far too good to have settled for me, but I'm going to spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you."

The crowd stirs at the raw emotion in his voice.

Then a woman yells out, "In bed."

We both turn and Aunt Opal waves a hot pink gloved hand at us. Well, obviously she was going to say something deeply inappropriate at our wedding. It's just who she is, and we all love her for being the resident dirty old lady of Valentine, Indiana.

Except for Delilah, who jabs her in the ribs so hard that it hurts me. Oof.

Delilah's little girl, Cameron, shakes her head at her mama. "No mama," she chirps. "Say sorry."

Delilah sighs, but leans over and kisses Aunt Opal's overly rouged cheek in apology. Joe beams down at his little daughter and then kisses his wife, and everything about it makes me feel like I could burst with happiness.

The people around Aunt Opal and her family settle down, and Abernathy squeezes my hand again. "Eyes on me, baby."

At the tone of his voice, I can't help but lick my lips in anticipation. He's definitely giving off plenty of dirty sex vibes right now, and I feel like half of our guests have to know that we're low-key making sex jokes with each other during our wedding vows.

Hell, most of this crowd was there watching that day at the station when Abernathy announced that he loved me, and several of these guys were there the day he proposed too. They've been just as much a part of our love story as naughty Aunt Opal, and even my mother.

"And yes, I'm willing to make it up to you however you wish. But please believe me Darcy. I know that you're far too good for me. I promise I will try to be the man that you deserve every day for the rest of our lives."

My heart stutters at bit at the way he's looking at me. Like his entire life is open and ready to show me right now, and his love is the pearl that's been hiding in the oyster of his heart.

I know he doesn't show his true self to hardly anyone. He's always been closed off and all flashy surface with the people he met. But with me, he can be nothing other than himself and that's better than anything I ever imagined.

The officiant says some more things but I'm not paying attention again, and this time when Abernathy nudges me, he flicks his eyes over to my maid of honor, Lily. Lily hands me the ring, but I'm so damned nervous I try to put it on his right hand instead of his left and then I burst into tears when it doesn't fit.

He pulls me against him, then takes my hand in his and helps me put the ring on the third finger of his left hand where it belongs. I stop crying almost immediately, and he kisses my forehead then moves back to a respectable distance away.