Jake thumped him and I laughed through my tears. It was so perfect.
Then Jake focused on me, his pale blue eyes alive with so much emotion.
“I promise you that I will always care, always fight to connect, to be there to comfort you and celebrate you. No matter what life brings, we will cherish the time together and I will support you—all of you—through everything that entails.
“Frankie, I am so lucky to have found someone who embraces all that I am, and enriches me by pushing and challenging me to be better. I can’t wait to continue this adventure with you. To build our dreams and chase our goals. I am so excited for this future we’re making.
“Baby Girl, you’re my best friend, my lover, my partner, and my heart. Everything I am, everything I will be—it’s yours and theirs. I promise to always defend you and this family. Period.”
So somber and serious, my heart stretched out, wanting to encompass them all.
“Angel,” Ian took the step inward toward me. “I chose you the day I met you. I saw you sitting there in class, and all I could think was, will she look at me with the smile she had when she walked in? Every single day you’ve shared that smile with me has been the best. I choose you now, who you are inside and out.
“I promise to laugh with you in good times and in bad. I will endure with you when the road gets hard. I will always respect you as Frankie, my heart, my best friend, my muse. I promise to love you always. And I will always have their backs, my brother boyfriends, as Mom decided to dub them and then the name stuck.”
The guys laughed and so did our guests.
“My promise to all of us and to you. This is our family. We don’t need to be anything more than who we are.”
The tears had won out. They trickled down my cheeks and I couldn’t stop them.
“Frankie,” Archie said. “You know me, I wanted to hire a skywriter for this part, maybe a hot air balloon, or some performance artists to take this totally over the top in telling you how much I love you.”
The fact Coop actually rolled his eyes told me that there had actually been a discussion. God, I loved them so much.
“But I know you love to hear me talk…”
That dirty mouth could not show up in mixed company, but the devilish twinkle in his eyes promised me he was thinking it. I licked my lips, tasting the gloss and the tears.
“So, I have to tell you—I fell in love with you. With your qualities, with your big ass heart, as Jake likes to call it, and with how you look at life. With how no matter what, you pick yourself up, and you keep on going. With how you choose kindness when I would fight. With how you will fight to protect those you love.
“I know that sometimes we’re so different, but your needs, your interests, and your desires—they are so important to me. This family we’ve built together, the ups, and the downs, whether it was my stubbornness or yours or theirs, there is literally no one else that I want to have my back than you and these three idiots.”
I giggled as Ian just shook his head, but they were all smiling.
“I promise to give you all of me. To always talk to you and to listen. To be kind and honest and trust you all no matter what. You are my best friend, my soulmate, my other half—you are the sunshine I never knew I needed, and now I can’t live without you.”
God, the tears just wouldn’t stop. “You’re my reason,” I whispered. “All of you are my reason. You were my reason then, and you’re my reason now, and I know you’re my reason tomorrow and every other day that follows. You are my best friends. My protectors. My defenders. My champions.
“You have always fought for me, even when I didn’t understand what you were doing. You were there for me in some of the worst times and never left me alone. If I was drowning, you jumped into the water and kept my head up. When I needed help to climb, you were there. When I needed all of you…”
I swallowed, looking at them one after the other.
“You didn’t make me choose. You said I could love you all. That you would love me regardless. You have cherished me, kept your promises, and built a life with me that is so full, and so beautiful, that I can’t wait to see what we do next. It’s always us, none of us are alone.
“You have made me happier than you could ever imagine. Your love fills me with strength. No matter what life throws at us, I know we’ll be together. I love you all so much. I will always love you, and wherever you go, I will be there at your sides because that is where I’m supposed to be.”
“Come here, Baby Girl,” Jake said as I was half-sobbing and then I crashed into them. They formed a much tighter circle around me until they were all hugging me.
For a moment, they were all I could feel and hear. They were my heart. My breath. Coop found my hand and gripped it. Archie pressed a kiss behind my ear. Ian wrapped a hand around my nape, and Jake pressed his lips to mine.
“I would like to say that we might be rushing ahead a little, but what you five have sworn to today, let no one challenge or try to destroy. By the power you have vested in me, I pronounce you—”
“Wait!” Chloe shouted and I pulled back a little, still sniffling as I turned to my little sister. “You guys forgot the rings. You can’t do the husbands and wife thing without your rings.”
Jeremy and Rachel were both giving us fairly misty-eyed smiles, so I just grinned. “You’re absolutely right. We need the rings.”
Thankfully, Jeremy had brought the case with all five simple gold bands. I refused to replace a single one of my engagement rings, so a simple gold band would go with them. That was that. They would each get one too.
Archie opened the box, and I took my time putting one ring on each of them and then kissing them to seal the deal, and when I was done, they slid my gold band into place.
Maybe a little unorthodox, but this was our day. As one, we looked at our minister, who glanced at Chloe. “All good now?”
“Yes!”
“Excellent, then by the power you have invested in me, I pronounce you husbands and wife. May your life be ever blessed.”
I collapsed into Coop, who picked me up and then kissed me again. The tears were still flowing, but so was the happiness. This was the day I’d never realized I’d always been dreaming of. But it wasn’t about the day, I didn’t think it ever had been.
It was always about my guys.
My brother husbands.
I was so getting them shirts if Sara hadn’t already.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
IT HAD TO BE YOU
FRANKIE
Hank whirled me around on the dance floor inside the ballroom. The doors were all thrown open so that we could be inside or out. The perfect weather of the morning extended into the afternoon. Sunshine, cool breezes and big fans made the dancing fun.
“You make a beautiful bride.” While he was all smiles now, his eyes had been damp earlier when he came up to congratulate us.
“Thanks, Dad.” I was still a little stuffed up from my own crying. Rachel had worked wonders to help me fix my makeup after, and she’d had to fix her own. I would never be a pretty crier. I got too blotchy and my nose was too stuffed.
I glanced over to where she and Dominic danced and kept my mental fingers crossed for her.