Luke has no patience for small talk. “Come on, let’s get this over with.” He takes over control of the wheelchair from Shelby.
“I can’t believe you said that! You’ve been pushing me to get married for months and now you’re all like ‘let’s get this over’.”
He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. When he opens his eyes, the crazy is toned down – a bit. “We need to get you to the hospital.”
“You need to make an honest woman of my daughter is what you need to do,” my dad grumbles.
The preacher arrives. His eyes bug out at the spectacle in front of him.
“Can you just do the down and dirty ceremony?”
I growl. The down and dirty. How dare he?
Luke gets on his knees in front of me. “I promise I’ll give you the wedding of your dreams later, but right now I need to take care of you and Baby Bud.”
“We don’t even have rings.” I grab Luke’s hands and wail, “We need rings!”
Roman chuckles, and I glare at him. There is absolutely nothing worth chuckling over at the moment. He raises his hands in surrender. “Sorry. I’ve got you covered.” He pulls a box out of his pocket. “Consider this our wedding present to you.”
I grab the box. “Oh my god. We can’t accept these.” Inside the box is nestled a pair of platinum wedding bands, each covered with a ring of diamonds.
“Shut it, woman. It’s not like we can’t afford it,” Bailey says.
“Did you just make your first rich girl joke?”
The preacher clears his throat. “I believe you want to get married.” He nods to my belly. “Quickly.”
Luke motions for him to get on with it.
“Do you …” He pauses and Roman hands him a piece of paper. The billionaire really does think of everything. “Do you, Luke Bauer, take this woman, Violet Scott, to be your lawfully wedded wife?”
“I do.”
Before he has a chance to ask me, I speak. “I do as well. I mean I take Luke to be my husband.”
“Do you have vows prepared?”
Does he think I have vows prepared? I’m having a baby here. I don’t get a chance to yell at him before Luke speaks.
“I promise to cherish you every single day of my life. I promise I will never run away from you again. I’ll mess up – a lot. But I will never break your heart again. I promise to stand by you and Baby Bud no matter what. I will be with you every step of the way. Through midnight taco runs to holding your hair while you throw up. I’m yours. You have my heart.” He leans forward and brushes the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs.
“And you have mine.” Another contraction hits and I grunt. I grab the handles of the wheelchair and squeeze.
“I think we need to finish this.” The preacher says as the pain continues to course through me. “I now pronounce you man and wife.”
Grandma whoops. “About time!”
The preacher shushes her. “Let’s get this document signed. I think you have places to be.”
I barely have time to sign before Luke is pushing me away. “Hospital. Now.” He barrels down the aisle.
“We’ll meet you there,” Mom shouts as we fly past her.
Luke stops in front of the waiting limo.
“We’re not taking the limo!” I shout but everyone ignores me as the gang piles in. “You have a reception to get to.”
“We will.” Bailey nods. “We’re only dropping you off.”
“We are?” Shelby pouts. “I want to see the baby.”
“We’ll drop by later,” Bailey says and tilts her head towards Grandma.
“Oh, right. We’ll see you later, Violet.” Shelby winks.
The limo tears out of the parking lot and down the street. “We’re here.” Luke opens the door before the vehicle comes to a complete stop.
“You weren’t kidding about the hospital being around the corner.”
Luke lifts me in his arms and carries me towards the door. I wave at everyone in the limo before greeting Dr. Barnes as she steps out of the emergency room doors. “Let’s go have a baby.”
Six hours later, Lily makes her debut. “Told you it was a girl.”
Luke is cradling the tiny baby to his chest as he rocks back and forth. “She’s beautiful. You’ve given me the most precious gift in the world. I love you, little Lily.” He places her on my chest before kissing my forehead. “I love you, Petal. I was a fool to ever let you go. I won’t ever let either one of you go again. You are my life.”
I let the tears fall down my cheeks unchecked. “And we love you. It was worth it. All the pain. The heartache.” I look at Lily. “It led us to here. And I wouldn’t change here for the world.”