12. Twelve

"That was so beautiful," Dakota whispers to me as she briefly stops in aisle way. She sneaks me a kiss before she continues to follow the newlyweds back down the aisle.

"She"s right, that was really beautiful," Hollis says from beside me. The wedding party is making their way back to where they came from before everyone starts to file out for the reception.

"Well, maybe you can convince my daddy to make Dakota his wife," Aria tells Hollis who then looks at me with wide eyes.

"Aria, you don"t need to air out all of our business. Especially to strangers." I give her a stern look.

"But Hollis isn"t a stranger, dad. She"s my new bestest friend."

"Mine too. When can I dye my hair blue like hers?" Emsley chimes in.

I give Hollis a small smile before looking down at a sleepy Maelie, tucked nicely in her car seat.

"You"re right, I"m sorry. Hollis isn"t a stranger," I say.

"Sometimes, adults have understandings between each other about certain things in life. But I don"t think I have to do much convincing to your father, little Aria." Hollis smirks at me and my heart starts to pound in my chest because she knows my secret.

A few hours before the ceremony, when the girls were getting their hair and makeup done, I wondered on over to meet the guys. I had to take the girls with me of course, but Sterling gave me the okay to do what I had asked of her the night before, so I wanted to run it by the guys while getting to know them a little better.

When I walked in, both Jax and Callan were fully dressed. They welcomed me into their space with open arms and a beer and it seemed that Sterling had already talked to Callan who then of course told Jax what my plan was. We spent the rest of the time getting to know each other, talking about work and family life. The guys even hung out with the girls and Jax asked to hold Maelie, so I gave him a shot at consoling a crying three-month-old. Dakota and Hollis had just walked in and the look in Hollis" eyes when she saw Jaxon holding a baby was a rather feral one if I do say so myself, as an observation by a man at that.

I assume that Jax had told Hollis what the plan was.

We get up from the chairs and make our way down into the grand hall for the reception. Hollis is holding the girls' hands while I carry the car seat and we find our assigned seats. Luckily, we're all at the same table. We wait for Dakota and Jaxon to make their way back to us and when they do, the girls start bothering Jax. They've really taken a liking to him in the past few hours. Hollis too.

The next forty minutes pass of guests mingling and walking around the room to wait for the newlyweds to make their grand entrance.

"May I have your attention," the DJ shouts over the speaker system.

Everyone quiets down and takes their seats.

"If you could turn your attention to the left entrance. I'd now like to introduce to you, Mr. Mrs. Callan and Sterling David!" Music starts to play over the speakers, and everyone applauds as the two of them make their way into the hall and out to the center of the dance floor.

I look over to see Dakota in utter awe of the sight before us, her best friend is now a wife. I can't help but wonder if that's what she really wants. But I guess we"ll find out soon enough.

"The newlyweds are now going to celebrate with a first dance." The DJ announces and we all turn our attention back to the where Callan and Sterling stand.

Speechlessby Dan + Shay starts to play and they grab at each other, gently swaying acorss the floor and making light footwork of their first dance.

This is where I start to realize that this is really what I want. I was okay not marrying Dakota at first. I really was. The husband-and-wife titles don't solidify love and a promise forever. But something about a celebration of exchanging vows, having your whole family and friend group there to enjoy the celebration with. And the first dance.

It's special.

Sterling is looking Callan in the eyes, and it is exactly how Dakota looks at me. I turn my head to see her with a tear streaming down her cheek.

"Hey, Firefly." I swipe the tear away as she smiles at.

"It's just so damn cute. This whole thing. I think-" she gets cut off as the song and dance end, the bride and groom meeting for a kiss.

And then the DJ announces the next thing on the schedule.

Sterling looks at me, and my heart kicks into a high-speed chase against my breathing.

It's time.

I've never been this fucking nervous.

"Can I get all of the single ladies to the dance floor. And that also include the ladies who have a man but don't have a ring on that finger!" The DJ shouts as all the girls get giddy walking over to the center of the dance floor.

There have to be at least a dozen of them, and my palms start to get sweaty because I notice Dakota doesn't move.

"Come on." Hollis stands up and grabs Dakota by the hand with a smirk on her face.

"Oh, no. I don't think-" Dakota attempts to deny but Hollis doesn't relent.

"No way. We don't have rings on our fingers." She playfully shoots daggers at Jax and I. "We're doing this thing." Hollis tugs on Dakota again.

She looks at me and rolls her eyes which makes me crack a smirk. But I'm grateful Hollis is forcing her to go out and have fun. Mainly because I can tell that Dakota wants to join the girls out there but she feels like she can't. But also, because I want this to be perfect.

Jax smiles at Hollis before looking at me and he can probably tell I'm a nervous wreck. I wasn't this nervous the first time, but that's probably because I knew it wasn't as real as it feels when I look at Dakota.

I take this moment to spontaneously whisper into Emsley's ear. I want to make sure she knows what's about to happen and that I have her approval. I also want her to do something for me.

She smiles that really big goofy grin of hers when I'm done telling her and she practically jumps out of her chair to run next to Dakota's side. Dakota smiles down at her, and Emsley says, "I bet you five bucks I'm gonna catch this thing." Dakota laughs at her little sister and says, "You're on."

"Hey, I wanna go over there too," Aria whines and I convince her to hang back with Jax and her baby sister and she doesn't argue much after that.

All of the girls gather into a big huddle while Sterling stands with her back to them a good ten feet ahead.

I see her turn around to give me the okay, so I stand from my seat, careful not to draw Dakota's attention, and make my way to the back of the group of girls.

The DJ starts to play Single Ladies by Beyonce and almost on cue, the group of girls in front of me silently and stealthily back away from Emsley and Dakota who are oblivious and now the only two standing behind Sterling.

I said I would do it when the time was right. In this exact moment, I know it"s one hundred percent right. I know this is what I want. And despite us not talking about it further, I know my firefly. I know this is what she wants too.

"Three!" Sterling shouts as she pretends to throw her bouquet over her head and then lowers it again.

I pull out the ring.

"Two!" Now everyone else joins her in the countdown. Emsley grabs Dakota's hand.

I get down on my knee.

"One!" Sterling tosses the bouquet gently over her head. It flies in the sky, almost in slow motion.

I watch it as it comes down toward Dakota but—just as I predicted because I know her so well—she steps aside slightly to allow Emsley the advantage of catching the bouquet, in which she reaches her hands up into the sky while standing on the tips of her toes and catches it like Travis Kelce at a football game.

Dakota claps and cheers for Emsley, but then she realizes it's silent. She's the only one cheering, the music has stopped, and Em hands the bouquet to her sister.

"I think this belongs to you, sissy," she says.

I can't see her face from here as Emsley walks away, leaving her side while Dakota's back is still to me. But I see Sterling nod her head and that's when Dakota turns around and sees me.

The look on her face is all the confirmation I need to conclude that this is in fact, exactly what she's wants.

I was taking a big risk doing this without hearing it from her. A risk I was willing to take because I know that whether she says yes or no, my heart will never belong to another woman for as long as I live.

It's Dakota.

Dakota and the girls.

She walks over to me, hand over her mouth in shock as tears stream down her cheeks.

I stand up to meet her, holding out the ring as she eats up the space between us.

"Nolan," she whispers, and my heart does that thing it always does when she says my name like that. I realize that everyone in the room is starring at us but it feels like it's just me and her.

I look down at the ring, then back up to her.

"How did you know?" she asks in a whisper, and I smirk.

"It was in your eyes," I respond, and she wipes the tears from her face.

"The ring?"

"It was my mom"s. I started to carry it around with me shortly after I met you. Just in case the time ever came. I wanted to do it soo-"

"Yes," she whispers again, this time interrupting me, and I feel a hitch in my breath when I realize what she just said.

"What?" I don't know why I question her. But my eyes go wide and a smile spreads across my face as she allows me to slide the ring onto her finger.

"I said yes!" she shouts a little louder this time as she wraps her hands around my neck and leans up to kiss me.

The whole room explodes into cheers as they all stand up and applaud.

But even still, the only person I see is her.