Chapter 12

* * *

ALEC

Several months later…

Alec looked up,tugging his baseball cap low on his head, as he darted into the seamstress’s house. Mrs. Mulligan worked out of the converted garage at her home – and Willow’s choice to make their bridesmaids dresses, fit her dress, and make any alterations. Since there was no one in town who owned a wedding shop, they had opted to order her gown online. He and his groomsmen were going to wear their formal uniforms, but he also wanted to surprise her.

He was carrying a tote bag with the ‘goods’ to enact his plan – and hoped it didn’t backfire. Keeping surprises from Willow wasn’t something he wanted to do, but he also knew that if she was in on it… then people might have the opposite reaction.

Nope. He wanted to support her, make this memorable, and surprise her – all at the same time. Peering around the corner, he saw Mrs. Mulligan hanging up a formal bag on a hook, looking over her shoulder.

“Hey, Mrs. Mulligan,” he began in greeting. “Is Willow gone?”

“She left twenty minutes ago,” the old woman said, smiling. “She has no clue that you were coming over.”

“Thank you – and I really appreciate the help.”

“Of course. Your parents were always so sweet to me after my husband died – and then when your papa passed away, well… life is short, and you draw enjoyment where you can. For me, it’s my stitching. I love creating something beautiful and making memories.”

“That’s the goal,” he joked, smiling openly. “It’s not gonna be pretty, but it will be memorable.”

“You are a rascal, young man… you know that?”

“I hear that a lot,” he teased and began withdrawing the packages from his tote bag. “Here’s what I have, and I labeled each one…”

“My, my, my…” she began, clucking her tongue – and then smiled at him. “Definitely your father’s son, because Brian would have done the same thing.”

“Thank you – and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.”

“Just save me a seat on the aisle so I can see everything.”

“You got it,” Alec grinned.

Now, it was time to put the second part of his plan into action.

* * *

Alec smiledat Willow as he walked toward her in the distance. She was surprisingly calm despite their wedding being a week away. Oh yes, there were a few last things to put in order, but most everything was done by now, and if it weren’t… it soon would be.

His mother was on cloud nine, preparing enough dough to feed an army. There were boxes and boxes of candy being delivered to the church, along with haybales, bolts of black and orange raffia, massive stalks of corn and sheaves of dried grasses tied together to make pillars flanking the steps to the church. In fact, tonight, they were scheduled to pick up almost two hundred baby pumpkins as well as another one hundred large pumpkins from a local farmer to help decorate the church.

The last few months had been full of planning, sneaking around, dropping hints here and there amidst a carefully canned ‘slip’ that they gave to several others to help spread the word.

‘Trunk-or-Treat is going to be very sweet this year at the church harvest festival… you can’t miss it.’

Alec chuckled as he remembered the way his mother’s face lit up with awareness – and she nearly throttled him.

“Why didn’t you tell me, you sneaky boy!” his mother had yelped excitedly, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and shaking him – only to hug him happily… and she did the same to Willow. “You two cannot be keeping secrets like this!”

“We’ve got a surprise – and if we tell you, then it’s not a surprise,” Willow had laughed, hugging his mother happily as she showed off her engagement ring. Alec had bought her a lovely yellow topaz ring surrounded by more orange stones. The wedding band he’d selected for her was an infinity ring of diamonds – and his own had been a simple one with three diamonds to represent everything they’d been through.

A past full of insecurity, growth, and change.

A present that brought so much understanding, love, and acceptance.

A future that he couldn’t wait to share.

As he looked at Willow in the distance speaking with the printer, he advanced. Slipping up behind her, he laid a hand on her hip and couldn’t help the smile that touched his lips as she jumped slightly before melting against him.

“Hey…”

“Hey yourself…” she said, beaming at him. “Mr. Perkins made stickers too. Can you believe that? I didn’t even mention them, but he made a bunch of individual stickers and suggested we put it in with the bags of candy.”

“Huh, that’s pretty clever, isn’t it?” he replied, meeting the man’s eyes and seeing his conspiratorial wink. Alec had called back to order the stickers thirty minutes after they ordered the invitations. “I appreciate you helping my girl out.”

“Anything for you. I think it’s commendable what you are doing.”

“Mum’s the word – or at least until tomorrow. Tonight, we are stuffing bags of candy and delivering a staggering number of pumpkins tonight to the church,” Willow smiled, looking up at him. Gosh, she seemed so happy and practically glowed before him. Everything about her seemed so soft, so welcoming, and it just called to him like a radio wave finding its frequency.

“Do you need any help?”

“Always,” Alec chuckled. “I’ve got a few friends coming over to help put together everything, but another hand is always welcome.”

“Oh yes, and we are passing out all of the announcements tomorrow, all over town…”

“I can help with that, too.”

“That would be amazing. Thank you.”

Yes, everything was coming together – slowly but surely.

Alec had kept things a secret from as many people as possible, but there were little cracks starting to form in their ‘secret.’ The guys knew he was engaged and had figured it out, teasing him mercilessly out of love. There was nothing that compared to the bond he had with his ‘made family’ of ‘brothers’… except Willow outshone that staggering love and respect with a fervor they would never know or understand. He would die for his brothers and put his life on the line all the time… but for Willow?

It would shock and horrify people at how far he would go simply to make her smile. Looking at her, he kept his thoughts to himself. Yes, he would do literally anything to make sure she never left his side again – including swallowing his fear that held him back because living without her for the next fifty or so years was staggeringly bleak and not an option anymore.

Alec loved Willow.

He could see his future in her eyes, see their children, and feel a love that was blindingly beautiful. Now was their time – and he was stepping forward, taking the chances, and following his heart where he had once been so blinded by fear, hate, and regret. This was their moment, and nothing would detract from giving his beautiful bride the wedding she deserved.

Nothing.