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Chapter Thirty Nine

By the time that we pulled up to the beach it was almost five. I could see people milling around and kids running towards the surf. I pulled in behind my mom’s car. Nick hopped out of the car and got Brooklyn’s car seat. We took off towards the beach.

Valeria looked like she was going to faint. She was clutching her clipboard so tightly that her knuckles were white. She rushed up to me.

“Where have you been?”

“I’m sorry. We were running a little behind schedule.”

“Well, the dinner’s at six. We’re going to have to hurry things along.”

In all honesty I wasn’t worried. Even if the rehearsal was a flop I was sure the wedding would be fine.

I don’t think Valeria saw it that way. She drew a large circle in the sand.

“As of tomorrow this will be the flower arch. The minister will stand here and Nick will be waiting for you here.” She drew X’s in the sand to get her point across. The next thing I knew she was literally placing the actual minister and Nick in those spots. Nick swayed in place; for one moment I thought he was going to topple back into the minister but he caught himself.

“Liv, you’re going to be behind this large rock. You’ll be coming from the east; the sun will be setting behind the arch. It’s going to be lovely,” Valeria continued. The next thing I knew I was staring at a large gray rock.

It was a little weird to have what amounted to a drill sergeant at your wedding. On one hand I was glad that I didn’t have to worry about any of the details; on the other hand I felt rushed.

Of course that might have been a result of arriving almost an hour late.

“You okay?” Leighanne whispered to me. I nodded.

“You?”

“I’ve spent all day taking care of Brian.”

I nodded. “Same here with Nick.”

From out of nowhere I heard the sounds of the wedding processional music. Leslie and Matt were the first to walk. Next came BJ and Andrew followed by Angel and Kevin, Leigh and Howie, and Rochelle and AJ. AJ was walking like he was a ninety year old man. Ro kept tugging on his arm but he was making gestures to his ass. I tapped Leighanne on the shoulder.

“What’s up with AJ?” I asked. She broke into a wide grin.

“According to Howie, Nick shot him in the butt last night with a paintball. Someone had the bright idea to give Nick Monsterballs. Kevin said he has broken skin the size of a baseball on his behind.”

“How would Kevin know?”

“As we know from your baby shower, our boys are obsessed with butts. And not just female butts. Howie, Brian, and Kevin were huddled around AJ like he was some type of science project. Brian snuck up and sprayed the area with something we use whenever Baylee gets a scrape and AJ about went through the ceiling. He’s also claiming that the impact broke his butt bone.”

I grinned. I knew AJ didn’t say ‘butt’ bone, but Leighanne was putting it nicely considering Baylee was standing between us. With a wink in my direction, Leighanne walked up and linked her arm through Brian’s. I realized the guys must have been standing on the other side of the rock. I looked back up the beach just in time to see AJ hobbling past Howie to his place. Howie took the opportunity to smack him on the ass. I could hear the scream clearly from behind the rock. I just hoped they were getting it out of their system today.

As I mentioned, Baylee was standing in front of me. He was our designated ring bearer. The one problem that Nick and I had encountered when planning our wedding processional was the issue of the flower girl. Neither of us knew a girl the right age to be a flower girl. Of course having petals ground into sand wasn’t the most logical idea anyhow. So, Baylee was going to be the cute ‘aww’ factor of the whole ceremony. He pulled it off nicely. I was waiting for him to do the Miss America wave as he marched down the sand with the pillow held in his hands.

When Baylee made his way up to the “arch,” Valeria poked her head around the corner. The music stopped and the song changed. I knew without her telling me that it was my cue. I stepped forward and began the walk down the beach.

For my first wedding, my dad had walked me down the aisle. I still remember him cracking jokes as I waited nervously as my small wedding party deserted me. I hadn’t cared because I had him. But now I was all alone. I tried not to dwell on it. I could already see mom standing off to the girl’s side with Mike, dabbing at her eyes. Nick’s dad was hanging out on the boy’s side with Taryn, Kaden, and the rest of the family. Jane had never showed.

As I made the walk, I was so glad that I was going barefoot the next day. Walking down the beach in shoes is not an easy task. Not only did my shoes slide with every step I took, but my big toe was still killing me.

I could tell that Nick was not taking rehearsal seriously. As I walked up to him, Nick was making pig faces at Baylee. Brian looked like he was trying to sleep standing up. Kevin’s eyes were locked off in the distance. Turning my head slightly, I saw a pretty girl with shoulder length brown hair sitting in the sand with Mason and James on her lap. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who she was.

By the time that I got up to Nick, his attention had finally turned to me. He smiled and held out his hand. I placed my hand in his and with a gentle squeeze we looked up at the minister.

The minister breezed through his part of the ceremony. Basically he just made sure everyone knew what to say and when. Nick and I had tossed around the possibility of saying our own vows but had decided against it. Nick swore he would be too nervous and considered the whole ‘repeat after me’ thing like crib notes for the groom.

“Shall we run through another time?” Valeria asked after the wedding party had walked back down the beach.

Fourteen loud ‘NO’s!’ came back at her. She checked her watch.

“Well let’s head to dinner then, shall we?”

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“I have never felt so shitty in my entire life,” Brian said. I watched Leighanne give him a hard jab to the side. Luckily for Brian, the minister had eaten a quick dinner and left. It might have had something to do with us being so horribly behind schedule, but in a way that was good. We weren’t sitting at a table with the most prim and proper people after all and I needed the minister to show up the next day.

“I’m just lucky I’m not in jail,” Andrew said. He shoveled a large piece of steak in his mouth. “Those cops were not happy that I was watering their fire hydrant for them.”

“I should have had those cops arrest Nick,” AJ said. I couldn’t look over at him. I almost fell on the floor laughing when we had entered the restaurant. AJ had put one of those foam donut things on his chair before sitting down. All you could hear was a loud rush of air as he settled into the chair and scooted up to the table.

“What is that?” Baylee had asked. He pressed the foam right underneath AJ’s ass.

“Uncle Nick shot me,” AJ said grouchily. “So now I can’t sit right.”

“Uncle Nick did not shoot your Uncle AJ,” Leighanne said. “They were just playing a game and it was an accident.”

Baylee looked interested. “What kind of game was it?”

“A game you’re never going to play,” Leighanne said calmly.

My eyes scanned the table. Kevin’s forehead was pressed against his girlfriend’s and they were whispering quietly.

“So Kev,” I said, laying my napkin down on the table. I smiled. “How about an introduction?”

Kevin looked up and smiled. His arm wrapped around the back of the girl’s chair.

“This is my girlfriend, Addy Selinski.”

Kevin went around the table and made name introductions. After he was finally done, she smiled warmly.

“Great to meet everyone.” She met my gaze. “Congratulations to you. This wedding’s going to be beautiful.”

I smiled. “Thank you. Unfortunately you had to see the guys when they weren’t at their best. Tomorrow will be perfect, I’m sure.”

“Addy lives with Santa Claus!” Mason announced. I looked over at him. He was dressed in an identical shirt and tie as Kevin. His little eyes twinkled with excitement. I could just eat him up.

“Oh, she does?” I said with a smile. Mason nodded enthusiastically.

“Uh huh. He has a beawd, and a big belly…and…and a sleigh! Daddy and I went through the snow on Santa’s sleigh.”

Kevin chuckled. Addy wrapped her hands around his bicep and leaned into him. For such a short time, they seemed to have accumulated a lot of history.

“Can Santa fix my ass?” I heard AJ mumble under his breath. Ro smacked him on the back of the head.

“And…and…it’s my bird-day in two days!” Mason said.

“I’m gonna be fouw years owd,” he continued proudly.

I widened my eyes in mock surprise. “Four years old? Well, I think that calls for a special dessert tonight, doesn’t it?”

Mason’s eyes widened. “YEAH!”

Even though I had neglected a lot of planning duties, celebrating little kids birthday’s was a specialty of mine. I waved to a waiter and a few minutes later they brought out a huge cake with a big horse on top. Mason’s wide eyes grew to the size of saucers. His little palms pressed into the table as he literally stood up in his booster chair. Addy moved quickly to make sure he didn’t fall over.

We sang a loud, enthusiastic version of Happy Birthday to You (in which Nick, Brian, Andrew, and Matt looked like they were going to scream from the noise—serves them right, thank you very much) and Mason blew out the four candles on the cake without spitting all over it. He quickly plucked the Breyer horse from the top of the cake.

“It wooks wike Robin Hood!” he said. He held the horse so close to Addy’s face that he practically shoved the horse’s ear into Addy’s nose. She laughed.

“It does look like Robin Hood,” she said. She wiped the frosting off of the horse’s legs. I couldn’t help but think that she was prime mom material. From the way Kevin was looking at her, I had a feeling he was thinking the exact same thing.

The server cut pieces of cake for everyone. Usually I’m a cake-a-holic, but after one bite I knew I couldn’t stomach the buttercream icing. And I didn’t want to puke. With the warnings of Dr. Tresher firmly in my mind, I didn’t want anyone to know about our pregnancy until we had made it through the entire first trimester. And maybe part of the second. It all depended on how long I could hide it. Not eating cake was probably a good first step in that plan.

After cake, there was an unusual lull at the table. Howie had taken James to the bathroom to get the cake wiped out of his hair and from between his fingers. Leighanne was trying to silently communicate with Brian, but it wasn’t working. I glanced over at Nick. His mouth was half open and he had his sunglasses on again. Something told me that our rehearsal dinner was going to be but a very dim memory in his mind. With a sigh Leighanne stood up.

“The Littrell family would like to make a toast,” she said. I couldn’t tell what happened, but I can guess she stepped on Brian’s foot. His knee hit the underside of the table and he looked around in confusion. Once he saw Leigh standing up with a glass in her hand, he clumsily copied her. I had never seen the boy such a mess and I had a feeling he didn’t even have that much to drink the night before.

“On behalf of Nick and Liv,” Brian said loudly trying to cover his faux pas. “We want to wish you many happy years together.”

“And I’d like to read a poem,” Leighanne said. She got out the cutest pair of reading glasses I had ever seen and slipped them on. She unfolded a piece of paper.

“The greatest gift you’ll ever get
A gift from heaven above,
Is love forever, ending never
Everlasting love.

Your wedding day is full of joy;
Tomorrow you cannot see.
But one thing’s sure for the two of you:
The best is yet to be.”

Everyone broke into applause except for me. I felt the waterworks starting and I needed to dam them before we had a flood on our hands. As I reached for a napkin, Nick surprisingly intercepted. He brushed a couple tears away with the napkin. His mouth curled into a gentle smile.

“I love you,” he whispered. I smiled.

“I love you too.”

We kissed softly; I heard a wolf whistle that I was pretty sure came from Howie. Sure enough, he was handing James back to Leigh and grinning over at us.

“I’d like to make a toast.”

I looked down the table. Bob and the rest of his family had left right around the time the minister had exited. My mom and Mike had been brave souls, sticking out the entire dinner with us. Of course, mom had taken over Brooklyn duties for the evening. I could see Brooke was fast asleep in her car seat.

“When Liv was a young girl…” my mom began.

I groaned. This wasn’t going to be good.

“She used to tell me that one day she was going to marry a Backstreet Boy.”

Laughs echoed around the table. I blushed. Brian kicked my leg from across the table. I made a face.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think that could come true. But one thing about Liv is that she’s always been able to tell fairy tales. And today she’s making her fairy tale come true. Nick, I am so happy to have you as my son-in-law. You’ve brought a smile to my daughter’s face and…” mom began to tear up. My eyes widened. I grabbed at napkins. Whenever she cried, I cried. “You’ve brought life back into mine.”

Sure enough mom began to cry. Mike stood up and wrapped his arms around her. I felt like a faucet; I was dripping from my nose and eyes. Luckily I could pass my weepiness off on the overwhelming emotion of bridal bliss but I knew somewhere baby hormones were also coursing through my veins at 110 miles per hour. Of course, I felt a little bit better to see Leighanne dabbing at her face too. Through my blurry vision, I saw Nick stand up.

“On behalf of Liv and I, we want to thank everyone for coming together and celebrating this special occasion,” he said. Obviously his hangover was wearing off. Finally. “I encourage everyone to get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow the girls of the world will weep. Nick Carter will officially be off the market!”

Everyone groaned as he held his arms wide. AJ threw a used napkin at his face. Everyone laughed; however, I noticed Leighanne wince. Her hands were resting on her belly. The wince lasted only a second but my stomach did a flip-flop.

I knew that wince.

It was never a good sign.