“Who gives this woman to this man?” The pastor asks.
“On behalf of her parents, I do,” Steven responds. I smile at him as he kisses my cheek, places my hand in Luke’s and sits next to Gail who is weeping silently in Steven’s handkerchief.
I look up into the eyes of the man I love and take a deep breath.
The ceremony is relatively short. We decided to forgo the traditional unity candle ceremony, and there isn’t any live music. Our focus is on our vows to each other.
We wrote our vows together about a week ago. Instead of each of us taking our turn to say them in their entirety, Luke and I will recite them together, one line after the other, alternating.
“And now, Luke and Natalie will recite their vows together.” The pastor steps back and Luke takes both my hands in his.
“Ready?” he whispers.
“Yes.”
He clears his throat and begins in a clear, loud voice.
“I vow to love you.”
“I vow to love you,” I respond.
“To respect you.”
“To be your best friend.”
“To read aloud to you.” He runs his knuckle down my cheek and I feel the tears prick my eyes.
“To lead a charmed life.”
“To write you love letters.”
“To laugh at your jokes.” I wink at him and he smiles.
“To always make the coffee, or have it delivered.”
“To help you cook.”
“To always believe that your newest haircut is the best you’ve ever had.” He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.
“To be patient.”
“To always support your hopes and dreams.”
“To not overshadow you with my fame,” I say and everyone laughs.
“To be your biggest fan.” Luke is grinning delightedly at me.
“To wake you every morning.”
“To wake you every morning. You are not a morning person.”
“To kiss you every night.”
“To hold your hand.”
“To always remember where I left my keys and phone.”
“To cherish you.” His face is serious now.
“To believe in you.”
“To believe in us.”
“To never give up.” I clench his hands tighter in mine.
“To never, ever give up.”
“To forsake all others and be true to you.”
“To work every day toward being the man you deserve.”
“To work every day toward being the woman you deserve.” We both have tears in our eyes now.
“Do you vow to be my wife?”
“I do. Do you vow to be my husband?”
“I do.”
“It is my pleasure to present Mr. and Mrs. Luke Williams. You may kiss your bride.”
He cups my face in his hands and I run my fingers through his soft blond hair. He lowers his face slowly to mine and brushes my nose with his, then kisses me in that soft way that makes me all weak in the knees.
Our guests are applauding, our mothers dabbing at their tears. Luke rests his hand on my small baby bump and rests his forehead on mine.
“I love you.”
“I love you too. Let’s go dance.”
As a special bonus, here is a scene that was featured exclusively by the wonderful blog Shh… Mom’s Reading for Mother’s Day, 2013. I hope you enjoy it!
With Me In Seattle Mother’s Day
“Thank you for this, darling.” My mom leans against my side and tucks her slender arm through mine.
“You’re welcome. I would have sent you and all the girls out for a fun brunch somewhere, you know.” I smile down at her and then raise my gaze to the party unfolding around us.
“This is so much better, Luke. Honestly, there’s nothing that we wanted more than to spend Mother’s Day with our family.” I bend so she can kiss my cheek, and then she’s off to gossip and sip mimosas with Gail Montgomery.
I rented a large tent for Will’s backyard, hired Alecia, our family’s official party planner, and gave her free reign to plan the Mother’s Day brunch of the century.
And she pulled it off without breaking a sweat.
The caterer brought in a large buffet spread. There are brightly colored flowers everywhere, and four large, round tables set up to accommodate our large family.
The whole gang is here.
I saunter over to my bride, Natalie, who is holding our daughter, Olivia, in her lap and laughing with Jules, Meg and Brynna.
“Can I get you anything, baby?”
She smiles up at me, and just as always, it’s a punch to my gut. This woman is the most beautiful I’ve ever laid eyes on. I push her hair behind her ear and smile back down at her.
“No, thank you. We’re good.”
“You’re amazing.” I lean in and kiss her, lightly in just that way that I know she loves, and she sighs against my lips, and damned, if my cock doesn’t stir.
“For the love of all that’s holy, Luke, there are children present!” Jules makes gagging noises, and I pull back and laugh down into Nat’s sweet face.
It’s become necessary to kiss the hell out of my wife and freak Jules out at least once during every family gathering.
Meg and Brynna chuckle, and Meg’s eyes light up as Will crosses the tent to join us.
“Hey, babe.” He lifts her and sits in her chair, cuddling her close in his lap.
“Hey, yourself.” She grins and kisses his chin.
“This is awesome, man.” Will grins over at me and then motions toward our parents, all chatting and laughing at a table nearby.
It’s funny, when I watch all of our parents together, it makes me think that that’s how we’ll be at that age, still hanging out together, laughing, enjoying our kids.
“My pleasure. The girls deserved something nice.”
“They do deserve something nice,” Matt agrees as he sits on the other side of Nat. “Ready?” he mumbles to me, and I nod, catching Will’s eye.
“Nate?” I call out, grabbing his attention, and he nods with a half smile and calls out to Leo and Isaac, who then nudges Caleb.
Will grabs his dad, Steven, and my younger brother, Mark, murmurs to our dad, Neil, and Stacy’s and Brynna’s dads.
All of us, all of the men, stand and move to the front of the tent where all of the girls can see us. The tent has grown quiet. Even the little ones have stopped squealing and running about, and our girls are staring at us, some with skeptical looks and some with just plain curiosity.
Damn, this is going to be fun.
“So,” Isaac begins with a smile, “first, I want to thank Luke for thinking of this and Will for hosting. They don’t always suck ass.”
“Ha ha,” Will responds and punches him in the arm.
“And next,” Isaac continues, “I’ll turn it over to Dad.”
Steven clears his throat and smiles lovingly at Gail. “We know that it’s not easy living with all of us men,” he begins, and the girls smirk.
“You got that right!” Jules agrees.
God, they’re funny.
“But we wanted to let you know that we appreciate you and love you all very, very much.”
“We should show you every day,” my dad, Neil, continues and laughs with a shake of his head. “But we’re men, and we just assume that you already know.”
“Of all the things we have, and let’s face it, everyone, we have plenty,” Nate murmurs, garnering nods in agreement, “you are the best part of our lives.” His eyes are sober and sincere as they land on Jules, and I think I like him even better than I did before.
“So, we all got together...” I glance at each of the guys, and they nod for me to continue. “All of us guys decided that you each needed a special gift this year, to celebrate what amazing women you are, and to always remember how much you mean to us.” We all reach into our pockets and pull out little blue Tiffany boxes tied with white bows.
“Oh my God,
” Brynna gasps, and I smile over at her.
“These all match,” I inform them as we work our way to our girls and our mothers and make sure everyone has a box. “We wanted these to be the same, to remind us all that we are a family. Go ahead and open them.”
All of us guys nervously shuffle our feet and watch our women open their boxes. There are gasps and tears all around the tent when they see the sparkling diamond pendants on platinum necklaces.
“Oh my,” Nat breathes and catches my gaze in her own green one. “Thank you.”
“My pleasure, baby.” She offers me a sweet smile, and I can’t wait to have her alone later, when Livie goes down for her nap, and I can show her exactly how much I appreciate and love her.
We’re suddenly all caught up in hugs and kisses, our mothers wiping tears from their cheeks.
I’ve never seen a group of women who love jewelry as much as our girls do.
“Thanks, ace,” Jules mutters to Nate with a grin.
“You’re welcome.”
Brynna has tears in her eyes as she hugs Caleb and murmurs in his ear. He pulls back with a soft smile and brushes her cheek with his thumb. “I know, sweetheart.”
I still wonder what’s going on there.
“You shouldn’t have,” Samantha tells Leo, but he just chuckles and kisses her forehead.
“You deserve that and much more for putting up with my shit, sunshine.”
Suddenly the tent is full of laughter and loud conversation as the girls pull the necklaces out of their boxes and immediately put them on, admiring them on each other, which garners rolls of the eyes from most of the guys.
“This is a total chickfest,” Mark mumbles and nibbles on more bacon from the buffet.
“It’s Mother’s Day, dude.” Matt laughs and slaps him on the back. “Of course it is.”
“I feel like after this I should go shoot a gun or drive a car really fast. You know, something to remind myself I have balls.”
“I need another mimosa!” Stacy calls out and is immediately stopped by Isaac, who has a panicked look on his face.
“Our parents and kids are here,” he says, “and we all know what you girls like to talk about when you’ve had too much to drink.”
“Killjoy.” Stacy pouts and drops back into her seat. “Can I at least have another piece of cake? It’s delish.”
“You can have all the cake you want, baby.” Isaac laughs and kisses her hard before fetching more cake for her.
Stacy watches him walk away with a dreamy smile. “He’s hot.” She props her chin in her palm and sighs happily.
“Luke?” Nat passes Liv to Gail and wraps her arms around my waist, leaning her belly against my pelvis, and I wrap my arms around her shoulders.
“Yes, baby.”
“Don’t expect diamond necklaces from us for Father’s Day.”
I laugh down at her and kiss her forehead. “I think we’re good.”
I have everything I’ll ever need right here in this tent. My gorgeous wife and amazing daughter. Our family.
“Happy Mother’s Day, baby.”
Under The Mistletoe With Me
A With Me In Seattle Novella
By
Kristen Proby
UNDER THE MISTLETOE WITH ME
A With Me In Seattle Novella
Kristen Proby
Copyright © 2012 by Kristen Proby
All Rights Reserved. This book may not be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission from the author. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. All characters and storylines are the property of the author and your support and respect is appreciated. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
The following story contains mature themes, strong language, and sexual situations. It is intended for adult readers.
Cover image used under license by Foltolia.com
Cover Design by Rachel A. Marks
Chapter One
“I’m just glad you didn’t have a game today and can actually enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with us.” My mother-in-law, Gail, smiles over at her son Will, who is currently stuffing his face full of mashed potatoes.
“Me, too, Mom. God, this is good.”
“That’s a lot of carbs for a man in training,” Isaac mutters next to me. I run my palm up and down my husband’s thigh and grin up at him. He loves giving his brother a hard time.
“Dude, it’s Thanksgiving,” Will replies.
“So the carbs don’t count?” Isaac asks.
“Exactly.” Will grins and takes another bite of his potatoes. I am surrounded by a room full of loving, funny people. The Montgomery gene pool is impressive. But more than being, well, gorgeous, they are welcoming and good-hearted, and I’m proud and lucky to be a part of them.
Sophie, our four-month-old daughter, squirms in my arms.
“Here, babe, let me take her.” Isaac pulls our baby girl into his arms and lays her on his broad shoulder. She settles in and falls back to sleep, her face pressed against his neck. I can’t blame her, it’s one of my favorite places to be, too. “You eat, honey.”
We are all gathered at Luke and Natalie’s house for the holiday. The loving couple have been married for about two months now, and I couldn’t be happier for them. Natalie isn’t a sister by blood, but she’s been a part of this family for years. She and Jules, the youngest and only girl of the Montgomery clan, are the best of friends. With the addition of Luke’s parents, Lucy and Neil, and two siblings, Samantha and Mark, along with my parents, this house is overflowing with bodies, loud with voices and laughter, and is a little too warm.
There is nowhere I’d rather be.
“Stace, how is your blog going?” Jules asks next to me.
“It’s going well, thanks. I really love it.”
“She’s being modest,” Isaac cuts in with a grin. “It’s going great. She’s got over ten thousand followers, and her reviews have been picked up by some publishers to add to book covers.”
He smiles down at me and kisses my forehead, his blue eyes shining with pride. God, I love him.
“What kind of books are you reviewing?” Natalie asks.
“Romance novels,” I reply with a smile.
“The dirty kind?” Will asks hopefully, earning a smack in the arm from Luke’s sister, Samantha. “What?”
“Don’t be a perv,” she mutters, glaring at him.
“Actually, all kinds, but yes, the erotic novels are pretty hot right now,” I respond and wink at him.
“Oh! Have you read those books that everyone’s been talking about?” Samantha asks. “You know, the ones where the guy ties her up and spanks her and is all kinds of naughty?”
I feel my ears burn as I blush. The guys all roll their eyes, but Matt, Isaac’s younger brother, clears his throat and won’t look anyone in the eye.
Interesting.
“Yes, I’ve read them, Sam.”
“I could use some of those,” Jules whispers in my ear. “I’ve hit a dry spell.”
“I’ll e-mail you a list,” I whisper back, and we giggle.
“What are you whispering about?” Isaac asks, pulling my hand up to kiss my knuckles.
“Just books,” I reply.
“Okay, gimme the baby.” Natalie stands and walks around the table, her arms open, and scoops Sophie up off of Isaac’s shoulder, nuzzling her. “Hi, precious. I missed you.”
My gaze finds Luke. He’s watching his wife, his blue eyes full of love and contentment. Natalie is pregnant herself.
“Anytime you want practice with middle-of-the-night feedings, you’re welcome to it,” Isaac tells her.
I roll my eyes and smack his arm. “Quit trying to give my baby away.”
He winks at me and takes a bite of his turkey. “I’m just kidding.”
; “You know I’d keep her in a heartbeat,” Natalie responds with a happy smile and kisses Sophie’s cheek, making her giggle.
Isaac’s phone rings in his pocket. He checks the display and scoots his chair back. “I’ll be right back.”
I wonder who it could be. Surely not work on Thanksgiving. I shrug it off and finish my dinner, and then help clear the table and clean the kitchen. With all of us chipping in, the chores are done quickly, and we all settle in with wine or coffee to chat and recover from the delicious Thanksgiving meal.
Finally, Isaac returns from his phone call, a frown on his handsome face.
“Who was that?” I ask.
“It was nothing.” He shakes his head and walks to the kitchen to pull a beer out of the fridge before sitting next to me on the couch.
“It was someone,” I respond.
He shakes his head again and takes a pull from his beer. “Don’t worry about it.”
I frown up at him. This is new. It’s not that we have to share every little detail about who we talk to, but we usually do. He’s never been evasive before.
Before I can argue with him, he takes my hand in his and links our fingers, bringing them up to his lips. “Just drop it.”
He grins down at me and winks, then strikes up a conversation with Will about his football season with the Seahawks, effectively closing the subject. With a full belly and a warm fire blazing not far away, I settle in next to my firm husband, rest my head on his muscular shoulder, and watch the activity around me.
“Stacy, here are the photos we took last week of Sophie.” Natalie hands me a thumb drive. “I think you’ll like them.”
“Oh, I know I’ll love them! Thanks again for doing it. I’ll order Christmas cards next week.” I grin at her as she takes a seat across from me with Jules.
Jules and Nat soon have their heads together, as usual, cooing over a sleeping Sophie. I smile at the three of them. Three beautiful girls. I pull my phone out of my pocket and snap a photo of them.
Sam sits next to them and kisses Sophie’s head, and I snap another photo.