CHAPTER SIX
“Since everyone is here tonight,” Mia said when everyone had finally eaten their fill, “Ford and I want to talk with you about something we’ve been thinking a lot about.”
“Please tell me it doesn’t have anything to do with weddings,” Adam begged, looking trapped. “I swear that’s all any of you talk about anymore.”
“Actually,” she said with a wide smile, “our wedding is exactly what we want to talk about with all of you.” Ian and Mia shot each other a look that read to Grace like a secret, silent code between brother and sister.
Meanwhile, Adam informed Dylan, “It’s just the two of us left now.” A moment later, however, when his gaze flashed to Grace and Mason, he shook his head, then picked up his beer and took a long pull.
“As most of you know,” Mia continued, “I’ve been planning my wedding since I was a little girl.” When Adam groaned again, his sister socked him in the shoulder. “I always thought the bigger the better, probably at an exotic destination with a week-long party on an island. But now…” Mia paused when Ford threaded his fingers through hers and lifted them to his lips while they shared a look so loving Grace could feel it in the center of her chest.
“Now all we want,” Ford finished for her, his voice just as deep and mesmerizing as it was when he was singing one of his hit songs, “is to have our family with us. We had thought about getting married up at the lake, but we don’t want to take away from Rafe and Brooke’s special day this summer.”
“Of course you should get married at the lake,” Brooke immediately protested, but instead of agreeing with her, Rafe pressed a kiss to his fiancée’s forehead. “Something tells me they’ve already got something else in mind.”
Ian cleared his throat. “Sounds to me like the two of you are ready to say your vows, aren’t you?”
Dylan’s oldest brother looked and sounded truly choked up, not at all as if he were teasing. And when Mia’s eyes also filled as she nodded, Grace barely held in her gasp of surprise.
Oh my God, Mia and Ford weren’t about to get married tonight, were they?
“That’s exactly what we’re ready for,” Mia confirmed. “Ford and I don’t want to wait any longer. And we don’t want to have a big circus of a wedding with helicopters and paparazzi. We’ll have a big party later for everyone to come to, but for tonight, we just want you guys.”
Tears were already streaming down Claudia’s face by the time she made it around the table to throw her arms around her daughter and her soon-to-be son. “I can’t believe you all planned this in secret! A wedding right here in our living room.” Dylan’s mother sounded overwhelmed. And absolutely thrilled.
Grace was so stunned by what was about to happen that it wasn’t until Dylan started to help her out of her seat that she realized she was still sitting at the dining room table gaping over the fact that one of the biggest rock stars in the world was about to have a totally secret wedding in front of her!
But despite how shockingly cool all this was—how amazing did a family have to be to actually do something like this?—the unavoidable truth was that she was intruding on a private family moment.
She turned to Dylan. “Mason and I shouldn’t—”
“Stay.” He reached for her hand, his expression so full of warmth that her heart, already swelling with the heady romance swirling throughout the room, skipped a beat. “Please.”
By the time she finally managed to look away from his mesmerizing eyes, Ian was standing with his back to the big stone fireplace. Mia and Ford were holding hands in front of him, while the rest of the family gathered around them...and Grace knew there was nowhere else she’d rather be.
* * *
Dylan knew none of them would ever forget this wedding. Not only because Mia, Ford, and Ian had sprung it on them all so brilliantly, but because of a baby who suddenly decided he was done napping and wasn’t the least bit happy about how quiet everyone else was being.
As Grace took Mason from him and tried to rock him back to sleep, Adam and Rafe were trying not to laugh. Dylan would have been right there with them both were it not for the fact that he could see Grace panicking as she tried to soothe her little boy, to no avail.
He reached out for Mason’s little hand and stroked it softly to try to get his attention. As plump wobbly lips and eyes that were just starting to fill with tears met his, Dylan widened his eyes and stuck out his tongue. Thankfully, soon Mason was imitating him by sticking out his little tongue and giggling.
“I’ll take him outside,” Grace whispered as she started to move away from the rest of the group, but Mia was already saying, “This is so perfect, saying our vows while the cutest baby ever giggles at the silly faces everyone is making at him.” She looked back at Ford. “I want one of those. Soon.”
He leaned over to kiss her, but even though he spoke in a low voice, they could all hear him say, “We’ll get started tonight.”
Adam groaned again as the two lovebirds clearly forgot there was anyone else in the living room with them. “Ian, I think that’s your cue to get started.”
With a grin and a nod, Ian began. “We’re here tonight to witness the joining of a man and woman who have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt not only that they are meant to be together, but also that they have what it takes to make love last. All any of us have ever wanted for you, Mia, is happiness and true love. Knowing that you’ve found that with Ford makes this one of the best moments of our lives, and we’re thrilled to be able to share in your vows with each other tonight.”
Dylan could hear Grace’s breath hitch in her throat as emotion swamped her, and he reached out to put his hand over hers.
Ford brought both of Mia’s hands up to his mouth and pressed a kiss to them before he began to speak. “You are everything to me, Mia. My dreams. My heart. My soul. Every day when I wake up with you beside me, then fall asleep with you in my arms, I know I’m the luckiest man alive.” He pressed a kiss to each of her cheeks, wet with tears, before kissing her on the mouth. “I can’t wait to have forever with you.”
Mia had never looked happier than she did right then as she smiled at Ford, even while her tears continued to fall.
“I always knew I wanted what my parents had.” Mia turned to smile at their mom and dad, who were holding tightly to each other, their hearts in their eyes as they watched their youngest say her vows. “A love so deep and true that nothing could ever come between them. I was so sure I knew what that love would look like when it came. I had it all planned out—the perfect guy who would say all the right things and sweep me away like a princess in a perfect fairy tale. But then, there you were. Not out of a fairy tale, but better. Because you are real. Raw. Honest. And with a heart so big that I’m constantly astounded by everything you are and everything you do. Especially the way you love me without holding anything back. I can’t wait to be your wife, Ford.”
When they turned back to Ian, he was clearly working to pull himself together so that they could finish the ceremony. “Mia, do you freely and without reservation give yourself to Ford in marriage?”
“I do.” Mia slid Ford’s wedding band on his left hand. “With this ring, I am yours and you are mine. Wear this ring forever as a sign of our love.”
“Ford, do you freely and without reservation give yourself to Mia in marriage?”
“I do.” Ford reached into his pocket for a simple platinum wedding band and put it on Mia’s ring finger. “I give you this ring to wear with love and joy. As this ring has no end, our love is also forever.”
“May the wedding rings you exchanged today remind you always that you are surrounded by enduring love. And now, by the power vested in me by the City of Seattle, it is my honor and delight to declare you husband and wife. You may seal this declaration with a kiss.”
And as the new husband and wife kissed to seal the deal, Mason let out a whoop that had all of them joining in.