Page 131 of A Kingpin's Weakness
“RJ…” I said, side-eyeing him. “Why we passin’ all the wedding chapels? Ain’t the ceremony supposed to be”
He grinned and tapped the side of the door. “Ask your husband.”
My heart skipped, just like that. We pulled up to the beach. And it hit me the soft music, the white rose petals leading down a sand aisle, the arch of flowers blowing in the breeze, fairy lights twinkling like they came straight outta a dream. Our family stood waiting, smiles wide, cameras out. S3 was standing next to Seth in a little white suit, grinning like he knew a secret.
“What is this?” I whispered, stunned, staring out the window.
“This is your real wedding,” RJ said, opening the door and offering his hand. “You ain’t think Seth was gon’ let his wife get married in no ‘hole-in-the-wall’ chapel, did you?”
I blinked back tears, pressing a hand to my chest. Of course Seth couldn’t do anything small.
This man moved mountains just to see me smile. He always did. And now he’d given me a memory I’d never forget not because it was perfect, but because it felt like home. I stepped out the car slowly, the ocean breeze tugging gently at the bottom of my dress, and all I could think was:
This is love. This is my forever.
The moment I stepped out of the car, S3 came sprinting up to me, little suit jacket flapping behind him like he was on a mission. He handed me a bouquet of white and blue roses, his grin wide and proud.
“Here, Stormi!” Then he turned and took off running down the aisle screaming,
‘The bride is coming! The bride is coming!’ while ringin’ that little silver bell like he was announcing royalty. I laughed, one hand over my belly, the other holding the bouquet close to my chest. My heart thudded hard. That kind of happy nervous you only get once in a lifetime.
Chrisette Michele’s“A Couple of Forevers”floated through the speakers, and that was it my knees damn near buckled. The lyrics hit me straight in the chest. Because that was us. That was him A couple of forevers that’s all I wanted. That’s all I ever needed.
RJ stepped beside me and offered his arm. “You ready?” he whispered.
I nodded, but my voice cracked when I spoke. “Yeah, I’ve never been more ready.”
We turned the corner, and there he was.
Seth.
My man. My home. My whole heart. Standing tall in a tailored tan suit that hugged every inch of his broad frame. His shirt was open just enough to tease that chest I laid on every night, and the second our eyes met he licked his lips slow, like he was tasting the future. And if I wasn’t seven months pregnant,I swear I would’ve run into his arms without a second thought. Instead, I breathed deep every step down that aisle feeling like I was shedding a layer of who I used to be.
Every foot forward whispered: Goodbye to fear. Goodbye to doubt.
Goodbye to toxic love, to silent tears, to the old versions of me that didn’t know how to be loved right. This man in front of me. He loved me loud. Loved me soft. Loved me whole. And standing here, belly full of our son, heart full of our truth I felt it in every part of my body that I was walking into my peace.
When I got to the altar, Seth reached for my hands without saying a word. Our fingers laced like they always belonged that way. He looked at me not through me, not past me at me. Right in my soul. And then he smiled. That smile. The one that made me melt the first time he ever called me his.
In that moment, time just paused. Like the world decided we were the only two people that mattered. I couldn’t hear the waves. I couldn’t hear our family cheering or the music anymore. All I could hear was my heartbeat. And the way it said, ‘you’re home’.
I listened to Seth speak his vows, and it was like the whole world held its breath with me. His voice cracked halfway through, and Rich reached out, handing him a tissue with one hand and wiping his own face with the other.
“You good?” Rich mumbled, trying to keep it together himself. Seth didn’t answer just nodded through the tears and finished every word like he’d been holding them in since the day we met.
By the time he slipped the ring onto my finger, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. Not even the tough ones Southside, RJ, even my brother Noah looked like they were blinking too much.
I grabbed his hand and placed it gently on my belly.
“Feel him?” I whispered.
Seth looked down just as our son kicked hard like he knew it was his moment too. He smiled through the tears and kept his hand right there, on his son, on our future.
And that’s when I started to speak.
“I always wondered how I would heal the little girl in me” My voice trembled. My throat tightened. But I kept going. “I thought about love a lot what it should feel like. Not the kind that onlytakesfrom you, but the kind that givesback. Gives peace. Gives safety. Gives truth.” I looked right at Seth and only Seth like there was nobody else standing around us on that beach. “That’s the love I found with you. You ain’t just show up, Seth you stayed.You listened. You loved the parts of me I used to hide. We shared our past, and now we’re writing a brand-new future.” My voice cracked again, and I saw Seth’s jaw flex like he was trying not to break down again.
“I gave you my body, and we created life. I gave you my heart, and you, you put it back together piece by piece, every part that was shattered. Every part that I thought nobody could fix.”
