Chapter 19

19

Autumn

Beau's parents stand in their kitchen shocked when we head around early on Monday morning to give them our news. Then I have to call my folks and tell them we're heading to Memphis for the weekend. My car is all good to go again, so we can cruise down there together and take Bruiser as he loves riding in the car. Carrie and Tom were pros for having him over the weekend so we could head away to get hitched — not that they know that part fully yet either but Carrie was the one who started all of this. I need to talk to her and Eden because I'm sure word is going to get out faster than I can blink. I make a mental note to send them a quick message when we're done here with the briefs and I can fill them in with the rest later.

"You what!?" Bob Bassett is looking at us both like we've lost our marbles. He can't even say the words.

Gayle Bassett shrieks in delight as her hands fly up to her face to cover her mouth, bouncing up and down on her toes, she's clearly happy. When she finally finds her powers of speech, she launches herself at me and Beau and hugs us both to her. "You two!"

"Mom!" Beau chuckles, and I note the nervousness in his voice as he looks down at his overjoyed mom. I can't believe she's smiling and looks… happy ?

"Isn't this just the best news!" She beams. Beau lets go of her grasp but she pulls me in for another. "I always knew you two held a little flame for each other, but this is a shock. A good shock, but still..." She glances back to her husband, who isn't quite sharing the same overjoyed sentiment. His brow is furrowed and his mouth quirks downward in a frown. I think he's still waiting for the punchline.

"Bob, get in here and welcome Autumn into the family."

"I'm just processing what they've just told us, Gayle, give me a second." He looks from me to Beau again like we're going to tell him we're kidding. "You're married?"

Bob is very much like his sons; tall, dark and strapping. He does have a more serious look to him than any of the brothers. I can tell he's no nonsense, but he looks a little mad right now, to tell the truth. He still hasn't cracked a smile.

"We're married," I confirm, holding up my left hand to show off my ring. "We just couldn't wait. It was the spur of the moment. We saw the registry office in Jackson and then one thing led to another." I'm seriously going to Hell for all these white lies I'm now spewing to the loveliest people in the world. His parents have always welcomed me with open arms. I don't even want to think about when we break their hearts later on when we annul the whole thing.

"Couldn't wait?" Bob places a hand on his hip. Clearly he's not buying it.

Shit. We didn't even discuss what happened if someone in the family had a serious problem with this. Or worse, they don't accept it. If Bob Bassett has a problem, my hoity-toity mom is definitely going to have one, too.

"Dad, we were being spontaneous," Beau explains like he's just discussing something very arbitrary, like going on a weekend trip away or packing his lunch. Not being married to the woman he's best friends with.

"You spontaneously got married?" He balks, and not in a good way.

Oh, dear.

"I love Autumn, and she loves me." Beau slides an arm around my shoulders, pulling me to his side. He gazes down at me with the softest blue eyes I've ever seen. I feel like melting into a puddle on the floor. "Like Autumn said, we just didn't want to wait. The opportunity came up when we went to Jackson over the weekend, so we went for it. We plan on having a big wedding in a few months."

"Oh my God!" Gayle's shrill scream makes me giggle under my breath. "My baby!" She hugs Beau and then reaches for me again at the same time. I'm shocked she's okay with this. I thought she'd be throwing things at my head for stealing her youngest son away from her.

"We're in love," I manage to croak, backing up his story. "Sometimes you just can't fight it."

"Well I think it's wonderful!" Gayle announces, wiping her watery eyes. His mom is crying! "I'm so happy for you kids." She grabs her son again and pulls him in for another hug, reaching up to kiss him on the cheek as she looks at me. "Welcome to the family, darling."

"I guess young love makes you do very impulsive things," Bob mutters as he walks toward us and gives his son more of a pound hug than a real one. I guess it's what men do. "I hope you two have really thought this through, it's only been a few weeks since you were dating." He steps in to give me a hug, too.

"We have," I assure him. "Beau just makes me so happy and it's taken me up until now to realize it. I can't imagine life without him. I'm sorry we rushed it. And I know my family is going to be upset about that part, but as Beau said, we want to have a proper ceremony at some point soon where everyone can attend. Once the wedding season here calms down." I am so going to Hell.

"It's so romantic," Gayle croons. "If it wasn't breakfast time, I'd bust out the champagne!"

I giggle as we all stand there in the kitchen coming to terms with the bombshell we just dropped on them. Beau is taking it all in his stride as he grins at me, and his dad seems to have recovered from the shock. His stance is a lot less hostile, and he's unfolded his arms from across his chest, though he keeps glancing at me like he's expecting me to say ‘Aha! Gotcha!'

"We can all get together and have a celebration with the family," Bob suggests. "How about your folks, Autumn?"

I bite my lip. Yes, there is that. "We're going down there this weekend to tell them in person. I'm going to call them just so they don't hear along the grapevine. I hope they're as happy for us as you both are."

"I'm sure they'll be thrilled." Gayle smiles. "It's a lot to take in, but we're not unhappy, are we Bob?" She nudges her husband.

He clears his throat. "No, but I wished you'd have told us."

"Bob!"

He ignores his wife. "Your mom's thrilled, but I still think this is all very sudden."

Beau's hand is on the small of my back. It feels so safe. He makes me feel special, like I matter to him. Even if it is a fake marriage, he's not faking being a nice guy. This is how he is without the marriage certificate.

"We get it's a shock," Beau says. "But you can't fight love. When it happens, you just know."

I battle with myself not to gape at him, the sincerity in his voice overwhelms me. You can't fight love. Go, Beau!

Gayle claps her hands together, an excited flush of red is prominent on her cheeks. "I can't believe you're married. We have to call Aunt Patti and Uncle Jack."

Beau shakes his head. "I have to tell my brothers first, and Georgia."

Bob snickers. "This should be fun."

Gayle glares at him, then smiles back at us. "Well if any of them have anything to say about it, you send them to me, okay?"

I smile. She's so kind. They both are. His dad is just being cautious and I get that. But I feel like he sees right through it. "Okay."

We spend the rest of the morning having scones and tea and Gayle asking about all our plans and where we'll live. I'm waiting for her to ask if I'm pregnant and if this is a shot-gun wedding; I can almost feel the vibrations coming off her. Bob is polite and sits and listens to our fake, loved up whirlwind romance. All the while, I want to slither away and pretend none of this is happening. But it is.

I'm married. There's no going back now. And the funny thing is, I don't want to.

??

"Holy cow, what?" Georgia shrieks. "You're married?"

Beau puts one finger to his ear and shakes it. "Not sure the folks down in Alabama heard you, sis."

She stares at us in complete shock, her eyes wide, her mouth gaping. It's not often you can shock the hell out of Georgia-Blue.

"What's all the screaming about?" Gabe comes down the hallway and stops short when he sees us. Beau's arm is slung lazily around my shoulders.

Oh, brother.

Beau runs a hand through his hair "I think we need to call Gray and Brook in here before?—"

"They got married!" Georgia's tone isn't as loud this time, but it's still high pitched and accusatory.

Gabe balks. "What?" His eyes shift from mine to Beau's, then sees our serious faces and Beau's arm around me. His eyebrows shoot up, surprise littering his face. "Are you serious?"

Beau turns, pecking me quickly on the lips. "Yep. We're serious. We're in love and we got hitched a few days ago in Jackson."

"Holy fuck." Gabe blinks a couple of times while he registers it. "Wait, didn't you only start dating like two weeks ago?"

Beau waggles his ring finger at him. "We couldn't wait. We didn't want to live in sin, with Autumn's family being catholic…"

Another blink, and Georgia still has her hands slapped over her mouth. Finally, she pulls them away. "I can't believe it. I can't believe you got married and didn't tell me!"

Uh, oh. Now she looks and sounds more like Bob Bassett than ever before.

"George, we're gonna plan a big wedding and you can help Autumn with all the details." Every time Beau says that, a slice of my heart breaks away. I want it to be real, I realize. I want him to want me. I'd love to have a romantic wedding with all our friends and family there to celebrate our union.

Gabe slaps Beau on the back. "Way to go bro, I guess congratulations are in order."

They share a one-armed hug before Gabe comes toward me and hugs me too. "I have to say, I am surprised. But welcome to the family, sis."

"I have a sister!" Georgia muffles behind her hands. "I mean, I already have Eden, Hartley, and Skye. But this… Like, this feels really surreal. I know you two liked each other but I had no idea…"

"We didn't either," I say. "But we just wanted to be spontaneous and go with how we felt. Like Beau said, you can't fight what you want." The words sound less and less like a lie every time I say them.

"We love each other," Beau adds.

My heart. My heart is literally aching. I've wanted someone to love and treat me the way this man is for so long, and now that I have it, my heart wants all of it to be real. I don't want to fake it, but I have to.

Gabe grabs his phone. "We gotta get Gray and Brook in here." He walks away, shaking his head in disbelief as I try my hardest not to cry.

The Bassetts are amazing people. They've been so good to me. And here I am, lying away like it's as easy as breathing.

"Tell me everything." Georgia sits down. She looks pale. "I need to know the details."

"Don't be scaring Autumn out of the family," Beau says. I snuggle into his side. He smells so damn good.

"I'm really sorry we didn't say something." I take a deep breath. "We just didn't tell anyone because we knew it would get out and then we didn't have time to plan a wedding at such short notice and?—-"

"You knocked up your best friend?" Brooklyn whoops as he bounds in through the door and embraces his brother in a big bear hug. "Way to go, little brother!"

My cheeks flush.

"I didn't knock her up!" Beau tries to shove his brother off but he's already hugging the shit out of him. "We're… in… love…" His words grunt out as Brooklyn shakes him up and down.

Then he turns to me. I hold out my arms with my palms flat. "No bear hugs for me, thanks, Brook."

He smiles down at me. "Autumn Leaf Bassett, that has a ring to it." He pulls me into a hug before I can even protest, squashing me into his chest.

"I'm sorry we didn't have time to?—"

"What the Hell?" Gray's voice booms across the room. Oh, no. I knew this was coming. Double shit. And how did they get here so fast? "Beau? Autumn? You're married ?"

"I need to call Celeste!" Georgia says. "Oh, and Hartley… and Skye… and Eden…"

Gray's still standing there, demanding answers with his hand on his hip and his look more stern than Bob Bassett's was earlier.

"They're denying they're pregnant, but I don't know." Brooklyn finally lets go of me. "Autumn does have that radiant glow about her."

I want to shrink into a hole and die.

Gray comes toward us.

"I know it's sudden—" Beau begins.

"Sudden? You were only dating a few weeks ago."

"Two weeks," Gabe ever so helpfully puts in. Out of everyone I thought Gabe was going to be the one who didn't accept it, but it seems I've misjudged him. Gray's the one to convince.

"Yeah, but we, uh, didn't want to wait," Beau stammers. I know he's not afraid of Gray, but he cares about what his brother thinks. More so than anyone else, including Gabriel who can also be intimidating.

"It's sudden, yes," I say, trying to help out Beau with an explanation that may be passable to Gray. "But we can't help how we feel, and we couldn't wait any longer. In actual fact, we've both been having feelings for one another for quite some time." Also not a lie, on my part anyway. "And well, we acted on it impulsively, but we're both very happy about it."

Beau turns to me and I meet his eyes. His mouth curls into a smile and I lean up on my toes and we peck one another again.

"Aww! You guys are so cute!" Brooklyn squeezes Beau's cheek like a grandma would as Beau tries to slap his hand away.

"Stop embarrassing me in front of my wife!"

I roll my lips. It's the first time he's said that to anyone except me. His wife.

Oh, God. I love the way that sounds. It rolls off his tongue like a sweet melody.

Gray shakes Beau's hand and draws me into an awkward hug. He kisses my cheek softly. I can tell he's just as reserved as Bob is, and maybe the man is also telepathic.

God, I could swim around in my guilt for the rest of eternity and still not be done.

"I can't believe it," Gray murmurs. "My little brother… and his best friend." Why does it sound like there's a question mark at the end of that?

"So, when's the big day?" Georgia interrupts. "You said you want to plan a big wedding so we can all enjoy it, when were you thinking?" She begins flicking through the event book, muttering under her breath that this weekend won't do, and neither will that one.

"Woah, slow down, tiger," Beau laughs. "We're just going to enjoy one another for these next few weeks until we can tell Autumn's parents?—"

"Wait, they don't know?" Gabe winces.

"That's gonna go down a treat," Gray mutters.

"Need some moral support?" Brook squeezes Beau's shoulder. "I got ya."

"Shut up all of you! I'm trying to think!" Georgia looks flustered, her hair falling in front of her face as she frantically starts flipping the pages faster than a woman possessed.

"Did it hurt?" Hudson laughs, waltzing in the room.

"Shut up, GP! I don't need your shit today!" she gripes back.

Hudson stops. "Who died?"

Beau opens his mouth but Georgia beats him to it again. "No one, but they got married!"

Hudson frowns. "Who?"

"Who? Beau and Autumn! They're married and nobody got invited because they're so in love they forgot they each have a family who would've loved to be involved and help them plan their happy day."

Just as she says ‘happy day', Brooklyn sings out, "shot-gun wedding."

So now I'm going to have to fend off rumors about me being pregnant. Talk about the immaculate conception. My head spins. If only they really knew.

"What?" He balks, his brow scrunching in confusion.

"Yeah, it's true," Beau says, his arm still around me. My head whips around to look at my husband's astonishment. Woah, wait, we can fake a marriage yes, but we can't exactly fake being pregnant. "I meant that we got married, not the shot-gun part," he quickly adds.

Oh, kill me now.

Hudson turns to look at me. "Well, I'll be damned. Way to go." He slaps Beau hard on the back so he sputters a cough.

"Umm, thanks." Beau gives me an awkward smile as he palms the back of his head.

"Don't be praising these two anymore until they spill on this secret love fest that's been building." Georgia looks up from the paper diary she's been madly tossing through.

"Can't wait to hear it." Hudson flashes his pearly whites at me as he crosses his arms over his chest. "Congrats, Mrs. Bassett, and good luck — you're gonna need it."

Mrs. Bassett?

"What?" Georgia places her hand on her hip. "I know he can be a pain, but you do realize Beau's my twin, right?"

"No offense," Hudson adds, trying to smooth it out. He is surrounded by Bassetts, after all. And he wisely avoids Georgia's glare. "But this family can be intense. She's going to need all the luck she can get."

I press my lips together as Gray slaps his best friend on the back with a chuckle.

"And that's saying something," Gray says. "Now. As Georgia said, let's hear all about this sudden rush into marriage-hood you two, I can't wait to hear it."