As she took down the dress, Ellie grabbed my hands and turned me toward her.

“You’re beautiful, and by far, you are the strongest person I know. You’re the only person I can say ‘fuck you’ to, and you laugh. You’ve got this, baby.”

I smiled at her as I nodded my head.

After listening to all four of them yell at each other for two long-ass minutes about watching out for my hair and makeup, the dress was finally on.

I turned and looked into the mirror as Ellie and Heather put on my veil. Oh my god, I was getting married.

“Do you think the baby will ask about us getting married after I got pregnant?”

Ellie looked at me. “Umm, that’s random as hell, Ari, but no. Even if she does, it doesn’t matter. Y’all loved each other when she was made.”

I turned to face Ellie. “She?”

“Or he. It doesn’t matter as long as she is healthy,” Ellie said with a smile.

I turned around and looked at my three best friends. They were all so beautiful. Amanda had her spit-and-fire attitude and that red hair of hers. Sweet Heather, was blessed with her caring heart and soul, beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes, and those boobs. Lucky bitch. Then there was Ellie….my soul sister…my other half. With her beautiful blue eyes and brown hair, she was just breath-taking.

They were each dressed in a fitted strapless silver taffeta dress that flared just at the bottom. The beading on the bodice was amazing, and I loved the corset back. The light from all the candles would reflect off their dresses, and I knew it was going to be so damn pretty.

We all just stared at each other.

My mother had brought Matt in to see me before the wedding.

“Ari, you are most beautiful!” Matt said as he smiled up at me.

“I love you, buddy.”

Then, I heard a knock on the door. Jenny opened it and then slammed it shut.

“Holy fuck!”

I turned around to see she was white as a ghost.

“What? What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Holy fuck!”

We all turned and looked at Matt. Oh great, at least he won’t be saying assmole anymore.

“I wanna be a mudder-fucking cowboy, just like in Jeff’s song.”

I had to grab onto the wall, or I would have went straight to the floor.

“I’m going to kill Jefferson for listening to that song around him,” Ellie said.

She walked up to the door and opened it.

Then, she immediately slammed it shut.

“Oh, um…shit.”

“Would someone please tell me why y’all keep slamming the door shut?” I asked.

“It’s Jeff,” Ellie and Jenny said at the same time.

“Wait... what?”

Ellie said, “I’ll see what he wants. Everyone just needs to keep getting ready. Jen, the flowers?”

Jenny seemed shocked as hell and out of it for a good minute or so. “Yes…right the flowers.”

I watched as Ellie opened the door and went out into the hall. I just stared at the door.

What does he want? Did he change his mind? Oh god, what if Rebecca is here? Wait…why would she be here?

The door opened, and Ellie walked in.

“Um, can everyone leave the room for just a few minutes? The groom would like to talk to his bride.”

Ellie looked over at me, smiling as she winked.

After everyone was out, including Matt who kept saying he wanted to be a mudder-fucking cowboy, Jeff walked in the door. He stopped dead in his tracks and just stared at me.

I sucked in a breath of air when I saw him. I’d left what the guys were going to wear up to him, so he’d said he would surprise me. He was dressed in his black tuxedo pants with a platinum herringbone vest and matching platinum tie. He looked breathtakingly handsome.

“Is everything okay, baby?” I asked.

He rushed over to me and took me in his arms. He kissed me like he was never going to kiss me again.

When he finally pulled his lips away from mine, he held me tighter in his arms.

“Jeff, what’s wrong?” I asked as I leaned back to look at him.

His eyes were filled with tears.

“I just needed to make sure this wasn’t a dream, Ari. I needed to see you. I needed to touch you. I needed to kiss you and tell you how lucky I am to have you in my life. Thank you so much for not giving up on me when I gave you so many reasons to just walk away. I was so lost when you weren’t in my life, baby. You literally saved me, Arianna.”

I stood there and just stared at him. I was fighting back the tears. I would be so pissed if I started crying right now.

“Jeff, I love you more than life itself. I never thought this day would come. To be standing here in front of you, pregnant with our baby, knowing I get to wake up to you every morning for the rest of my life, I’m so overwhelmed by happiness I can’t even think straight. The only thing I can think about is if Matt’s going to walk down the aisle, singing about being a mudder-fucking cowboy.”

Jeff threw his head back and laughed. He took a step away and looked me up and down.

“You’re breath-taking. Do you know that, baby?”

I smiled and let my eyes move up and down his body.

“You look pretty handsome yourself.”

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Jeff walked over and opened it.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” my mother asked.

“I’m leaving right now. I just needed to see my beautiful bride and tell her how much I love her.” Jeff turned to look at me.

I smiled at him, and my heart just melted with the smile he gave back. Good Lord, that boy is handsome as hell. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, how am I going to look at him and say those vows when all I’m thinking about is getting his ass naked?

My mom and dad walked in as Jeff left the room. My mother let out a gasp when she saw me, and my father had a grin from ear to ear.

“Tu es belle Arianna.”

I loved it when my father spoke to me in French.

“Merci, papa, pour dire que je suis beau.”

“Oh Arianna, you literally took my breath away when I saw you,” my mother said as she walked up and hugged me.

Jenny walked in and smiled.

“So, Matt and Lauren are ready to go. Lauren is beyond thrilled that she gets to be yet another flower girl. She informed me that she knows what to do, so I can leave it up to her.”

I let out a laugh. Lauren my little cousin, looked like a princess and acted like it, too. I let her pick out her own dress. Damn, that girl has good taste. I’ve taught her well. It was an elegant silver satin dress with a pin pick-up in the front and a satin bow. The bodice was embroidered with rosettes. It looked perfect on her.

“Ari, it’s about that time. Do you need a minute or two with your mom and dad?” Jen asked.

Daddy looked at me and winked. “Hell no, I paid for some good food, and I’m starving. The faster I get her down the aisle, the faster I can sit down and eat.”

I just smiled at my father. He didn’t want any time alone with me because his ass was afraid he would cry.

“Allez-vous à pleurer papa?” I asked with a wink.

“No, I’m not going to cry. Now, let’s walk you down that aisle baby girl.”

As everyone came back into the room, bouquets of flowers were passed out. Heather, Amanda, and Ellie had white and silver roses in their bouquets. I still had no idea how they got the roses to be silver, and I didn’t care. They were beautiful.

My bouquet was full of stargazer lilies. I smiled when Jenny handed them to me. She winked at me because I was sure she knew I was thinking back to the night Jeff asked me to marry him.

When I started to hear the music play, I walked over to the window.

Holy fuck. There were a ton of people out there. I moved my eyes up until I saw Jeff standing there with Gunner and Matthew. Holy hell, is it normal for me to be thinking about nothing but having sex with him right now? It must be the whole pregnancy thing….nope, I think this is just me.