“I am.” I smiled at Zane widely.

“Zane and Lucky, please face each other and join hands.”

I turned towards Zane and he turned towards me. We stared at each other for a few seconds just taking everything in and then he reached over and took my hands in his. The priest then continued, “No other human ties are more tender and no other vows more important than those you are about to take. Both of you come to this day with deep realization that the contract of marriage is sacred as are all of its obligations and responsibilities. Zane, I understand that you have prepared your own vows.”

“Yes.” Zane nodded and then he looked back at me tenderly. “I love you Lucky Morgan. I promise to always love you, to share my life with you, to keep no secrets from you, to tenderly care for you through sickness and health. I promise to always be here for you and our children. I promise that I will never let anything come between us. I promise that I will provide for you during all the varying circumstances of our lives.”

“And now you, Lucky.” The priest nodded at me and I took deep breath,

“Zane, I promise to love you tenderly and deeply for the rest of our lives. I promise to listen and to talk and to keep no secrets from you. I promise to make you breakfast when you are sick, and to tickle you when you are down. I promise to be your shoulder to lean and cry on when you are down and to be your best friend throughout all our stress and strife. I promise to love you forever and ever.” My voice cracked at the end of my speech and I could see tears in Zane’s eyes as we stared at each other.

“It is customary to exchange rings as a symbol of love.” The priest looked at us. “Do you have rings?”

“Yes, sir.” Zane grinned and Noah handed over the bands to him.

“Okay great.” The priest nodded. “As the rings have no end, so your love shall have no end. A circle is the symbol of the sun and the earth, and of the universe. It is a symbol of wholeness, and perfection, and of peace. The rings you give and receive this day, are symbols of the union you enter together as Husband and Wife. Zane, place the ring upon Lucky’s hand and repeat after me: Lucky, this ring I give to you, in token and pledge, of my constant faith, and abiding love.”

As Zane slid the ring onto my finger, everything seemed to become a blur. I repeated after the priest and slid the ring onto his finger. I was so caught up in the magic of the moment that the next thing I knew the priest was saying, you may kiss the beautiful bride and then Zane’s lips were on mine, tasting as sweet as honey.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my honor and pleasure to present to you Zane and Lucky Beaumont, as Husband and Wife.”

Even though there were only a few people at the ceremony, the cheering was loud and I grinned as Zane and I walked down the aisle together.

“Congratulations, Lucky.” Sidney shouted out and I froze and looked at him in surprise. He grinned and me winked and I looked at Zane in shock.

“He wanted to surprise you.” Zane grinned at me. “The doctors think it’s a miracle, but he’s talking again.”

“Oh my God, that’s amazing.” Tears of happiness ran down my face. “This is the best day of my life. The very best day of my life.”

***

I lay on the bed on the sexy negligee Zane had bought for me and grinned as I thought about the bet we had made the night before.

“You’re a bad boy, you know that right.” I laughed as Zane plopped down on the bed next to me. “I can’t believe you’re going to make me do the dishes for a year.”

“You’re the one that wanted to make the bet, Mrs. Beaumont.”

“You should have told me.” I cried out, as he started to tickle me.

“I couldn’t ruin the surprise.” He laughed and kissed my neck. “Now take your panties off, or do you want me to do it.”

“I don’t have any panties on.” I grinned up at him and he growled in my ear as his fingers found out that I was telling the truth. “But wait.”

“I can’t wait.” He groaned, as I pushed him away.

“I have something for you.”

“All I want is your body right now.”

“Zane.” I giggled. “We have the rest of our lives for sex. This is important.”

“Fine,” he sat up, looking at me with a frustrated expression. “What is it?”

“Your dad gave me something to give you.”

“Okay.” He shrugged and sighed. “And you have to give it to me now?”

“No, I don’t have to, but it’s important. I want you to see it now.”

“Okay, what is it?” He frowned and I stood up and walked over to the table and picked up the envelope his father had given me and carried it over to him carefully.

“What’s that?”

“It’s the letter your mom wrote for you.”

“What?” His body stilled and he looked at me hopefully. “Is it really?”

I nodded and handed him the envelope and he held it in his hands without doing anything. “What does it say?”

“I don’t know.” I shook my head. “I didn’t open it.”

“Oh.”

“Open it now and read it if you want.”

“I’m scared to.” He shook his head. “I wasn’t ready for this.”

“Do you want me to read it to you?”

“Would you mind?”

“Of course not.” I took the letter and opened the envelope carefully. I stared at the handwritten note and my heart surged with love for Zane’s mother. I cleared my throat and began:

My darling Zane,

I may never get to hear about your first kiss or see you at your first dance. I may not get to read you your first bedtime story or get to tuck you in at night. I may not see your first heartache or get to hear about your first love. Or hear your voice change as you grow from a boy to a man. I may miss your wedding and the birth of your children. But my darling, Zane, know that I am always there with you. I am the wind beneath your feet, the light when you wake up, the twinkle in the sky above. I am your mother and I will always love you. If you could only see how much love my heart holds for you; you would never doubt that you are all my dreams come true. I’m blessed to have known you and loved you for nine months and I will continue to love you for the rest of your life, from earth or heaven above. Know that you are always in my heart, just as I shall always be in yours.

Your loving mother

xoxo

I stared at Zane with my heart in my mouth as I finished reading the letter and his eyes were shining bright with wonder and tears.

“She really loved me.” His voice was soft. “I can feel her. I think she’s always been here with me. She’s always been here to protect me.”

“She loved you more than anything.” I nodded. “I know what she felt for you because it’s the same thing we feel for our babies. We love them more than words can say.”

“Do you think we’ll be good parents?”

“We’ll be the best parents.”

“We still have to take that parenting class.” He laughed. “And the Lamaze class.”

“We have so many classes to take.” I joined in his laughter.

“I guess as long as we’re willing to grow and learn we’ll be okay.”

“We’ll be okay because we love each other.” I leaned over and kissed him. “Love is all we need.”

“Then we’re going to be fine because I love you so much that it would fill three galaxies.”

“I love you, Zane Beaumont.”

“I love you more, Lucky Dancing Queen Beaumont.” He held my face in his hands and then kissed me. “Now, it’s time for us to have ‘let me get you pregnant on our wedding night’ sex.”

“Oh, Zane.” I laughed and then gasped as his fingers worked their way up my stomach and under my negligee.

Epilogue

A year and a half later

Zane

“David, put that down.” I ran over and removed the Christmas ornament from his little fingers. “Your mother will kill me if you try and eat that.” I chided him and he grinned up at me, with slobber running down his face.

“Oh, Ruby, no, no, no.” I grabbed her up as she crawled along the floor and tried to pull the dogs tail. “I’m going to kill Noah.”

“Why are you going to kill me?” Noah sauntered into the living room with a huge grin and then he started laughing as he surveyed the mess. “I am not responsible for the hurricane that hit this room.”

“Not funny.” I glared and handed Ruby over to him. “I’m mad because you went out and got a dog for Skylar without even asking and now Ruby is obsessed with his tail and I’m scared that one of these days Bruiser is going to take a bite out of her hand for bothering him.”

“You know Bruiser loves Ruby.” Noah blew a raspberry on her cheek and she giggled. “As do I, how are my little pumpkins today?”

“Fine.” I shook my head, feeling very tired. “It’s hard looking after kids you know.”

“Lucky left you by yourself, huh?”

“I don’t know how she thought I could handle them both.” I shook my head. “It’s crazy.”

“They’re only a year old. How much trouble can they be?” Noah looked at me like I was exaggerating and I just shook my head. He had no idea how much trouble babies could get into. I grinned to myself as I thought about all the fun he was in for, when Robin gave birth the next year.

“You’ll see.” I smiled at him as he continued making faces at Ruby. I watched my brother with my daughter and I couldn’t believe how much love was running through my veins. Ruby Lane and David had only been in my life for a year, but I felt like I couldn’t remember my life without them in it. I loved them both so much that I could barely contain myself from kissing them all day and night. Little Ruby Lane with her wispy blonde hair and bright blue eyes was the spitting image of me and David looked just like his mother with his brown curls and big brown eyes. Both of them were slightly plump, with round red chubby cheeks and they were both adventurous. I had to make sure I was watching them every second or they were into something.

“Has Ruby been bossing David around again today?” Noah laughed as he sat on the couch and moved the Christmas ornaments to the side.

“I guess so.” I ran my hands through my hair and checked on David again to make sure he had nothing in his hands. “She was telling him something, heaven knows what.”

“She’s totally going to have him doing everything for her.” He laughed and I joined in. Ruby Lane was definitely the more dominant and protective of the two and she made sure everyone knew it.

“Right now, I wish I had someone who was helping me out.” I looked at Noah pointedly. “I told Lucky I’d have the tree up by the time she got home.”

“Where is she again?” Noah looked around the living room and grinned.

“She went grocery shopping.” I shrugged. “And most probably to lunch and the mall and who knows where. She’s been gone almost all day.”

“Maybe she’s been buying presents.”

“I wish she would have told me.” I groaned. “I wouldn’t have minded going shopping while she looked after the kids.”

“You’re worried she’s going to be mad about the mess huh?” Noah laughed and I joined in. I surveyed the living room and groaned. There were pieces of tinsel strewn all over the floor, with random ornaments everywhere and pine needles scattered on the floor. The throw pillows were on the floor instead of the couch and the room smelled like Bruiser, David and Ruby were all farting up a storm. In a nutshell, the room looked like a pigsty and I knew that Lucky was not going to let me live it down if she came home to this mess.

“Help me, bro. Please.”

“Well, Robin and Skylar are waiting for me at home.” Noah made a face and I glared at him. “We have lots of plans for the week, so I really should be headed home.”

“Don’t give me that. You guys are coming over tomorrow night for Christmas Eve, and I think Lucky told me you were staying the night so that we could all wake up together on Christmas Day and drive over to Sidney and Betty’s for breakfast.”

“I don’t know why we have to stay here, just to drive over to Sidney’s.” Noah made a face. “It makes no sense.”

“Blame your fiancé.” I laughed and then continued. “Or blame my wife. It was one of their bright ideas.”

“Fine, I’ll help. Where shall I put Ruby Lane?”

“Hand her to me, I think she needs her diaper changing.” I took my squirming daughter from him and held her close to me. She kissed my cheek and then dribbled on me and I shook my head as I laughed. “Keep it up darling, if you kiss all the boys like that I will never have to worry.”

“Worry about what?” Lucky’s voice carried through the room and I looked up at her like a deer caught in headlights. She surveyed the room and then walked over to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Hello, darling husband.”

“Hello, darling wife.”

“Hi, Noah.” She smiled at him and they hugged. “Are you responsible for this mess?”

“No way.” He laughed. “I’ve got my own mess at home, but it’s nowhere as bad as this.”

“Thanks, bro.”

“No worries.” He laughed. “I better go though. I promised Skylar that Robin and I would drive her around Beverly Hills so she could see all the Christmas decorations.”