Sophie Oak - Sirens in Bliss

Mel shut the door behind him, and Julian’s lips curled up in a little grin. “This place is completely insane. I have to admit, I’m looking forward to the sanity of Dallas.”

Because Julian controlled his world in Dallas. Julian preferred to control everything, but he’d learned to bend in all the right ways. When Leo had first met Julian, he’d been cold and shut down to everyone except Jack Barnes. Over time, Julian had become more than Leo’s friend. Julian had mentored Leo, taught him how to blend into high society, gave him a place to stay, a job to do, while he sorted through his life.

Julian Lodge had been a real father to him. And now Julian was standing beside him on his wedding day.

He would never tell Julian that he thought of him as a father. Julian would very likely punch him in the face or pay someone to do it.

But he suddenly felt an overwhelming need to do something he’d never done before. He stepped close and put his arms around his mentor.

Julian was perfectly still. “Leo, there’s seems to be something wrong. You’ve fallen and you don’t seem to be getting up.”

“It’s called a hug, Julian. Give me a minute.”

Julian sighed a little, and then there was a little pat to Leo’s back. “I’m very proud of you, Leo.”

Fuck. He was not going to cry. He stepped back and took a long breath. “Back at you, man.”

The door opened again and Wolf stepped in. “Hey, brother, I believe it’s time. Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet.”

His feet weren’t cold. They were eager. Eager to begin his new life. Eager to see the whole world again, this time in the right way, with his family by his side.

Leo stepped out and joined his brother on the most important day of their lives.

The day they truly became a family.

* * *

Wolf felt his heart clench the moment she stepped into the church on her brother’s arm.

This was why people spent god-awful amounts of money on weddings. This was why they waited and went through all the trouble. They did it because there was something deep and meaningful about standing at the end of the aisle and watching the woman he loved walking toward him.

Shelley was choosing them. She was forsaking all others.

And he had his brother beside him. Oh, Jamie was his best man and Julian was Leo’s, but at the end of the day, his brother had become his best friend, his partner. His brother was the one he could count on. They shared a life. They shared a past and a future. No one would ever know him the way Leo did.

The music swelled and Shelley walked toward him, Trev leading her. His ma was in the front row. Sure, there was a beet attached to her hat, but she was smiling serenely, perfectly happy with the proceedings. A little tear came to her eye, and Mel slid an arm around her.

Crazy love. Who could fucking ask for more?

“God, she’s beautiful,” Leo said, his eyes on their bride. “Have I thanked you, brother?”

“For what?”

“For bringing me here.” Leo slid a hand to his shoulder, patting him like he had when they were children and Leo had been forced to play all the roles in Wolf’s life. “We wouldn’t be here without you. Shelley would still be searching. I would be alone. You brought us here, brother. Never forget it.”

Shelley made it to them, a smile on her gorgeous face. “Hi.”

Such a silly to thing to say, but “hi” was a beginning. And that’s where they were. The beginning. A whole future lay in front of them and Wolf couldn’t wait for it.

“Hi,” he replied, and took his bride’s hand.

“Dearly beloved,” the preacher began.

But Wolf was lost in his bride’s eyes.

* * *

“And now,” the preacher was saying, “Leo and Wolf and Shelley would like to invite their friend Lexi O’Malley up to say a few words about love and marriage.”

The whole congregation seemed to stop and stare, but Lexi was ready for it. She’d worried for days about what she should say, but it had come to her the night before as she lay between her men. In the still of the night, when peace was all around her, she’d known exactly what to say about love and marriage and something equally important.

Lexi smiled as she stood, making her way from the pew to the front of the church and the small podium to the right of the altar.

She stared out at the crowded church, familiar faces everywhere. Aidan and Lucas looked completely delectable in their suits. The fact that each gorgeous man was holding one of their children just made them all the sexier in her mind. Jack was climbing up Aidan’s leg, trying to crawl over the pew to get to his grandmother while Chelsea was sleeping peacefully in Lucas’s arms.

They were balls of chaos, and she wouldn’t have it any other way—except one. She wanted more babies. She’d told herself she was done, that she needed to focus on her career, but there was a whole life to be had and it wouldn’t wait for her. It wouldn’t put itself on pause and hope that she got back to it. It would move on with her or without her.

She would find a balance because nothing was more important.

A sweet sense of belonging swept over her. It wasn’t just her immediate family she belonged to.

“I suppose Shelley thought the romance writer would get up here and talk about romance and sexy nights spent with the ones you love. All the things you can count on right before and at the beginning of a marriage. I probably should talk about how weddings symbolize the joy of love, but I think we all know that a wedding is just the beginning. It’s an acknowledgement that you’ve decided to take the next step, to share a life together. What’s waiting for you, my friends? What’s at the end of this journey you’ve chosen to take together? By saying ‘I do,’ what do you gain? I believe you gain something more than a lover, more than a friend, though both of those things are necessary. What you gain is a family. Look around you. Most of these people aren’t your blood.”

She looked out at her stepfathers who hadn’t raised her, didn’t share an ounce of DNA with her, but they’d been there for her from the moment they’d fallen in love with her mother. They’d become her fathers. “Blood, I’ve discovered, is pretty meaningless in the face of real love. For some of us, our mothers and fathers and siblings are wonderful, but if there’s one thing this group of people have taught me, it’s that we choose who we love. Even when blood relations let us down, we can form our own families and they can be just as tight.”

Julian came to mind. He didn’t have to care about her, but he loved Jack and so he’d taken Lexi in as well. He’d taken them all into his heart. It was difficult to believe that once she’d thought he didn’t have one. Julian’s heart was so big, he couldn’t seem to stop bringing people into it. She owed the man so much, and there was nothing between them but the choice to be family.

“So what is waiting for you, my sweet friend Shelley, is a very large family. It’s so big, it covers two states, and you have a home with any of us should the need arise. We promise to annoy you, to bug you, to push you, to love you and stand by you. We promise to choose you. Every day. Marriage, family, life, they’re all hard and require work. Happily ever after is a choice we have to make every day. You think you’re making your choice today, but I challenge you. I challenge every single one of us. Start the day by choosing. Skip the good morning and say something infinitely more important. I do.”

She looked at her husbands, her loves, the joys of her existence. “I do, and I do. Every single day. I choose this life and these loves and I choose my family. Welcome to my family, Shelley.”

Lexi looked over and Shelley was crying. Hell, most of the women in the Feed Store Church were crying.

Shelley looked and mouthed the words “I do.”

Everyone looked out, reaching to their loved ones, reaffirming the choices they made long ago.

Lucas winked at her. “You know I do.”

Aidan put his hand over his heart. Right before he had to save their son from almost certain death as he nearly went over the top of the pew.

“Momma,” Olivia was heard whispering loudly. “I think baby Jack is saying I do to climbing on top of you, but Uncle Aidan says no. Why does my family say no so much? Lexi just told us we should all say I do and I think that means yes.”

The whole church erupted in laughter.

Her family. They were loud and obnoxious and sometimes they completely worked the system so she couldn’t even buy a new cell phone.

And she would choose them. Every time. Every day.

I do.

The Funeral of Hiram Jones, Mayor of Bliss

Two days later, Rafe turned his face up, letting the sun shine down on him, warming his skin, reminding him that he was alive and in the company of people he loved.

Of course, most of those people were crying.

“Hiram was a great man,” Rye Harper said. He stood at the head of the party, his role as leader in this mournful act clear. Hiram hadn’t wanted a preacher. He’d wanted a short service led by Rye and Max and he’d wanted a party at Trio. In his will he’d left money for beer. “He had a vision for Bliss. He wanted to make this town something special, something we could all be proud of. Hiram knew what it meant to be from Bliss. It might not always be easy. We might face hardship, but we do it together. He knew that a town is really just another word for family. He was like a dad to us all and his passing leaves a mighty big hole to fill.”