Page 83 of Forever Flirting

Pale pink chiffon, with little silver shimmering threads shot through the fabric, made it almost glimmer as she walked. Her nude pumps were exceedingly comfortable and matched everything… and she had an old penny to drop in her shoe for good luck later on once they got to the courthouse.

No, nothing could ruin her day.

* * *

Ten minutes later,she had two text messages from Alex.

We’ll meet you at the courthouse – I love you!

Will explain later…

Getting into her vehicle, she called Alex immediately, and heard Caleb griping about his car seat in the background, knowing they were already on the way.

“Hey, I’m leaving work. Do you want me to come by and pick you…”

“Nope. I’ll meet you at the courthouse.”

“Is everything alright?”

“Everything is perfect,” Alex said easily, and she could practically see the smile on his face by the joy in his words. “I just had something come up unexpectedly and we’ll meet you there, okay?”

“Alright. I’m about fifteen minutes away.”

“That gives us time to get there, get Caleb out of the car, and…”

“I’ONT OUTTTTNOWWWWW,” Caleb shrieked, causing Everly to wince.

“Hey, I’ll meet you there in a few, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I love you.”

“Love you, too.”

As Everly drove towards the courthouse in Tyler, she heard a distant crack of lightning and rumble of thunder as it started to get dark outside. Several large raindrops started to bounce off her windshield before it started pelting down rain… hard.

Turning on her wipers, she slowed down and saw several cars in front of her had their hazards on due to the downpour. As she made her way forward, slowly but surely, the rain was starting to let up already, and now it was just drizzling.

Parking as close as possible, she saw that the front of the courthouse was crowded with people waiting for the weather to pass, and sighed heavily.

She was going to get rained on – on her wedding day.

… And jumped at the knock on her door.

Stunned, she saw Alex there, in his dress uniform, holding an umbrella, and quickly got out of the car, cozying up to him so they could both fit under the shelter of the umbrella.

She glanced towards the courthouse to see a colorful line of umbrellas waiting… along with several smiling faces.

Mallory was standing near the doorway holding Caleb – beside Alex’s grandmother, who was looking at Mallory strangely… stepping away. Just the sight of it made her chuckle nervously, hoping the woman could bite her tongue for just a little bit, and wouldn’t call Mallory a trollop in front of Caleb.

As she looked at the line of umbrellas as they walked forward, Everly realized that it was the pilots and their wives from Flyboys – and turned to Alex tearfully, as his eyes shone with emotion.

“I hope you don’t mind that I invited a few friends,” he said softly.

Her hand trembled as she covered her mouth in silent shock.

Just seeing so many smiling faces, so many people that they knew, people Alex called friends – but felt like family. Strangers that had welcomed her repeatedly, even if she didn’t hang out with them as much as she should because of work – or helping babysit Caleb.

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