And she said she felt better, too.
“So, we have a change of plans for today,” Maddox told her while Hank cooked their breakfast.
“What change?” she asked.
“Miss Eliza wants to throw us a wedding at their house today.”
She cocked her head. “Instead of the courthouse?” They’d told her their plans already, and had planned to take her along Monday morning and make her a part of it.
“Exactly. Miss June’s going to be there, too.”
She nodded, already looking excited. “I’d like that! Will there be cake?”
“I don’t know exactly what the menu will be,” he hedged. “We’ll see.”
She did an adorable little dance in her chair. “Daddy and Pop, sittin’ in a tree. To-day they’re gonna get marrieeeeed!”
Hank burst out laughing and turned from the stove. “I don’t think Walt Whitman has any worries,” he joked, making Maddox laugh even harder at her confused scowl.
“Who’s that?” she asked.
“Never mind, pumpkin,” Hank said. “You’ll find out when you hit high school.”
After a morning spent doing chores, they headed over to Eliza’s per her orders, and were shocked to find cars parked up and down their street, with one parking spot reserved for them in their driveway. They didn’t even make it up the front walk before the front door was thrown open, and they were welcomed inside with the sound of happy cheers.
Eliza led them through the house. “Guys, this is Loren and her hubby, Ross. She’s going to be the I-do officiator today.”
“Thanks for doing this.” Maddox remembered Loren and her husband from the munch he’d attended, and they’d come to JJ’s birthday party. JJ remembered them, too.
Loren smiled. “My pleasure. I’m sort of the unofficial official for this group.”
“You gave me the Kindle for my birthday!” JJ said, hugging them both.
“Yes, we did,” Loren said. “Have you been using it?”
“Every day! I loooove it!”
“We got your thank you note,” Ross said, giving JJ a little fist bump. “Your daddy is doing things right.”
She grinned up at them. “So is Pop. He helped, too.”
Maddox was still absorbing that he was really going to be JJ’s step-dad and wondered if that was ever going to get old.
He hoped not.
“Do you have anything special you want to say?” Loren asked them. “Any vows you wrote?”
Maddox met Hank’s gaze. “I want to say something when we get to that point. Whatever basic ceremony you normally use is fine.”
“I didn’t plan to say anything,” Hank added, “but I can wing it.”
They didn’t waste any time, either. Eliza hustled everyone out to the backyard, where a grill was already starting to smell pretty dang good from whatever it was they were cooking on it.
Rusty, who wore an apron, whistled for quiet, and Loren took over. “This is a last-minute addition to the weekend’s festivities,” she said. “Eliza requested I keep it short, sweet, and remind everyone if you want your meat rare you’d better tell Rusty now, if you haven’t already.”
He held up a pair of barbecue tongs and snapped them together, making everyone laugh.
June’s husband, Scrye, who made tall Rusty look small, and who JJ also loved, picked her up and settled her on his shoulders so she could easily see the ceremony. And Maddox was aware of several people taking pictures and video with their cells, which was good, because now they’d have memories of it they could look at later.
For now, all he could see was Hank.
“Join hands,” Loren said, and they did.
Maddox found himself blinking back tears and swallowing the lump in his throat.
This isreallyhappening.
