Page 78 of Hello Handsome
Hayes and Della had written their vows themselves at Hayes’s suggestion. He’d told me canned words could never come close to saying how he felt for Della.
She went first, speaking eloquently of her love and appreciation for Hayes. For always being himself and loving her exactly as she is.
And then my son spoke up for his vows.
“Everyone here knows I’m not the best with words,” he began. “I cuss a lot.”
A chuckle went through everyone here.
“Turns out, when you find your forever, it’s easy to say how much you love them.”
Aggie passed me a tissue, and I pressed it to the corners of my eyes, grateful she was here.
Hayes gripped his bride’s hands, running his thumbs over her freckled skin. “Della, I was so afraid when we first started dating. I was afraid to fuck it up. Afraid to hurt you. Afraid you’dfigure out you’re an angel too good for a devil like me... But turns out, I should have been afraid of missing out on a love like this.”
As Hayes spoke the rest of his vows, I gave up on holding back tears, and they flowed down my cheeks as I wiped at them.
Over the course of the ceremony, my tears changed to a happy smile. They made sure Hayes’s sense of humor and Della’s contagious joy were incorporated into every bit of the wedding. And when they kissed, I stood up with everyone else, whooping and cheering for their happily ever after.
As people started filing out of their seats, I noticed just how happy everyone seemed. Almost everyone.
To my side, tears streamed down my Aggie’s cheeks. She tried to hide her pain by looking away, but I held her elbows, steering her toward me. “Aggie, what’s wrong?”
She looked up at me, so much pain in her eyes it shot through my heart. “I’m just... I’m realizing that I might never have a love like that.” She twisted from me and joined the group of people walking toward the shop building where the reception would soon start.
A cheer erupted as Hayes stopped on the path to the reception building and dipped Della into a romantic kiss.
And then a small voice spoke in my head...
If my son can be brave, maybe I can too.
49
AGGIE
“Aggie, wait!”Gray called. I turned to see him jogging toward me in his suit. Just a couple steps away, he lowered his voice so the other wedding guests wouldn’t pay too much attention and said, “Please, can we talk in the house?”
I blinked back tears, my heart beating painfully. Because I was so close to him, but he’d always kept me at arm’s length. “Why? What more is there to say when it comes to you and me?”
He didn’t explain. Simply said, “Please.”
I couldn’t say no to this man, even if I wanted to. But I was stronger than I was all those years ago after Rhett’s wedding. I could walk away. I could survive on my own, and more than that,enjoylife on my own. Six months in Hawaii had shown me that much. “Okay. Five minutes,” I said. I knew I could hold it together for that long. I could do anything for five minutes.
“Thank you,” he said, gratitude making his voice weak.
Something about that made my knees weak, too, but I held myself up, walking away from the tent set up in the field near the barn. There were cars parked in every spare spot in the driveway and even up the road. And I weaved through them, making my way to his house.
But when I reached the white wooden fence and opened the gate, I froze.
Evening sun shone down on all the sunflowers in bloom surrounding the white farmhouse.
But there was something blooming with them.
Cosmos.
My jaw dropped, and my hand fell from the gate as I turned back to face Gray. Forget trying to be strong. I felt weak as the pink petals before me contrasted all the yellow and green around them. “What is this?” I breathed.
He reached for my hand, holding it in both of his. “You said they were your favorite flower.”
