Cupping the side of her face with my hand, I replied, “I agree. Thank you.”
Pastor Cole, whom I had met a few times when I went to church with Morgan and her family, cleared his throat. “Are we ready to begin?”
“Yes,” Morgan and I said together.
For the next ten minutes or so, I stood there, holding the hands of the only woman I had ever loved. The woman I knew my mother would have adored. The woman who would someday bring me my own children to love. The woman I would spend the rest of my life keeping safe and happy.
“You may now kiss your bride,” Pastor Cole said.
The moment was perfect.
I cupped Morgan’s face in my hands and leaned down. Before I kissed her, I whispered, “I love you, Mrs. Greene.”
Tears slipped free and slowly made trails down her cheeks.
“I love you too, Mr. Greene.”
Four months later—October
KAELYNN PLACED HER daughter, Emma, into my arms and took a step back. I tried to understand this intense feeling that was racing through my body as I stared down at the sleeping baby.
“What’s it like being a dad?” Blake asked Nash.
“It’s the most amazing thing in the world. I mean, I thought I was happy when Kaelynn and I got married. Along came Emma Rose, and I honestly feel like my life is complete now. I am the happiest son of a bitch on the planet.”
I grinned as I looked up and caught Kaelynn gazing at her husband with a look of pure love. Then I looked over to Blake, who was now watching me as I held Emma. He smiled, and my stomach jumped. It amazed me how this man could still make me feel like a lovesick girl with just his smile or a simple touch of his hand.
“She’s so beautiful. I cannot believe I’m an aunt. It hasn’t really sunk in yet!” I said before leaning in and smelling Emma once more. She smelled like a lavender cloud.
“Want to hold her, Blake?” Kaelynn asked.
“I’d love to hold her. She needs to start bonding with her favorite uncle.”
Nash laughed. “Dude, between you, Jim, and Tucker, this kid is not going to want for anything.”
“What? I limited myself to one gift.” Blake said as Kaelynn placed Emma into his arms. The moment he started talking baby talk to Emma, my ovaries went into overdrive. A signal was sent to my brain that screamed I wanted a baby. Sooner rather than later.
Kaelynn must have sensed it, because she whispered, “Does that make you want one?”
I nodded. “Yes. It’s like babies let out some secret magic dust the moment you hold them. A magic that says, ‘Go now and reproduce so I have a cousin my age to play with.’”
We giggled. Blake didn’t notice the whispering. He was to tied up in rocking Emma back and forth in his arms.
“She’s so beautiful,” he said, running his finger over her soft cheek.
I stared at Blake as he stood there, completely lost to a little girl who only weighed seven pounds and two ounces.
“If she has Blake this smitten, I can’t imagine what it’s like for Nash,” I said with a wide grin.
“Oh, she has me wrapped around her little finger already,” my brother admitted. “I swear I almost cry every time she looks up at me with those big blue eyes.”
Blake laughed. “Pussy.”
“Language around the baby!” Kaelynn said.
Nash and Blake both turned to Kaelynn and stared at her.
“Kaelynn, I seriously doubt your child understands bad words. Besides, Nash swore earlier, and you didn’t say anything.”