Feel My Love (13 page)

Chapter 29

Brynn

It was three months ago that Ryan asked me to marry him and we made the decision that I would move back to my hometown to live with Ryan and the girls. 
It’s my last week in San Diego, and my last day at the bar is tonight.

Ryan got his parents to watch the girls since Becca
said she has something planned for the weekend, and he made it into town yesterday to help me finish packing and square away the sale of my condo.

Tonight
he decided instead of staying at my house and finish packing by himself, he was going to come to the bar with me and have a drink while I worked my last night.  Ryan and I were both surprised when we walked into a big, crazy pre-wedding/going away party at the Pour House.

I
was so upset on my way to the bar because I was quitting a job I truly enjoyed doing, but as soon as we walked through the door to the outdoor bar I was bombarded with a mixture of “Congratulations” and “We’ll miss you” from people I’d grown to call family. 

Kara had called all of our sorority sisters into town for the party along with some of the friends I’d made in school.  There were regulars of the bar that
Lillian had invited to come celebrate and even my band mates were in celebration mode; Drew and I eventually made up and he is now dating one of the girls I‘ve rock climbed with quite a few times. 

Becca and Tyler are even at the party, which i
s very surprising because Becca got our mother to watch Milo so they could come out.  Becca told her exactly why she was coming to San Diego and didn’t care if my mom liked it or not, telling her that if she couldn’t support Becca for wanting to be a part of her sister’s life, then my parents were no longer allowed to be in Milo’s life.  It must have worked because Becca and Tyler were there and my parents even sent out a congratulatory greeting card- Ryan’s name was the only one on the envelope and there was nothing written inside, of course.

The
night was a mixture of happiness and sadness for me and I think Ryan could sense it, because he rarely left my side.  He seemed very interested to meet all of my sorority sisters and hear all of the crazy stories they had to share about me. 

As soon as Kara told Ryan about the time I got really drunk and made out with another sister, Ryan was all about trying to get me to recreate that moment, saying he would never be jealous and would possibly be willing to video tape it so that we could analyze it
to avoid future mistakes. He also unilaterally decided that the money we made from the sale of my condo would be spent on putting a pool in the backyard of our house after he heard about me starting a skinny dipping party after too much vodka.
Boys
. 

I spent a good portion of the
party on stage, singing my heart out.  I knew that it would be my last time on the Pour House stage, doing exactly what I loved so I took advantage of it.  The sisters that were in my college band, Ken’s Mistress, with me even came up and played a few songs with me before the boys took over again.

Six
weeks later, I am settled back in my hometown for good and marrying to the man of my dreams today. 

Ryan
looks so handsome in his black suit with a light purple tie and Riley and Harper are absolutely beautiful flower girls, wearing knee length light purple dresses.  Becca is my matron of honor and glows in her dark purple strapless dress and her hair pulled into a messy bun with curls hanging everywhere. I am so lucky to have a sister like her; that sticks by my side and does everything she can to be a part of my life, even when I tried to shut her out after I first moved to San Diego.

Milo i
s our ring bearer and stands next to Tyler, the best man; both of them are behind Ryan at the head of the altar.  They both look so handsome in matching suits and dark purple ties.

I fe
el like a princess in my beautiful white dress.  It is strapless and has a long light purple silk sash that hangs off the side of my waist.  It flows out with a small train following behind me while I walk down the aisle.  I push my hair, which I left down and curly, behind my shoulders and get ready to start my walk down the aisle. 

Ryan’s father
is accompanying me since my own father refused to come, so I give Ryan’s father a quick kiss on the cheek while holding my bouquet of light and dark purple daisies before we start walking toward the love of my life. 

When I approach Ryan at the altar, his
light blue eyes are glassy and he tilts his head, whispering “I love you, soul mate”.  When the time comes for us to read our personalized vows to each other, I look into the teary eyes of my beautiful soon-to-be husband and clear my throat.

“
Ryan, I have loved you since I was a little girl and I will love you until I’m old and grey. I promise to sing to you every day, to kiss you goodnight every night, to teach your beautiful daughters how to play instruments, to calm you down when the day comes that they want to get tattoos” Ryan looks at both of his daughters and shakes his head at them and they laugh. I giggle as I waggle my eyebrows at the girls before I continue. 

“I promise to run you over with my bike if you become impossible to deal with,
to laugh with and at you when needed, to be your shoulder to cry on when needed, to love you and your daughters with all that I have and all that I am, and remember what a privilege it is to be your soul mate. I love you, Ry.”

Chapter 30

Ryan

Her vows were perfect.  Now I look like a pussy because I’m trying to hold back tears while she stares at me, waiting for me to speak mine.  I clear my throat and take a deep breath before I begin. 

“Brynn, I have loved you forever.  I promise to make sure I always see the real you, to never forget that life needs to be funny sometimes, to tell you how much I love you every day, to try exercise a bit more so I don’t have a coronary when I try to keep up with you on a run.” Brynn shakes her head and smiles while people sitting in the audience laugh.

“I promise to spend the rest of my life thanking you for wanting to be a part of mine and my girls’ lives,
to thank you for leaving one world behind to start a new world with us, and to remember that I found something very rare when you literally ran into my life again; but you will not be getting that bike back any time soon.  I love you with every inch of my soul, Brynnie.”

The ceremony ends and we start our reception with our first dance.  Of course, the song is “Make you feel my love”, to which Brynn cries, but is smiling.  I can’t say anything, just
run my hands through her loose, dark curls and stare into her perfect blue eyes, wondering how I got so lucky to have her. 

I caused her so much pai
n when we were younger and she is still willing to forget what happened in the past and accept me and my girls into her life without a second guess.  Brynn has been so wonderful with Riley and Harper, too. 

A few weeks after we were engaged, Brynn asked us all to fly back out to San Diego and made an entire weekend out of getting to know the girls. She took them to the spa, shopping, and even took them to an indoor rock climbing center to teach them how to climb. She
would video chat with them every day until we got her moved out here and the girls quickly fell in love with her.

Despite the fact that Brynn’s parents didn’t show up, she seems to be having a great time.  She’s been mingling with our friends from high school and dancing with my daughters on the dance floor.  I don’t think she’s really that upset with the fact that her parents didn’t come.  She told me that she had come to terms with the fact that they didn’t want anything more to do with her a long time ago.  “I have lots of
friends and now a great man and his two daughters; that’s all the family I need.” She’d said. 

I still haven’t told Brynn that I ran into her dad at the gym last week and told him that I was marrying his daughter
- He nodded at me from across the gym floor so I made my way over to talk to him.  He gave me a smug smile and stuck his hand out waiting for me to shake it, but this time I couldn’t look at him without being disgusted.

“Mr. Harris, you should know that Brynn and I are engaged and will be getting married in a week.” 
After his smile turned into a grimace, his brows pulled together and he looked to the ground.  “Well then, Ryan, good thing you already have children, because you won’t get any out of that ungrateful, disobedient girl.  She only cares for herself.  Keep an eye on her and your daughters because she’ll never put your family first.” I was seeing red when he said that.  I had to keep flexing my fists open and closed because I was losing feeling in them from being clenched together. 

“Who the fuck do you think you are?”
I yelled.  His mouth dropped open in disbelief because I’m sure no one had ever talked to him like this. He is a pillar in our community after all; someone people look up to. 

“Brynn is an amazing woman who has accomplished so much in her lif
e that most wish they could do.  She has treated my daughters like gold and I know that they love her like she was their own mother.  Luckily she had the guts to stand up to you and chase after her own life instead of ending up like her mother; lonely, depressed and a closet drunk.  Yeah, we all know about that.”  I clarify when he looks like he’s going to protest to the closet drunk remark.

“I am a very lucky man to have Brynn in my life and if you are going to talk about her like that, I’m very happy to know that she doesn’t want you to be a part of our lives at all.  Have a nice life, Mr. Harris.” I
said, walking away and noticing other people in the gym whispering and pointing at Brynn’s father.

I don’t think I’ll let Brynn know about that little encounter, after all.  I stand by the bar and chat with Kyle and Tyler while they make jokes about me joining the ball and chain club.  Then
I hear the band stop playing music and, a few seconds later, Brynn is singing. 

I didn’t think much of it before when she had requested we have a live band, but now I see why she did it.  She wanted to be able to get o
n stage and sing again.  I can’t blame her; it was something that she loved to do and had to give up to move out here.  She told me that she didn’t want to find another bar to sing at out here because it would take away from our family time at night.  I loved her even more after she said that.

Brynn’s beautiful voice carries over the crowd and our guests flock to stand around the stage and listen to her sing “All I Want is You” by Barry Loui
s Polisar while she strums an acoustic guitar.  Most of the people that have come to our wedding are friends from high school or around town and haven’t ever heard her sing. They are all stunned to silence when she finishes. 

Brynn looks into the crowd after the song is over,
first raising her eyebrows and then cringing when they don’t say anything.  Then she shakes her head and says “Jesus, I didn’t think I was that bad.  Sorry, everybody.”  They all laugh and start clapping and asking her to sing more.  She laughs and then asks for some requests because she can’t think of anything to sing. 

They all have songs they want to hear,
ranging from Bon Jovi to Dixie Chicks to The Avett Brothers, and she fulfills almost every request, spending most of the night singing.  She even has Becca, Riley and Harper come up to help her sing “Sexy and I Know It”, but Riley and Harper spend most of the song laughing at Brynn and Becca’s dancing.  I didn’t know that the running man was still done in public. 

Our guests keep walking up to me to tell me how amazing her voice is and asking me why I put my new bride to work, making her sing during our wedding, but I assured them that she loves this and is probably having much more fun on that stage than she would be with me.  She stops singing after a few
hours to mingle with some of our friends from high school and introduces them to a few of her sorority sisters that made it out for the wedding. 

I finally get to meet Nate, the ex
-boyfriend that taught Brynn how to rock climb, and his wife Andy.  I mockingly thanked him for teaching Brynn how to rock climb, because now she has gotten my daughters hooked and I’ll have to learn soon, as well. 

When it’s time to leave
, Brynn and I both kiss Riley and Harper goodbye and wave to the rest of our guests before we get in the car to head to the airport.  I told Brynn that we were going home and my parents were going to watch the girls for a few hours so we could have some quiet time, but really I am surprising Brynn with a weeklong trip to Hawaii for our honey moon. 

I can’t take my eyes off of her the whole ride to the airport, and
I chuckle at her when she looks confused as we pass the exit to our house.  “The driver just missed our exit.  Are you going to tell him?” she says, looking at me questioningly when I just shake my head.

“Where are we going, Ryan?”  I smile and say “It’s a surprise, but Becca packed you a bag, so don’t worry about it.  Anything we forgot we can get while we’re there.” 

“While we’re where, Ryan?  What about the girls?” It makes me smile that she is so concerned about the girls.  “They are staying the week at Becca’s house while we have a real honeymoon, and you’ll just have to wait till we get there to find out.” 

She smiles and leans in to whisper into m
y ear “I have other ways of getting information you know.” She runs her tongue along the shell of my ear and then bites on my lobe. I close my eyes and focus on the roof of the car so I don’t get excited.  “You won’t get any information from me, Brynn.  You’re just going to have to trust your soul mate now, aren’t you?”  She smiles. 

“I guess I will my little love bird.  I trust you with everything I have.”