Outsider (60 page)

Reagan
hurried through the now-empty foyer and followed voices to the back of the
house. Everyone had congregated poolside. Dad held a hand out to her when she
reached the open French doors near the kitchen.

“Mom’s
here,” she whispered a warning to him, knowing how the woman rattled him.

“Whose
bright idea do you think it was to bring you here?” he asked.

Her
mother had convinced Dad that this was a good idea? But how had Mom even known
about it? The tramp didn’t deserve to be a part of Reagan’s special day. She
hadn’t earned it.

Reagan
took a deep breath and let her anger toward her mother go. She didn’t care how
any of this had come about. She was here, about to wed the men of her dreams.
They hadn’t rehearsed the ceremony or even discussed it, and it didn’t matter.
None of the steps that got her here mattered at the moment. Only the outcome
mattered. She just wanted to see Ethan and Trey and assure them that she loved
them with everything she had in her. They could sort out the details and any
hurts or hard feelings later. Now she just wanted everyone they cared about to
witness with their own eyes how powerful their love was. How pure and perfect.
Unusual, perhaps, but she wouldn’t have settled for an ordinary love. Not when
she knew what was right for her. This was right. Their being together had
always felt right in her heart, but now she finally
knew
it in her head.
And to hell with anyone who didn’t agree.

Gwen
rushed past with her husband in tow and disappeared into the crowd. She must
have told their guests that Reagan was now present, because a hush fell over
the crowd and everyone turned to stare at her. Instead of the nerves she’d felt
when standing before many of the same people at an impersonal chapel in Las
Vegas, she was overjoyed to see everyone.

“What
are we supposed to do now?” she asked her dad as the chorus of “Let’s Get It
On” by Marvin Gaye began to play from the backyard’s sound system.

“Darren!”
The hissed name came from Gwen.

“My
bad,” Dare said. “That’s for after the ceremony.”

The
crowd erupted in delighted laughter.

“We
can start the wedding night early,” Trey called from somewhere across the yard.

Her
dad’s hand securely in hers, Reagan rushed toward Trey’s voice. There were no
practiced steps to a wedding march, just a mad dash across colorful mosaic
tiles to a different Marvin Gaye song—“How Sweet It Is.” Reagan would have to
remember to ask Dare about his Marvin Gaye fanboy crush later. When she finally
made her way through the crowd and the two men of her dreams came into view,
she stopped, the rush of emotions overwhelming. She blinked back tears of joy.

Trey
and Ethan stood beneath a fabulous mixed-media sculpture made of pieces of
musical instruments. They were holding hands before a welcoming face she
recognized—Rebekah Stick’s father. In this impulsive crowd, it was handy to
have a minister on speed dial.

Rosa
stood to Ethan’s left, Gwen and George to Trey’s right. Reagan’s dad squeezed
her hand and then released it so she could take the final few steps to Ethan
and Trey’s outstretched hands. She meant to take their hands like a sane
person, but instead she crashed into the space between them, wrapping her arms
around them both.

“I’m
so sorry I left you at the altar in Vegas,” she said against Trey’s neck and
pressed her lips against the pulse thrumming in his throat.

“It’s
all right,” he said, brushing a kiss against her hair. “I knew we were a package
deal from the start.”

She
tilted her head back to stare into Trey’s eyes, so grateful to see sincerity in
their depths and no animosity. Not even hurt, just a happiness reflecting her
own. She shifted her attention to Ethan and cupped his face in her palm,
searching his eyes for traces of doubt. She found none of that either. Just
more happiness.

“You
weren’t there beside him when I came down the aisle, Ethan,” she said, hoping
it didn’t sound like an accusation. She wasn’t blaming him for her mistake. She
just didn’t understand why he hadn’t been there.

“It
wasn’t because I didn’t want to be.”

“So
you weren’t against me marrying Trey?”

“I’m
only against it if I’m not included,” Ethan said.

And
he hadn’t been included. But he was this time. This time was the way it should
be.

“I’m
against that as well,” she said.

“He
got held up saving some guy’s life,” Trey said, the adoring gaze he leveled at
Ethan making Reagan’s belly flutter. Seeing their love for each other was as
big a thrill as experiencing it for herself. Well, almost.

Reagan
laughed. “Of course that’s what you were doing. I’m a complete idiot. I’m sorry
I doubted you.”

“Should
I begin?” Reverend Blake asked.

Reagan
shifted away, took Trey’s and Ethan’s free hands in hers, and smiled at
Reverend Blake expectantly. “I’m ready,” she whispered, her heart so full, she
could scarcely breathe.

“Dearly
beloved,” Reverend Blake said, shifting his attention to the crowd behind them.
“That’s all of you folks.”

Their
enthusiastic claps and cheers made Reagan turn to grin at them.

“We
are gathered here today to witness a most unusual union between three people.”

“I
still can’t figure out how that works,” whispered Ethan’s youngest brother,
Juan. Rosa slapped at him before pressing the back of her hand to one teary
eye.

Reverend
Blake continued. “Love is a gift from God—one that should not be ignored or
mistrusted or taken lightly but embraced and cherished. Treasured. And if that
love is shared by a man and a woman, a man and a man, or a man and a woman and
another man, who are we to question the gift given to them? Love is love. It is
eternal. It is a blessing. Love is not always easy or as we expect it to be,
but it is worth the struggle. Love is always worth a fight. Just because it’s a
challenge doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Take the love given to you and don’t let it
fade. Keep it strong and alive. Nurture it as if it were the most precious commodity
in existence. Because it is.”

Reagan
couldn’t believe those words were coming out of the mouth of a religious
leader. In her experience, religious types were the first to pass judgement on
alternative lifestyles. Well, second after her father. But Dad was standing
beside her now because he loved her. That too was a gift, and she should
appreciate it more.

“Now
for the sticky part,” Reverend Blake said, causing several guests to laugh. “Do
you Reagan take this man Trey and this man Ethan to be your unlawfully wedded
husbands in the sight of God and your family by blood and the friends who are
the family of your heart?”

She
looked at Trey and smiled before saying, “I do.” She shifted her gaze to Ethan,
smiled again, and repeated, “I do.”

“Do
you, Trey, take this woman, Reagan, and this man, Ethan, to be your unlawfully
wedded wife and husband—did I say that right?—in the sight of God, your family
and friends, and no members of the press?”

Trey
laughed and said his heartfelt
I do
to Reagan and then to Ethan.

“One
more,” Reverend Blake said, turning to Ethan, who looked a little pale behind
his bronze skin. “Don’t worry, I didn’t forget you. Do you, Ethan, take this
man, Trey, and this woman, Reagan, to be your unlawfully wedded husband and
wife in front of all witnesses here today—in body and in spirit?” Reverend Blake
glanced up at the heavens.

Ethan
nodded at Trey and forcefully said, “I do.” And then he met Reagan’s eyes and
said, “I do.”

“The
rings,” Reverend Blake said. “All six of them.”

“Six?”
Reagan gaped at the rings tied to a bright pillow with ribbons in the colors of
the rainbow.

“Two
each,” Ethan said. He surprised her by reaching for one ring out of a pair of small
golden bands. It seemed any reservations he’d previously held had completely
vanished.

Ethan
took her left hand in his and slipped the band over the knuckle of her ring
finger. “Reagan,” he said, “I’ve already loved you through thick and thin, for
better and worse, for poor and less poor, but still not rich, and I vow to
continue to do the same for the rest of my life. This ring symbolizes my
promise to love you and protect you always. I’ve got you, sweetheart. I won’t
ever let you fall or turn my back on you. I’ll always be your shield from the
storm. You are my partner for life.”

While
she sniffled over his words, Ethan slid one of the medium-size rings onto
Trey’s left ring finger. “Trey, I’m not sure I knew how to love someone
properly until I found you. The idea of giving my full heart to anyone
terrified me. You showed me how to give my love to two people and feel stronger
for my weakness. This ring symbolizes my promise to love you and protect you always.
I will never again hide how much you mean to me, because I couldn’t if I tried.
You opened my eyes as well as my heart, and I’m a better man for knowing you.
You are my partner for life.”

“Mijo,”
Rosa whispered through her tears. She blew her nose on the tissue Gwen handed
to her.

Trey
reached for one of the largest rings on the pillow and slipped it onto Ethan’s
finger. He then took Reagan’s second ring and put it in place against the one
Ethan had already given her. Trey shifted Reagan’s left hand over Ethan’s and
held them together in a firm grip as he searched Reagan’s eyes and then Ethan’s
and then Reagan’s again.

“I’m
so fucking happy right now, I don’t know where to begin,” he said. He smiled,
not his usual ornery grin, but one that lit up his entire face.

“That’s
why I went first,” Ethan said with a deep chuckle.

“I
never in my life thought I could have everything I wanted, everything I needed.
I was prepared to give up something vital to me in order to love the only way I
know how to love—with all my heart. Yet somewhere along the way I realized I
can’t truly love if I deny what I need to feel complete. The strange thing is,
you both make me feel complete, not just when you’re together, but as
individuals as well. It’s synergistic. Two halves made me whole, and with us
three united as one, I’m overflowing with love and friendship and
companionship. What we have is complicated, and that’s precisely what makes it
perfect. I love you both.” He lifted their hands to his lips, kissing Reagan’s
knuckles as well as Ethan’s. “Separately as individuals, together as a couple,
the three of us united. You belong to each other and to me, and I belong to
you. I have a big crazy mess of feelings inside me when it comes to the two of
you, and I can’t imagine anything making me happier. So . . . with
these rings I promise to do everything in my power to make you both as
overjoyed to spend your lives with me as I feel at the opportunity to spend my
life with both of you.”

Gwen
clapped excitedly.

“That’s
an easy promise to keep, Trey Mills,” Reagan said, since she couldn’t imagine
anything could put a damper on the happiness she felt at the prospect of
spending her life with Trey and Ethan.

“What
can I say?” he said with a shrug. “I’m an easy-going guy.”

Reagan
looked down at the pillow and at the two rings waiting for her. She didn’t know
how she should approach this—she hadn’t had time to think about vows. She
hadn’t even known she was going to be reciting vows today. Should she pledge to
each of them separately as Ethan had or pledge to them as a unit as Trey had?
What would mean more to them? She couldn’t say. She loved them individually as
well as loving them as a unit.

Fingers
trembling, she lifted one ring in each hand and slid them into place above the
bands they’d exchanged with each other. How did one put to words such
overwhelming feelings?

“I
think that before I tell you how much you mean to me and how devoted I am to
both of you, I need to apologize. To everyone.”

Trey
scowled. “You don’t have to apologize for anything.”

“But
I do. I let fear hold me back. I was more worried about what people thought of
me and what people might think of us than I was about being a good partner, and
I’m sorry. It won’t happen again. And so . . . With these
rings I promise to ignore the haters, love you both without regard to what any
outsider thinks, says or does, and be the woman you deserve—the best I can be.”

Trey
glanced at Ethan. “She can be better than she already is?”

“Not
in my eyes.”

Trey’s
gaze rested on hers again. “Just be you, baby.”

“A
stronger me.” She knew she could do better.

“You
have enough pressure on you as it is. You don’t have to prove anything to the
world or to us.”

“Are
you arguing with me about my vows, Trey Mills?” she asked, shaking her head as
she grinned at the two of them. They were both absolutely wonderful. No matter
how often she fucked up, they were right there being supportive, forgiving,
accepting.

“Just
love us forever,” Trey said. “That’s the only promise we want from you.”

As
if she could deny either of them that. “I promise to love us forever.”