With Me in Seattle Bundle One (39 page)

“You are stunning,” I whisper to her and grin as she smiles shyly and looks up at me through her long dark lashes.

“You’re pretty beautiful yourself,” she whispers back. 

She can call me beautiful any damn time.

“Welcome, friends and family,” the pastor begins.  He says a quick prayer and moves right into the ring ceremony.

“With this ring, I thee wed,” Natalie says, her eyes on mine, in her soft, sweet voice, and places my ring on my finger.

“With this ring, I thee wed,” I respond and push the wedding band onto her small finger, next to her engagement ring.

The rest of the ceremony is relatively short.  We decided against the unity candle ceremony and live music, wanting to focus solely on our vows to one another.  We wrote our vows together, last week before we left for Tahiti.

We laughed, argued, and Nat cried, but we eventually came up with what we both want to say.  Instead of each of us saying the vows in their entirety, we will say them together, alternating the lines. 

“And now, Luke and Natalie will recite their vows together.” The pastor steps back, and I take both of Natalie’s small hands in mine, rubbing my thumbs over her knuckles.

“Are you ready?” I whisper and take a deep breath.

“Yes,” she whispers back, her sassy smile in place.  God, that smile does things to me.

I clear my throat, and as I look deeply into her eyes, we begin.

“I vow to love you.”

“I vow to love you,” she responds, her voice strong.

“To respect you.”

“To be your best friend.”

“To read aloud to you.”  I run my knuckle down her smooth cheek and see her eyes start to well up.

“To lead a charmed life.”

“To write you love letters.”

“To laugh at your jokes.” She winks at me, and I grin.

“To always make the coffee, or have it delivered.”

“To help you cook.”

“To always believe that your newest haircut is the best you’ve ever had.”  I tuck a strand of her soft hair behind her ear.

“To be patient.”  

“To always support your hopes and dreams.”

“To not overshadow you with my fame,” she says, and I can’t help but laugh with everyone else.

“To be your biggest fan,” I respond.  God, I love her.

“To wake you every morning.”

“To wake
you
every morning.  You are not a morning person.”

“To kiss you every night.”

“To hold your hand.”

“To always remember where I left my keys and phone.”

“To cherish you.” I take another deep breath.

“To believe in you.”

“To believe in us.”

“To never give up.” She clenches my hands in hers more tightly.

“To never,
ever
give up.”

“To forsake all others and be true to you.”

“To work every day toward being the man you deserve.” 

“To work every day toward being the woman you deserve.” We both have tears in our eyes now.

“Do you vow to be my wife?”

“I do.  Do you vow to be my husband?”

“I do.”  Fuck, yes, I do.

“It is my pleasure to present Mr. and Mrs. Luke Williams.  You may kiss your bride.”

I cup her beautiful face in my hands, and she runs her fingers through my hair, gazing up at me with such love, such trust, it takes my breath away.  I slowly lean down and brush my nose down hers and sweep my lips over hers in the way I know she loves.  She sighs against me as I slide my arms around her, pulling her more tightly against me, and cup the small baby bump between us in my hands.

Our guests are applauding, our mothers dabbing at their tears.  I rest my forehead against hers as she runs her fingers down my cheek.

“I love you,” I whisper.

“I love you, too.  Let’s go dance.” 

THE END

Dear Reader:

When I originally wrote Come Away With Me, I wrote the epilogue from Natalie’s point of view. When I sent the manuscript to beta, the readers thought it would be better told from Luke’s point of view, so I changed it. I’ve never released the original epilogue for readers until now. I hope you enjoy it!

Happy Reading,

Kristen

Natalie’s Epilogue

“Holy shit.” 

I’m standing in a beautiful bungalow in Tahiti, in front of a full-length mirror and I don’t even recognize the woman staring back at me.

I love my wedding dress.  It’s long and billowy.  It’s white chiffon with a beaded bodice and spaghetti straps and the skirt falls from the empire waist all the way to the ground.  I won’t be wearing shoes today.  My makeup is classic and simple, perfect for a beach wedding, and my hair is curled and pinned into an intricate bun behind my left ear with a red rose pinned to it.

I’m wearing my pearls.

“You are stunning.”  Jules kisses my cheek and I smile at her nervously.  She is also stunning in her simple pink chiffon gown.  I look around the bungalow and smile in happiness and warmth and love.  I am surrounded by beautiful women.  Luke’s mom Lucy and Jules’ mom Gail have their heads together in a corner.  They both look lovely in their pretty pink dresses. 

Samantha and Stacy are cooing over little Sophie, who is simply adorable in a soft pink dress with a pink headband.

Jules is, of course, my maid of honor, and Stacy and Sam are my bridesmaids.  Sam and I seemed to have buried the hatchet after Luke’s accident, and we have become good friends.  She did most of the legwork on planning this fantastic wedding.

“Are you nervous?” Stacy asks.

“I wasn’t until I put this dress on, now I’m a little nervous.”  I smile and look back in the mirror. 
Holy shit, I’m getting married!

Neil walks through the door and smiles widely when he sees all of us.  “I’ve been sent in here to give you this.”  He hands me a wrapped box with a card attached and kisses my cheek. 

“It’s almost time.”

“Are the boys ready?” I ask.

“Yes, and your soon-to-be husband is a nervous wreck.  He is ready to make you his wife.”

I laugh and kiss Neil’s cheek, “Here, take this back to him.”  I hand him a wrapped box, also with a note.  “And tell him I’ll meet him in a few.  I’ll be the one in white.”

 I walk into the bedroom to open the gift in private.  My man does enjoy spoiling me.  As if renting out this entire beautiful resort for our family and friends to enjoy for a whole week and our beautiful wedding weren’t enough, he’s given me little gifts every day.

I’m crazy about him.

Luke has written on the envelope of the card “Open the box first, then read this.”

He’s so bossy.

I unwrap the beautiful white paper and there is a small Tiffany blue box.  Inside, nestled in the satin is a pair of amazing diamond earrings.  They are soft pink princess cut diamonds with teardrop diamonds dangling from them.  They take my breath away.

I open the card and sit on the side of the bed.

My Love,

When you read this, you will be minutes away from becoming my wife.  I can’t express to you how honored I am that you are mine.  I am ready to love you for the rest of my life, as your husband.

I love you, with all that I am.

-Luke

Well, isn’t he a charmer?

I fasten the earrings in my ears and walk back out into the common area with my family.

“Holy crap!” Sam exclaims when she sees my ears.  “My brother’s an over the top bastard, isn’t he?”

I can’t help but laugh as I reach for my bouquet of red roses with little pearls tucked in the petals.  “You have no idea.”

We walk down to the beach where the resort has set up chairs.  We are getting married at sunset, and there are candles placed all over the sand, letting off a beautiful glow.  Music starts to play and our mothers are escorted to their seats.  I stand out of Luke’s view and look out at our guests.  Our parents are seated in the front, of course, but there are two empty chairs in the front as well.  One chair has lilies, the other sunflowers nestled in the seat.

My man thinks of everything.

Luke, Mark and Isaac are standing by the pastor, dressed in dark gray slacks and white button down shirts.

We invited fifty people, all close friends or family, and everyone is staying at the resort for the week.  We managed to pull it off without alerting the media or the paparazzi, which Sam gets mad props for.

The music changes and it’s my turn to walk down the aisle.

“Ready, baby girl?”  Steven extends his elbow to me, and I take it gratefully.

“As I’ll ever be.”

As I walk through the sand toward Luke, his beautiful sea blue eyes soften and his smile spreads across his face.  I look at his wrist and see that he’s wearing the watch I gave him a few moments ago.

“Who gives this woman to this man?” The pastor asks.

“On behalf of her parents, I do,” Steven responds.  I smile at him as he kisses my cheek, places my hand in Luke’s and sits next to Gail who is weeping silently in Steven’s handkerchief.

I look up into the eyes of the man I love and take a deep breath.

The ceremony is relatively short.  We decided to forgo the traditional unity candle ceremony, and there isn’t any live music.  Our focus is on our vows to each other.

We wrote our vows together about a week ago.  Instead of each of us taking our turn to say them in their entirety, Luke and I will recite them together, one line after the other, alternating.

“And now, Luke and Natalie will recite their vows together.”  The pastor steps back and Luke takes both my hands in his. 

“Ready?” he whispers.

“Yes.”

He clears his throat and begins in a clear, loud voice.

“I vow to love you.”

“I vow to love you,” I respond.

“To respect you.”

“To be your best friend.”

“To read aloud to you.”  He runs his knuckle down my cheek and I feel the tears prick my eyes.

“To lead a charmed life.”

“To write you love letters.”

“To laugh at your jokes.” I wink at him and he smiles.

“To always make the coffee, or have it delivered.”

“To help you cook.”

“To always believe that your newest haircut is the best you’ve ever had.”  He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.

“To be patient.”

“To always support your hopes and dreams.”

“To not overshadow you with my fame,” I say and everyone laughs.

“To be your biggest fan.”  Luke is grinning delightedly at me.

“To wake you every morning.”

“To wake
you
every morning.  You are not a morning person.”

“To kiss you every night.”

“To hold your hand.”

“To always remember where I left my keys and phone.”

“To cherish you.” His face is serious now.

“To believe in you.”

“To believe in us.”

“To never give up.” I clench his hands tighter in mine.

“To never,
ever
give up.”

“To forsake all others and be true to you.”

“To work every day toward being the man you deserve.” 

“To work every day toward being the woman you deserve.” We both have tears in our eyes now.

“Do you vow to be my wife?”

“I do.  Do you vow to be my husband?”

“I do.”

“It is my pleasure to present Mr. and Mrs. Luke Williams.  You may kiss your bride.”

He cups my face in his hands and I run my fingers through his soft blond hair.  He lowers his face slowly to mine and brushes my nose with his, then kisses me in that soft way that makes me all weak in the knees.

Our guests are applauding, our mothers dabbing at their tears.  Luke rests his hand on my small baby bump and rests his forehead on mine.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.  Let’s go dance.” 

As a special bonus, here is a scene that was featured exclusively by the wonderful blog Shh… Mom’s Reading for Mother’s Day, 2013. I hope you enjoy it!

With Me In Seattle Mother’s Day

“Thank you for this, darling.” My mom leans against my side and tucks her slender arm through mine.

“You’re welcome. I would have sent you and all the girls out for a fun brunch somewhere, you know.” I smile down at her and then raise my gaze to the party unfolding around us.

“This is so much better, Luke. Honestly, there’s nothing that we wanted more than to spend Mother’s Day with our family.” I bend so she can kiss my cheek, and then she’s off to gossip and sip mimosas with Gail Montgomery.

I rented a large tent for Will’s backyard, hired Alecia, our family’s official party planner, and gave her free reign to plan the Mother’s Day brunch of the century.

And she pulled it off without breaking a sweat.

The caterer brought in a large buffet spread. There are brightly colored flowers everywhere, and four large, round tables set up to accommodate our large family.

The whole gang is here.

I saunter over to my bride, Natalie, who is holding our daughter, Olivia, in her lap and laughing with Jules, Meg and Brynna.

“Can I get you anything, baby?”

She smiles up at me, and just as always, it’s a punch to my gut. This woman is the most beautiful I’ve ever laid eyes on. I push her hair behind her ear and smile back down at her.

“No, thank you. We’re good.”

“You’re amazing.” I lean in and kiss her, lightly in just that way that I know she loves, and she sighs against my lips, and damned, if my cock doesn’t stir.

“For the love of all that’s holy, Luke, there are children present!” Jules makes gagging noises, and I pull back and laugh down into Nat’s sweet face.

It’s become necessary to kiss the hell out of my wife and freak Jules out at least once during every family gathering.

Meg and Brynna chuckle, and Meg’s eyes light up as Will crosses the tent to join us.

“Hey, babe.” He lifts her and sits in her chair, cuddling her close in his lap.

“Hey, yourself.” She grins and kisses his chin.

“This is awesome, man.” Will grins over at me and then motions toward our parents, all chatting and laughing at a table nearby.