Second Chance Romance (22 page)

I made love to my fiancé and it was perfect.
When we woke up the next morning there was no worrying about running to the airport. There were no goodbyes. Just, I love you.

“What would you say if I wanted to get married in a week?” I asked her.

“A week? Like Vegas?”

“Not exactly. See Ellie and Jackson are kind of upstate setting everything up but if it’s not what you want we can wait.”
“I’ve waited long enough.” She said leaning in until her lips met mine.

“I love you Jules.” I said. I whipped out my phone and called in Operation Wedding.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Wedding Bells

Jules

“I swear you guys have had the shortest engagement out of anyone I’ve known.” Ellie joked as she was pinning my veil. “
This was a lot to pull off in a week but everything looks amazing! I’m so happy for you both.” I hugged Ellie gratefully. She was serving as my maid of honor and Melissa was serving as my bridesmaid. Jackson was Noah’s best man and Joe his groomsmen, so it worked out perfectly.

Noah told me when we was planning the engagement he knew he didn’t want to wait much longer to get married. He knew I didn’t want a cheesy Vegas wedding so when Randall offered up his house upstate he
couldn’t say no. Ellie and Jackson had been here the whole week making sure that everything was in order and waiting for our out of town guests. We wanted something small with just our family and our closest friends.

“Can I have a minute with the beautiful lady?” My dad asked.

“Sure Alex. I’m just finishing up anyway.” Ellie said as she ducked out of the room closing the door behind her.

“I need to apologize to you. I had no idea what I was leaving you with when I left. I also wasn’t a really great father to you either. I know I can’t change the past, but I’d like to change the future.”

“I’d like that.” I said hugging him. When Harry had called to check in I told him about the engagement. An hour later my dad had called and we cleared the air. I felt a lot lighter these days. He was thrilled about the engagement and said he always did like Noah. I even asked him to walk me down the aisle. He was a little shocked when I told him the wedding was taking place in a week but he said he wouldn’t miss it. They flew in two days ago. I was happy when Noah took an instant liking to Harry.

We linked arms and headed down the hallway to the stairwell where the alter had been set up. When the music started playing we took the slow march to where Noah stood
. He looked dashing in his black tux. I loved my simple lace dress. It hugged my curves and looked very elegant, it also didn’t need any alterations. The priest asked who gave me away, and my dad said he did with tears in his eyes. He lifted my veil and kissed my cheek before placing my hand in Noah’s. I took the last step forward.

“We are gathered here today to witness the marriage of Noah James Sinclair and Julia Victoria Kline.” He cleared his throat. “Sometimes people come into your lives and you just know that they are the one that you are meant to be with. That’s the case with Noah and Jules. Their story started almost twenty years ago
. Marriage is more than joining the bonds of two people. It’s the uniting of two souls already attuned to each other.

Please recite your vows to one another.”

“Jules, from the moment I first saw you, I knew you were the one I wanted to share my life with. Your beauty, heart and mind inspire me to be the best person I can be. I promise to love you for eternity, respecting you, honoring you, and sharing my life with you. I promise to always treat you with kindness, unselfishness and trust. I will work by your side to create a wonderful life together. I take you, Jules, to be my lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or worse, in sickness and in health as long as we both shall live.”

“Noah, in your eyes, I have found my home. In your heart, I have found my love. In your soul, I have found my mate. With you, I am whole, full and alive. You make me laugh. You let me cry. I am yours and you are mine, of this we are certain.
I promise to respect and support you, to be patient and loving towards you, to work by your side to achieve the things we value and dream of, and to savor our time together. I pledge to you all of these things, from the bottom of my heart for the rest of our lives. I take you, Noah, to be my lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or worse, in sickness and in health as long as we both shall live.”

The minister started his ring speech.

“Having this kind of love in your hearts, you have chosen to share a ring as a sign and seal of the vows you made today. Though small in size, a ring has a large significance. It’s made of precious metal, it reminds us that love is not cheap, nor common. Made in a circle, the design tells us that love must never come to an end. We must keep it continuous. As you wear our ring whether together or apart for a moment, may it be a constant reminder of the promises you made today. Please recite your ring vows.”

“
As this ring has no end, neither does my love for you.” We spoke at the same time, sliding our rings in place.

“May you always need one another, not so much to fill the emptiness as to help each other know your fullness. May you want one another, but not out of lack. May you embrace one another, but not encircle one another. May you succeed in all important ways with one another and not fail in little graces. Look for things to praise. Say I love you
, and say it often.” He looked to our small crowd. “It is my pleasure to introduce Mr. and Mrs. Noah Sinclair. You may kiss your bride.”

Noah raised his hand to my cheek and lowered his lips to mine. Our lips met tenderly at first
, but I gently grazed my tongue against his lower lip. He opened to deepen the kiss, it was magical. When we rounded the corner I was shocked when I saw the dining room had been transformed into a banquet room with several tables. The table clothes were dove-gray with pale pink napkins and accents. The centerpieces were pink peonies. It was intimate, just how I’d envisioned it. We chatted a bit before taking our seats. Jackson tapped his glass and prepared for his best man toast. He cleared his throat.

“Noah, you have been my best friend for the past eight years. We have been through a lot together and not all of it happy or great. When I first met you all you talked about was this girl named Jules. I wondered what could possibly make her so special, until I met her. She’s sharp and says things how they are
, not to mention the fact that on a scale of one to ten she’s a twelve. Why she wants a duffus like you is beyond me, but she does and you being my best friend I couldn’t be happier. A wise man once told me that the best man’s speech should be as long as the groom makes love. Thank you ladies and gentleman. Oh, and never go to bed angry.”

“For those of you that don’t know me
, my name is Ellie. Jules and I have been best friends, more like sisters for the past ten years. Our friendship has spanned the awkward and challenging high school years, the independent and demanding college years. The difficult, yet rewarding, graduate school years. I look forward to the years beyond all of that… where we are entering the next phase of our lives. In the time that we’ve known each other Jules and I have usually lived about twenty feet apart but regardless of distance neither of us has ever taken our friendship for granted. We’re sisters at heart and have been there for each other through some pretty difficult times. We’ve given each other support through life’s struggles. We’ve been there for each other through the good times too. Throughout the past ten years we’ve spent our time learning what we wanted to do with our lives. Today we are celebrating one of the best days of Jules life, her marriage to the man that she’s loved all her life and that’s you Noah. You’re a very lucky man, but you already knew that. I’m thrilled for you both and if you hurt her I will hunt you to the end of the earth Mr. Sinclair.” She beamed and took a seat in Jackson’s lap.

There were only about thirty people at the reception. We enjoyed our dinners and opted for cupcakes instead of a tradition cake.
The day was perfect.

“What do you say we bail and head out on our honeymoon Mrs. Sinclair?”

“I like the way you think Mr. Sinclair.” I kissed him as we headed to the waiting car.

Epilogue

Three
and a half Years Later…

I woke up feeling like I peed myself. Then I realized it was time!

“Noah.” I whispered. “Wake up, it’s time.”

He shot up like a bolt of lightning and started tripping over his feet. It was adorable to see him all worked up.

“Relax we have a while yet. I need to call Ellie
, can you call Melissa?” I said calmly grabbing my phone and dialed her number.

“Hewo.” She mumbled still sleeping.
I could see her face in the pillow, making me laugh.

“It’s time.” I told her and it was like a jolt of
caffeine for her.

“Oh my gosh really. We’re on our way.” I heard her slap Jackson awake.

She didn’t have far to go since Noah and Jackson had bought adjoining pieces of property in the outskirts of Amityville and built houses next to each other.

Jackson and Ellie finally tied the knot last year and she was three months pregnant with their first.

After we returned from our honeymoon Melissa wanted to try a new procedure to reduce the scarring. It took us a year and a half to get pregnant with our son Jackson James Sinclair, who was nestled in his bed so when we found out we were pregnant again we were both shocked. I remembered when I told Noah.

Noah had just come in from the office and Jax had been pulling himself up all day.

“Did you see that?” Noah cooed as Jax pulled himself up on the coffee table. He was beaming like the proud dad he was. “He’s getting so big already.” He walked up to him and gave him a hug. I was wondering how long it was going to take him until he read his onsie. It took all of a minute in a half.

“I’m going to be a big brother.” Noah repeated looking at me with wide eyes. I nodded
, and he came to pull me into a kiss. “Really?” He beamed.

“Really.”

The labor pains snapped me out of my reverie. Ellie walked into the bedroom and said that Jackson already asleep on the couch. She was going to the hospital with us while Jackson stayed here to look after his godson. Noah loaded the overnight bags into the car and helped me in. We sped to the hospital much faster than necessary. When he checked us in they came to wheel me up to labor and delivery but I wanted to walk, sitting was just too uncomfortable. Melissa met us a few minutes later and checked me.

“Wow, you’re already eight centimeters. We’re having a baby.”
“Already?” Noah asked confused.

“Yes. I’ve got to go prep.” She went to the sink and called the nurses to come in as well. After only a handful of pushes, much different than my labor with Jax, our daughter
, Gracie Mae Sinclair, was born. Noah cut the cord with tears in his eyes. Melissa cleaned her off and handed her to me. She was beautiful. She had little cherub cheeks and blue eyes like her daddy but blonde hair like me. It was amazing how one little person could work their way into your heart the way your own children did. I never thought of my own mother anymore. I was too focused on giving my own children a positive experience to be weighed down by her failures. Though it did turn out that Clark’s disappearance wasn’t a mystery anymore. Abigail was trying to swindle him out of his money so he just took off. They found him happily sipping drinks in Cabo Saint Lucas, Mexico.

We returned home the next day.
It took a year and a half to build and I loved our house. It wasn’t anything extravagant. It was exactly what we needed. We had four bedrooms, adding the extra bedroom last minute was a good thing after all, because we were filling them rather quickly. The only thing that I cared about was having a good size kitchen and family room. We had a nice backyard that the boys had completely fenced in along with Jackson and Ellie’s so it was one giant space. Noah gave his condo to Harry who was attending NYU. I loved having him close, he was a great uncle to Jax.

W
e were greeted by a toothy grin from Jax. He was sitting with his Uncle Harry and Uncle Jackson. He immediately walked over to the carrier to take a peek.