“Good.” I sniffle. “Because I’m pregnant.”
He stumbles. “What?”
I grin up at him. “I think it’s our turn.” I point down the long aisle, where people are watching us, probably wondering if I’ve changed my mind or what’s taking so long.
“I’m going to kill him,” he mumbles.
I look up at him. “Okay, but will you let me marry him first?” I lay a hand on my belly. “I’d like to make this kid legitimate, if you don’t mind.”
We start down the aisle, and I see Mrs. Jameson and Lilly sitting where Josh’s parents should be, and I can’t help but think how appropriate that is.
We move slowly down the aisle, and I watch Josh’s face when he sees me. His mouth falls open, and he has so much love in his eyes for me that my knees go weak.
Then I realize with a shock that Josh isn’t in his chair. He’s on his feet.
He has been working with Daniel, his personal trainer, for hours every day. I have barely seen him for the past two months. Now I know what he was doing.
He’s standing at the end of the aisle waiting for me, with all the Reeds behind him. He grins as I come close. “I’d take your hand but I’m afraid I’ll fall over,” he whispers.
“You’ll be lucky if Emilio doesn’t kick you over,” I mutter back.
“Did you tell him?” he asks. But he’s grinning.
“Figured he couldn’t kill you today if I told him right before the ceremony.” I look at Josh standing tall, just a few inches taller than me. He’s supported by leg braces keeping his legs straight, and he’s holding his body weight up with his forearms and gravity, using crutches with forearm braces. “When did you learn to do this?”
“I wanted to stand next to you and look into your eyes while I pledge my life to you,” he tells me.
The priest coughs into his fist. We look up at him and smile.
“Who gives this woman to be married?” he asks.
No one answers. Marta elbows Emilio so hard that he grunts. “Well, crap,” he mutters. “I guess her mother and I do. If we have to.”
The crowd titters and the priest moves on. Emilio winks at me and I know everything is okay.
I can barely follow the ceremony, but I say the appropriate things at the right times, because the preacher finally says, “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”
One of the Reeds produces Josh’s chair and he sits down. Then he pats his lap, and I settle into it. He carries me down the aisle, and the laughter of our friends and family surrounds us.
I can’t imagine a better day.
JoshSam and Pete Reed come back to the party, and Sam hands me my keys. “That thing is kinky as hell,” he says quietly.
Pete starts laughing. He jerks a thumb toward Sam. “He already bought one for his bedroom too.” He pretends to thumb something into his phone, glancing furtively and comically to the left and right, pretending like he’s Sam. “There!” he cries. “Mine’ll be here next week!”
“I did not do that,” Sam murmurs. But his face starts to color.
“You totally did!” I cry.
“Dude,” he whispers fiercely. “With all the ropes and straps that swing has, the possibilities are endless!”
I laugh. “Did you seriously go through the accessories?”
He grins. “Well, I didn’t fondle them or anything,” he says, “but I did take a look at the packages.”
Sam coughs into his fist really hard.
“Okay, fine!” Pete says. “I might have fondled a few of them.”
I laugh out loud. I bought some special equipment for Star for our honeymoon, which we will be spending locked in our apartment. I couldn’t get rid of Star long enough to install it all and put it together, so I asked Sam and Pete to do it for me. It’s a swing and a special chair for sex, which Daniel pointed out to me in a mobility catalog.
“What’s so funny?” Star asks as she comes up behind me.
“Nothing,” Sam and Pete say at once.
She narrows her eyes. “What did I miss?” She sits down in my lap, her white wedding gown billowing around us.
“Nothing.” I bark out a laugh.
“You’re a bad liar, Josh.”
“It’s a surprise.” I kiss her quickly, and she runs her fingers through my hair. “You look so beautiful,” I tell her.
The Reeds wink at me and disappear to find their wives and children. I’ve seen Matt a few times as he dances with each of his daughters, and Paul has danced with his little blonde ever since the music started. I look up and see Pete and Reagan dancing and their daughter is squished between them. Logan is chasing Kit around the dessert table.
“I want to be like that,” I tell Star. I look into her eyes and I swear I can see our future gazing back at me.
She lays my hand on her belly. I still can’t believe that a life we created is growing inside her.
“We will be,” she says, and she sounds so sure. She turns so that she’s facing me a little more. “You feel like dancing with me?”
She danced with her father a few times, and I have seen the Reeds pass her around, but she and I haven’t danced. Not yet, anyway.
“Why not?” I say. I’d do just about anything for her, and if she wants me to roll her around on the dance floor on wheels, I’ll do that too.
She smiles and cups my face. “You should have warned me you would be standing at the end of the aisle.”