Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 111732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 559(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111732 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 559(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
Our audience is small for today’s festivities—my father, Gigi, Augustus, all my friends and Grayson, a handful of close extended family members, and, of course, our hosts for this dream wedding, Wayne and Jenny Walters. There are also a few clients of mine whom I consider good friends. A friend of Max’s from his old firm, Shelby, and her family, and a few friends Max has made the past months working for his hero, Wayne Walters. But that’s it. Less than thirty people are here to witness our intimate nuptials on this glorious afternoon at the Walters’ sprawling Wyoming ranch, which is exactly the way Max and I wanted it.
Now that Max has finished his vows, I turn my attention to our officiant—Wayne Walters himself—since it’s time for him to ask me the same question he’s just asked Max. To my surprise, however, before Wayne addresses me, Max leans down and kisses my small baby bump, making everyone in the audience coo some version of “awwwwww.” When he stands upright again, Max places his palm on my belly and says, “And I promise to be the best daddy I can possibly be to you, too, little peanut.”
Well, damn. I can’t help getting teary-eyed at that. I look at my best friends in the audience through my tears, and we all simultaneously swoon. From there, my eyes drift to Dad, Gigi, and Ripley, and we all share huge smiles.
“Ready, Marnie?” Wayne says.
I return to Max. And then Wayne’s smiling face. “Ready.”
Wayne and his wife, Jenny, have quickly become family to Max and me. So much so, when we told them about our bun in the oven after the first trimester had passed, and we also mentioned our plan to get married at City Hall before the baby’s birth, they insisted on hosting an intimate wedding for us at their ranch—in a meadow right outside their personal home on the property. Of course, Max and I couldn’t resist accepting their generous offer. The Walters’ ranch is the place were Max and I fell in love, after all. The chance to seal our eternal love here, and also bring everyone we love to this magical place for a fun-filled week of celebration afterward, was too good an offer to pass up.
The morning after Max quit his firm and proposed to me, he called Wayne to tell him the whole truth without holding back. He also told him he’d proposed to me the night before with the ring I’d worn throughout camp and that he’d quit the law firm for reasons he detailed with honesty.
During the call, Wayne didn’t say much. He’s a quiet man who generally thinks first and speaks second. But after he hung up with Max, he talked to his wife, Jenny, and relayed the details of his surprising conversation. From what Jenny’s since told me, the couple talked at length about the situation, and when Wayne finally called Max back, he offered him the same position on his core team in Silicon Valley that he’d offered at family camp; except, of course, in this new iteration, Max would now be working directly for Wayne’s tech firm, as one of his in-house attorneys in his legal department.
From what Jenny’s told me, it was she who said to her husband, “Honey, nobody could fake the kind of love we saw between Max and Marnie and Max and Ripley that week. Even if Max didn’t realize it himself until later, Max and Marnie are soul mates and it’s written in the stars for him to be Ripley’s daddy. Everyone makes mistakes. Max wasn’t the one who posted about his engagement in the first place; his mother did. Can we blame him for rolling with it before he fully realized the implications? He thought the cover story would be a harmless way to finally meet you. When he realized the ruse went too far, he told you the truth. I vote you give Max a do-over. I have a feeling you’ll be very glad you did.”
Thankfully, Wayne took his beloved wife’s advice, because ever since Max started working for Wayne, he’s been kicking ass, right and left, for the company. Also, from a personal standpoint, he’s exactly where he belongs. Finally, Max feels like a valued member of a team. Finally, he feels like everyone he works with is working toward a common goal. As a result, genuine friendships have been formed quickly; mutual respect abounds; and Max has never been happier plying his trade.
When Max comes home at night to Ripley and me and our beautiful new home overlooking the San Francisco Bay, he's practically floating on air. No matter how long a day he’s had or what particular problems might have arisen throughout his long workday, Max always seems energized when he walks through our front door and straight into my waiting arms. And I’m always pretty damned energized myself.