“I’m getting us champagne to celebrate,” I said, standing from the booth and tipping my chin at Austin. “Carillo, coming?”

He nodded his head and joined me walking to the bar. “How you feeling, man? Pretty f**kin’ awesome, I imagine.”

Taking a glance back at Mol and all our friends, happy and laughing, I said, “Too right, man. I can’t believe a chick like her is actually going to marry me. I’m one lucky bastard.”

Turning back to the bar, I ordered a bottle of Cristal and faced Austin. “So you gonna be my best man or what?”

Austin swallowed and a slow grin spread on his face. Slapping his hand in mine, he moved in to grip my shoulder. “Fuck, man, of course I will!”

“Only seems right after knowing you my whole damn life. Plus, you’re the closest thing I have to a brother. We’ve both been put through the ringer and both still here to see another day.” The poor bastard had had a rough six months, but thank f**k, he was now in a better place.

“I’m f**kin’ honored, man, honored!” He flicked his gaze to Lexi sitting next to Molly, and a contented expression set on his face. “Only if you return the favor one day.”

Smiling now myself, I said, “Done deal.”

For the rest of the night we celebrated hard and I’d never felt so happy. Molly and I were going to Seattle, my little Shakespeare had agreed to be my wife, and on our return to Tuscaloosa, we had a wedding to plan.

35

Birmingham, Alabama

One Month Later…

“Are we all set?”

“We’re good, son. Just need to get y’all changed into your tuxes and wait for the bride to show her face.”

It had been a month since the draft, and on my and Molly’s return to Bama, my aunt and uncle heard the news of our engagement and offered us the use of their house in Birmingham for our wedding. We’d decided to keep it small. In fact, only our friends knew of it. It wasn’t a day for the press or for people to ooh and ahh at the real-life Romeo and Juliet of Alabama, the friggin’ ‘tragic lovers’ the papers had made us out to be.

Since the Tide had won the championship, the hype surrounding Molly and me had been crazy, the draft only heightening the attention further, and we needed to get the hell away, get away from the media circus our marriage would no doubt become.

Our marriage was about us. No pomp, no ceremony.

“Is she okay?” I asked my uncle impatiently as he put the finishing touches to decorating the garden.

“She’s great. Ally and the girls all slept in her room last night, giggling and staying up late. Your Aunt Alita is in her element, getting Molly all dolled up for today.” He stopped and looked up from attaching the last fairy light to the white wooden altar. “Your girl looks absolutely breathtaking, son. Breathtaking… You’ve done good.”

All I could do was scowl.

“What’s that face for?” Uncle Gabe asked, smiling his f**king knowing smile at me, just as Austin, Reece, and Jimmy-Don entered the yard.

“That I wasn’t with Mol last night! We haven’t spent a damn night apart since I got her back, and I didn’t sleep a wink in that hotel room, knowing she was here. I f**kin’ hated it! You’re lucky I didn’t just screw tradition and turn up in her bed.”

“Hey!” Jimmy-Don protested. “We were great company! Why wouldn’t you want this over Molly?” He ran his hands down his body and licked his lips suggestively.

I ignored him, and my uncle patted me on my back. “You know your aunt wanted you guys to do it right. Believe me, son, it’ll be worth it. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.” My uncle gestured around the yard. “Well, what do you think?”

The garden area had been completely transformed. At the end of the lawn, masses of bright flowers and solar lamps made a footpath to a large, white wooden altar where the pastor would stand. Fairy lights were everywhere: in the trees, draped over the outside of the house, the fences… Mol was going to love it; it was the perfect romantic setting.

My uncle had been killing himself, getting the house ready for today. I knew it was because he still felt some guilt over what’d happened over the past year, hell, the past twenty-two years, but he shouldn’t have. It was all under the bridge now that my daddy was in prison and my momma had apparently gone to live with her sister in Louisiana.

They were completely out of my life. For good.

“It’s great, thank you,” I replied, surprising him by slinging an arm around his shoulder and planting a kiss on his head. Yeah, yeah, I was all caught up in the moment too.

Suddenly, a loud slam of a door caused us all to look around.

Aunt Alita bolted out of the house, all flustered. “Gabe! Rome! The pastor is here.” She gestured wildly with her hands at the five of us, still in our jeans and shirts, “Ay, ay! You’re not even dressed! Vamose! You have thirty minutes!” Screaming like a Spanish banshee, she reentered the house almost as quickly as she came out.

Austin, Jimmy-Don, and Reece just stared at the now-empty doorway, and laughing, my uncle put two hands on my shoulders from behind. “The joys of married life… something for you to look forward to!”

Even though my f**ker friends snickered at my uncle’s comment, all I could think was that those thirty minutes couldn’t pass quickly enough.

Standing at the altar was surreal, and the friggin’ penguin suit I was trapped in almost choked me. Austin stood to my left as my best man, Jimmy-Don, Reece, and Uncle Gabe as my groomsmen.