Page 38 of Bring Me Home (Shattered Hearts 4)

as soon as I started singing ‘Sleepyhead’ her tiny hand jerked up and I put my finger in her hand. She held my finger through the whole song. That’s when I realized that there’s something inside her that has nothing to do with DNA that is connected to us. She will come back. I know that like I know you’re the love of my life. One day, she’ll come home.”

“That’s why she stopped crying when you sang to her at the lawyer’s office?” I nod and she nods. “She’ll come back,” she whispers as she tosses her tissue onto the vanity and takes a deep breath. “Let’s get married.”

“Rachel and Jake are about to say their vows. I linked my phone to the video camera so we can watch from in here.”

We huddle together and watch as Rachel and Jake stand on the altar while—“Oh, my God! Joel is the minister!” she cries.

“Yeah, he got ordained for the ceremony. I didn’t even know until today.” I grab her chin to turn her face toward me. “He wants to walk you down the aisle. Are you okay with that? Because if you don’t feel comfortable with that, I’ll walk you down the aisle.”

She grabs some more tissue for her eyes. “I feel so naïve. I actually fantasized about… Phil walking me down the aisle.”

“Fuck him. You have Joel and his mighty beard to give you strength now.” She laughs and I grab her arm. “Shh! They’re going to say their vows.”

She composes herself and we listen as Jake and Rachel speak words that make me feel a little self-conscious about my vows.

“I didn’t know myself until I met you,” Rachel says and Jake appears to be on the verge of tears.

I hope I don’t cry on the altar. Tristan will never let me live it down.

After they kiss, I tuck my phone into my pocket and Claire is covering her mouth. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t have any vows written.”

“That’s okay. Just stand up there and promise you’ll never leave me again and I’ll be happy with that.”

“Well, I only have one thing I’ve been planning to say to you.”

“What’s that? Get lost?”

“Well, other than that. It’s something I’ve been practicing for a couple of years.”

“Practicing? Is it a song?”

“Nope,” she says with a sly grin. “You’ll see.”

I shake my head. “So you have a surprise of your own. I can’t wait to find out what it is.” I plant a soft kiss on her forehead. “The wedding planner will come here to call you in a few minutes. I have to go now. I love you.”

She blows me a kiss as I leave the tent and I immediately start writing a song in my head about today. I pull my phone out of my pocket to type the lyrics into my notes app as I follow the lighted path toward the tent nearest to the parking lot.

“Hey!”

I look up and to my left. Tristan is bounding toward me with an excited look on his face. He’s pulling double-duty as best man for both Jake and me.

“What’s up?” I ask as I finish typing and stuff my phone back into my pocket.

“I want to give you and Claire your wedding present before everything gets crazy. Do you mind? It’s in there,” he says as he nods toward the tent where I just changed into my suit.

“You just can’t wait to give me that blowjob until later, can you?”

“Nah, that can wait until later. And this present is much better since I’m not nearly as good at sucking dick as you are.”

We enter the tent and Tristan digs into one of the many bags Senia brought with all her hair and makeup tools. He pulls a thick envelope out of the bag and hands it to me. The envelope is addressed to Tristan Pollock with a return address from the County Assessor’s office.

“What the fuck is this?”

“It’s the deed to my house. I don’t want it anymore. Senia and I are moving to Chapel Hill so she doesn’t have to commute to school next semester.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? I don’t want your house.”

I try to hand the envelope back to him, but he steps back. “It’s done. I already gifted it to you. I already put a deposit on an apartment off campus. The house is yours.” He runs his fingers through his hair as he stares at the envelope in my hand. “I know you and Claire wanted a house with a good piece of land.”

I shake my head as I begin to see all the pieces of our lives falling into place. “You can have my condo. There’s still eleven months on the lease.”

“Are you serious?”

“As serious as I am that this is the craziest fucking day of my life.” I fold the envelope and tuck it into my back pocket. “What about the tour? Are you bailing on me?”

He shrugs at first then he nods. “Yeah, I gotta stay here. My mom will kill me if I let Senia have the baby alone.”

“Doing it for your mom, huh?”

“Yeah, let’s just stick with that story for now. I’m not used to this relationship bullshit.”

“Thanks, man,” I say as I pat him on the arm.

“Congratulations,” he says, and I can tell his mind has wandered off to somewhere else; probably worries about the baby.

I can’t even imagine how nervous he must be about having a baby with Senia, having to meet all her family and try to be good enough. I’m nervous as shit about Claire being pregnant and I don’t have anyone to impress except for her.

“Hey, Claire is pregnant. Don’t tell anyone. I’m going to tell everyone at the reception.”

He smiles as he slowly nods his head. “You just had to outdo me, didn’t you? Now what? I’m gonna have to get married on a fucking tightrope?”

“I’ll be there to cut the rope.”

The wedding planner storms into the tent, her black hair flying behind her and a frenzied look on her face. “What are you guys doing? The song has been playing for ten minutes!”

I try not to laugh as I follow her and Tristan out to the other tent. Tristan walks in ahead of me and I smile and nod at all the people I recognize. Most of these people are here for Rachel and Jake. I didn’t want to invite a bunch of people. Didn’t want to risk the location leaking to reporters. I think we did well.

I take my place on the altar and, of course, Joel is not standing there. The music stops and a hush falls over the crowd. The anticipation builds with every passing second, until a new song begins to play. I picked this song especially for Claire and made extravagant promises to Rachel to get her to record the piano and vocals: “In Your Eyes.” The first song I ever played for Claire.

Joel enters first and waits as Claire enters behind him. The smile on her face as she slips her arm through his arm just about does me in.

She bites her lips as she walks down the aisle with Joel. She’s nervous. Every step she takes feels like an hour. I just want to get married and get on with our lives together.

She finally makes it to the altar and Joel kisses her on the cheek before he takes his place atop the altar. I glance at the front row of guests to see my mom’s reaction and she’s a blubbering mess. I take Claire’s hand to help her up the two steps onto the altar and she alternates between smiling and chewing on her bottom lip.

Joel launches into his opening, but I have no idea what he’s saying. All I can hear is the thrumming of my heartbeat in my ears. All I see is Claire as our eyes are locked on each other. A moment later, Joel taps my arm and nods his head.

Jake’s nephew, Grayson, steps forward and hands us our rings. Claire shakes her head as I hand her the ring I picked for myself. The ring I pulled out of a Capri-Sun box a few days ago has been turned back into a wedding ring with the words “My Everything” engraved on the inside. We each slide the rings onto each other’s fingers, both of our hands shaking with nerves.

Joel nods at me again. It’s my turn. I take a deep breath as I prepare to bare my soul to Claire in front of a hundred people.

“I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time,” I begin. “Writing and rewriting these vows until my fingers were numb.”

Claire

squeezes my fingers and I block out everything and everyone else except for her.

“I can’t believe we’re here. I spent so many months thinking this would never happen. So many nights afraid that I had lost you forever. But I think that deep down I always knew this would happen for us.

“The day you walked into our house almost six years ago was the day my world changed. Since that day, I have come to know every piece of you and I’ve loved every inch of you. I’ve counted the stars with you and I’ve counted the days, hours, and seconds I was away from you. And after everything we’ve been through, I have no doubt that I will love you, every bit of you, until the day I die. When the skies collapse and the Earth ceases to exist, I will still love you.”

I bring her hand to my lips and she smiles. “To love is to destroy pain. I love your heart.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Claire

My entire body begins to tremble with nervous energy. Chris rubs his thumbs over the tops of my hands and I close my eyes as I take a few deep, calming breaths. When I open my eyes, the air in the tent is completely still and quiet. Chris mouths, “I love you,” and I begin.

“Well, I did not expect this.” A few chuckles from the crowd don’t distract me as I continue. “So, obviously, I don’t have any vows prepared.” I squeeze Chris’s hands and look him in the eye. “But the more I think of it, the more I know that there is only one thing I want to say to you right now, and that is… thank you.

“Thank you for giving me a home. Thank you for being so patient with me. Thank you for loving me when I didn’t think I deserved it. Thank you for being my friend, my love, my home, and my hope.”

I swallow the lump in my throat and try to blink away the tears.

“There is actually only one line I’ve had prepared for this day. I’ve had it tucked away in the back of my mind for a couple of years. But you can’t make fun of me, ‘cause it’s in French.”

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