Turning to face her, my breath seizes and my heart stops in my chest as I take her in.
My dream girl looks bewitching in a lacy, black mid-length dress. The top looks like a corset and the skirt flows from her hips, making her look like a fucking goddess. Her hair is curled, falling just above her shoulder, and her caramel highlights shine beneath the sun’s beams. Dakota’s lips are painted a deep red, and the smoky eye shadow she did somehow makes her eyes even more mesmerizing.
She bites her lip to try to hide her amusement at what must be the awestruck look on my face. Standing on her tiptoes, Dakota reaches up to straighten my bowtie. When she’s satisfied with her adjustments, she slides her hands down the lapels of my tux jacket. I don’t hesitate to bring her into my arms for a hug.
“Austen,” I breathe her in, letting out a low sigh of contentment. “You look divine—fucking ravishing.”
“Thank you. You look quite debonair in your tux,” she declares.
Swiping my thumb across the bare skin of her upper back, I thank her.
She steps back, grabs the side of her dress and gives me a deep curtsy. “I must take my seat, my lord. I’ll see you after the ceremony.”
She looks so fucking serene standing before me like this. But this just won’t do. If either of us is to bow to the other, it will be me getting on my knees and bowing before her every fucking day.
When she rises to her feet, I tilt her chin up, and when her eyes find mine, my heart skips two beats one after the other. “Will you save a dance for me, my lady?”
Dakota licks her deep red lips and my eyes track the movement. “You may have them all.” Tucking her hair behind her ear, I brush my thumb across her cheek.
With our gazes locked, I pull her in and place a lingering kiss on her forehead. When we pull away, she walks down the aisle to her seat, but not before pausing to look back at me over her shoulder. A shy smile spreads across her face, and it’s like a slapshot straight to my heart.
I may have said that I hate to watch her go, but when it comes to watching her walk down an aisle, nothing has ever made me feel more euphoric.
Silverware clinking against glass rings out over the space in the backyard which has been transformed into a fairytale wedding venue. The A-frame paneling of the clear-top tent is strung with bulbed lights and chandeliers that, combined with the golden hour of the setting sun, gives Dakota an ethereal look to her as she sits beside Cadence at their table for dinner.
I don’t take my eyes off her as I clap mindlessly at what I’m sure is Griff and Mack’s tenth kiss since they sat down for dinner. I’m still staring in awe as Dakota throws her head back in laughter at something Cadey Cat said to my mom when the DJ walks over and hands me a microphone for my speech.
Shaking myself out of my haze, I clear my throat and chuckle. “That time already?” I ask.
Mack walks behind me and wraps me in a hug just as Griff gives my arm an assuring squeeze.
“You’ve got this, Carse,” Mack whispers to me.
“Of course I do. I’m about to captivate the hell out of this room all while embarrassing the hell out of Griff,” I tell her as I stand up and button my jacket before grabbing the mic.
“Good evening, everyone, and thank you for being here to celebrate Griffin and McKenna on their big day. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Mack’s twin brother, Carson. I arrived two minutes earlier, which does, in fact, make me her older brother.” I pause as guests chuckle and Mack rolls her eyes at my antics. Shooting her a quick wink, I continue, “But I’m not just the brother of the bride, I also happen to have the great honor of being the best man, because this guy right here decided to marry his best friend’s sister.” I place my hand on Griff’s shoulder and give him a playful shove.
“Some of you might be wondering if that was weird for me, or if I ever got upset with him. The short answer to that would be: no. The longer answer is that I have a lot of feelings about the two of them being together. I have feelings of vindication that lead me to feel bittersweet all at the same time. You see, I, along with I’m sure many of you, knew that Mack was obsessed with Griff for a very long time before Griff eventually got a clue.” That earns me a chuckle from Griff.
“I also had a years-long bet going with Griff’s little sister, Katie, or Kitty as I liked to call her. Kitty and I both knew for years that our siblings had crushes on our best friends, and we made a bet as to which would crack first, and another side-bet to see when it would happen. I thought they’d cave earlier and become high school sweethearts. Katie bet otherwise, and of course won. When did we make this bet, you ask? Let me set the scene for you in a way that Kitty would be proud of,” I say as I move to pick up a remote control clicker from beside my place setting and aim it at the projector screen in the front corner of the tent where a picture of me, Katie, Mack, and Griff in our pre-teen phase lights up the screen.
“It was the summer of 2012 when nine-year-old Katie and Mack were in our basement watching their favorite movie for the hundredth time. Meanwhile, an eleven-year-old Griff was playing an intense game of knee hockey with me. Just a typical day in the Wilder household, until Katie and Mack begged us to act out a scene from their favorite movie with them. Now, Griff and I were pretty great brothers growing up, we didn’t get annoyed by our sisters very often, but this time crossed a line for me.”
I click to the next slide where a movie poster forHannah Montana: The Movietakes up the screen. “Thiswas their favorite movie, and the particular scene they wanted to act out was the ‘Hoedown Throwdown’ dance. I didn’t want to be embarrassed in front of my teammate and best friend, so I refused to do the dance. At least, I did until Griff walked over and picked up a sequined scarf and wrapped it around his neck and told the girls he was only doing it once and they better make it quick. I was stunned. The cool-as-hell guy I idolized was willing to do a dance just because his little sister asked nicely. And he didn’t just go through the motions—nothing Griff does is half-ass, especially when it came to making Katie smile.”
My voice cracks and I take a deep, quivering breath just as Mack uses her dinner napkin to dab at her eyes. She gives Griff a watery smile, and he wraps his arm around her, rubbing his hand up and down her own.
“Naturally, Griff gave it his all and got into the dance. I meanreallyinto it. But I don’t feel like my words can really do it justice, so I thought I’d show you instead,” I say as I press play on the next slide where a grainy video of the four of us is displayed.
“Oh my god. I’m going to kill your brother,” Griff murmurs as he hides his face in Mack’s neck. Mack’s face lights up as she takes in the video. While it isn’t the greatest quality, you can clearly see me and Griff wearing sequined scarves and cowgirl hats that barely fit on our heads as we stand beside our sisters and reenact the ridiculous dance.
The guests laugh as they take in the video clip that ends with Griff spinning Mack into his arms and dipping her low. I pause the video and turn to them. “Let’s hope your first dance tonight goes a lot better than this one did,” I explain, pressing play on the video where Griff drops Mack onto her back mid-dip.
The guests erupt with laughter, and when I can finally catch my breath between the laughs, I go to stand behind the two of them.
“In all seriousness, I learned a lot about Griff that day. I learned that suddenly his cheeks turned pink any time Mack talked to him. I learned that he couldn’t dance for shit. And I learned that he would do just about anything for not only his little sister, but mine too. Suddenly, the list of reasons why I idolized him grew from beyond just hockey.”
I sniff and quickly swipe my thumb under my eyes. “Griff is a protective, loving, and caring guy, and I promised myself that if one day he and my sister finally realized their feelings were mutual, I’d never be someone to stand in the way of their relationship. Today was predestined.”
