Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22175 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 111(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22175 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 111(@200wpm)___ 89(@250wpm)___ 74(@300wpm)
“I’m happy I picked right when I sent Mack to find you.” He smirks. I still can’t believe my dad actually smirks now.
“What does that mean?” I gasp.
“You think if I knew where you were, I’d hire some random person to go get you and not just do it myself?”
Part of me wondered how it all happened, and it’s why I freaked out when I thought he knew where I was. He could have shown up any second, but he asked Mack to come get me.
“But how…” I trail off.
“He’s one of the good ones. Those detectives are the best, and I knew he’d fall for you. I wasn’t sure how you’d take to him, but I guess I knew my daughter back then even more than you thought possible.” I melt into his side, taking his arm.
“Come on before my husband gets inpatient. I’m sure Becky is waiting on you too.” I wink at my dad.
“What does that mean?”
“You think I don’t see how the two of you stare at each other?” Dad met Becky through Mack’s mom Jisa. Those ladies have been friends for years. “Make a move, Dad. You should be happy too. I want you to be happy.” I know he doesn’t need my blessing, but I want him to know I’m okay with it.
Dad kisses me on the cheek before opening the front door of the cabin so we can walk outside. Everyone’s seated by the lake, and it turned out to be a beautiful day. “Let me see my princess get married first.”
I thought it would only be fitting to renew our vows here. I love everything about this cabin, and it’s a place the whole family can call home whenever we need to. Yes, some bad things happened, but the good outweighs the bad. This cabin is where I fell in love, and so it will always be a part of our story. Not only because it’s the place where we began our family.
Family.
That one word fills my whole body with warmth. I knew I had one when Mack demanded we get married. I love how he can be so laid-back one second and serious the next, but that side of him peeks out when it comes to the people he loves.
A giant family came along with the man I love, and at first, it was overwhelming. I spent so much of my life shut away with not much attention that when Mack’s family consumed me and pulled me in as one of their own, I had to adjust. It didn’t take long because it turns out having brothers and sisters is amazing. Along with nieces and nephews and of course his parents. I love his dad, but his mom Jisa helped fill a small hole in my heart I didn’t know was there. She treated me as her own daughter, and it gave me something I was missing.
Quinn winks at me as I pass by her. She’s a traveling nurse and made sure she got to swing by this way to be here today. Hartley sits beside her, and my heart aches seeing all the people I love in one place. I hated being locked away, but it brought me to this moment, and because of that, I hold no anger toward my dad. I never want to know what it would feel like to lose the person you love so deeply and fear the outside world.
My eyes land on Mack’s at the end of the aisle waiting for me. He holds Sophia in his arms, and she begins clapping as we grow closer. Jisa pops up to snap a few pictures before Frank, her husband, pulls her back down into her seat.
“I love you,” my dad says when we get to the end of the aisle, and he gives me another kiss on the cheek.
“I love you too, Dad.”
“Nonno!” Sophia holds her arms out to my dad, and he takes her from Mack. Then Mack takes me into his arms and lays a kiss right on my lips.
Lawson clears his throat. “We’re not there yet,” he mumbles, looking over the program. Mack ignores his brother and keeps on kissing me.
“You’re beautiful,” he whispers across my lips.
“You’re not too bad yourself. Even with the gray.”
I run my fingers through the sides of his hair, and the peppering of gray shines. It came through this year, and he swears it’s because of all the stress I put him under. I just smiled and then ran away so he could try and chase me down. I love the gray, and I love how he adores me. So if pushing him to the edge every now and then gives him a little more gray, I’m perfectly happy with that.
“Shall we?” Lawson cuts in.
“Yes,” I say, but I never take my eyes off the man I love. He changed my whole world. Mack always says he’s the lucky one, but this man is my everything. Any dream I’ve ever had he’s made comes true and so much more.