From Ashes
Page 104“I’m ready,” I breathed, and couldn’t stop the huge smile that was plastered to my face.
Amanda grabbed my watch off the table we’d brought in there and said excitedly, “Eight minutes!”
Just then, Tessa, John, Stephanie, and Jim all walked into the tent. There were gasps from the women and broad smiles from the men. We gave each other loose hugs, and kisses on the cheeks, and after a few words they were gone. Before I could grab my watch to see how much longer now, Adam and Ethan walked in, whistling low.
“Look at you ladies,” Adam said with a smirk as he kissed Dana thoroughly, then gave me and Jackie kisses on the forehead. Ethan had kissed my cheek on the way in and was holding Jackie close to his body.
I looked around for Amanda and saw her at the other end of the tent with Jesse. She kissed him excitedly, then pushed him back, telling him he needed to go sit down, just to bring him back to her and kiss him again.
“Wow, sweetheart,” a low voice said from behind me, and I spun to face Tyler. “You look beautiful.”
“Ty, look at you!” I hugged him tight, not caring that the girls were telling me to be careful with my dress and hair.
The guys really did look handsome: all three were in black slacks, dark green button-ups with the sleeves rolled up to their forearms, and green-striped ties.
“I am! How’s Gage?”
I hadn’t been allowed to see Gage for two whole days, and it’d been torture. I didn’t understand why we were having the rehearsal two days before the wedding, but then the girls and guys announced that we weren’t seeing each other again ’til the wedding and a look of horror passed over both our faces. I’d had a lot of fun just being with the girls, but I was ready to see him again. Not like we hadn’t gone longer, even recently with the two weeks of my leaving, but he’d been a five-minute drive from the main house, and we’d been forced to stay away from each other. Like I said, torture.
“Ready to see you, that’s for damn sure. Do you know how many times he tried to sneak out at night?” Adam asked, and Ethan and Tyler chuckled. “When we finally went to bed, we had to take shifts staying awake the last two nights so we could stop him from trying to go see you.”
“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have stopped him,” I teased.
“This will make it better, Cassidy,” Dana said, and handed over my bouquet of stargazer lilies, the white ones filled with pink.
I grumbled at Dana and Tyler checked his wrist. “We’re up.”
My heart stopped.
I SMILED AT Dad, Mama, Nikki, and Emily, then looked anxiously back toward the tent. What was taking so long? Ty had gone in there like ten minutes ago.
“You ready, son?” Pastor Rick asked, and nudged my side.
“So ready,” I breathed, and kept my eyes trained on the tent. Now, if my girl will just come out here, I could marry her and everything will finally be right.
Music started playing, and though I wondered how Mama had figured out how to get the music out here without my noticing anything, I didn’t think about it too long. Adam and Dana, then Ethan and Jackie made their way from the tent toward the front where I stood. Amanda came next, and when she was standing next to Jackie, the music changed and I held my breath. I’d been waiting for this for two years, and it was finally here. I saw Ty first, and then they turned and began walking toward me, and everything else faded away as I took her in.
I’ve never seen anyone as beautiful as Cassidy, and I’d never seen Cassidy as beautiful as she was right then. Everything about her was perfect, and she was mine. Her lips stretched into a wide grin, and I felt mine mirror them. They finally reached the front, and Tyler put her hand in mine, then went to stand behind me. My eyes locked with her whiskey-gold ones and all I could think about was how this was finally happening, and how our lives were going to be from here on out. I somehow managed to get through repeating after the pastor in all the correct places and saying, “I do.” I placed Cassidy’s diamond-covered band on her finger, and she slid the black tungsten ring onto mine. When the time came, I cupped her cheeks and kissed her like it was the last kiss we’d ever share. She threw her arms around my neck and I just thought, Screw it. I put one arm behind her back and swept her legs out from under her and held her close to me as I continued to kiss her.
We reluctantly broke away but continued to stare at each other when my family and our friends surrounded us and were calling out their congratulations. When I saw the opportunity, I tightened my hold on her and walked us toward the tent at the back of the chairs. As soon as we were in there, her hands were in my hair and she was bringing my mouth to hers.
“I missed you and I love you,” she said in rush before she was kissing me again.
Her lips froze and she looked up at me with those wide eyes and a bright smile. “I like that.”
“Love that,” I said, correcting her, and claimed her lips. “And, darlin’, that dress? Good God, I’m gonna have fun taking that off you.”
CASSIDY
“WELCOME HOME, DARLIN’.” Gage’s gravelly voice sent tingles straight to my lower stomach as he carried me through the door of our home. I hadn’t been in there since we moved in all the furniture, and I’d missed it. I knew Tessa had rounded up the guys and had them move all my things in there that afternoon, as well as move all their stuff out to the main house. She also said she’d stocked it so we wouldn’t have any reason to leave over the next week unless we wanted to.