13. Thirteen

"Did you know?" Dakota asks me as we line up at the dessert table.

"Of course I knew. And if anyone was going to get engaged on my wedding day, I'm honored it was my best friend." I grab her arm and bring her in for a hug.

"I can't believe it." She's still in shock. She keeps looking down at her ring which is exactly how I was when I got engaged. And now look where we are.

"I love him, Dakota. He's a great man and he's fucking fantastic with those kids." We both look over to where he sits at the table with the others.

"I know," she boasts and we just giggle before picking up one of each dessert option to bring to the table.

The DJ dims the lights and signals for the disco lights to display across the dance floor and as soon as we drop the desserts on the table, the DJ starts playing Yeah by Usher.

"Oh my god, this is my jam!" Dakota shouts as she reaches for my hand.

"Mine too!" Hollis jumps up from the table.

"I am not too fond of this song, actually," Jaxon says. I then catch Hollis give him a devilish grin and I sense there is an inside story behind this song. But that doesn't stop him from getting up at her plea to join her.

I look over and see my mom and brother sitting at table in the corner. I smile over at Callan who is still seated.

"You all go ahead, I'll join you in a few," I tell everyone.

"And I'll watch the kiddos," Cal offers.

"Call us if you need us," Dakota says before the four of them head over to the dance floor.

"I never said thank you," I walk over to the side where Callan sits and lean down to kiss him.

"You never need to say thank you, Little Rose." He smiles at me, and I feel it in my tummy. The love I have for this man runs deep to my core.

I take a deep breath and head toward the direction of my mom and brother.

"Hey," I say as I sit down across from them. "I wanted to say thank you for coming. I know it has to be a little weird and all but, I never expected to have you two here. And I wouldn't have blamed you if you chose not to come." I recognized months ago that the damage to our relationship was not just all on them. I had parts to play as well.

And after talking to Callan about it at the restaurant all that time ago, I knew that he was right. I reacted one way to protect myself but my reaction was most likely triggering for my mom. And my brother was simply looking out for her.

"Sterling, I'm sorry for-" I stop her short from finishing what she was going to say.

"No. Please. Not today. I don't want to bring up anything that could upset anyone. I know we need to talk. But right now, I'm just so happy you're here no matter what the outcome of our relationship is to be. And right now, today, I just want to hold on to that. If that's okay." I look between her and Graham. I can tell Graham is a bit more apprehensive and rightfully so. I'm sure it was hard for them to be here only because our relationship has been strained for so long. He might never forgive me no matter how hard I'm willing to try. Which honestly, wasn't ever on my mind until they showed up by myside today.

"I actually made a promise to facetime Mira and the girls, so…" Graham stands up and kisses our mom on the cheek. "The wedding was beautiful, Sterling," he tells me before turning around and walking away.

"He has daughters?" I whisper to my mom, feeling a slight pang in my chest.

"Two. Adopted. But they"re his world. This is the longest his been away from the three of them," my mom tells me and I realize just how much we've both missed out on each other's lives.

"Mom, you don't have to stay if you don't want to." I sigh in defeat, but I understand that this is going to take time.

"Are you kidding me? I wouldn't miss this for the world." She smiles as she takes a sip of her water and reaches for my hand.

We walk over to the dance floor where everyone is enjoying the party. My mom ends up dancing over to Gerald where they engage in some weird Q-tip shuffle. I decide to join my husband at the table where he watches Maelie.

"Everything go okay?" he asks before threading his finger with mine.

"As good as it can be for now," I say.

I watch on as Nolan does some awkward dad-dance move sway and Dakota cheers him like he's the best dancer in the world. Jax has his hands on Hollis' hips as they sway and grind with each other.

Then I catch someone I've never seen before creep out from out of the food buffet with a hand full of cupcakes and brownies, stuffing one in her mouth as she tries to tip toe behind dancing guests.

"Who's that?" I ask Cal as I point her out.

"Who?" He attempts to see who I'm talking about.

"Her. Long, dark hair. Black silk dress. Hand full of desserts." I point her out again and this time Cal sees her.

"I don't know who that is," he says.

"I'm gonna go talk to her." I get up from the chair and make my way over to her. I catch the attention of Hollis and Jax as I walk past them and continue to make my way over to this random girl.

"Hey." I tap her on her shoulder as she huddles over her snacks.

"Wash my back and call me Jack!" she shouts out and simultaneously drops all of the desserts she had hoarded in her arms, causing the entire party to go silent and turn their attention to the two of us cornered at an empty table off to the side of the dance floor. "You scared the bajeebies out of me," she adds on.

"Who are you?" I ask. She just stares at me.

"Uhhh. My name is Karla and I'm a cousin of the groom," she responds hesitantly.

Everyone then turns to look at Callan who is now standing at the table. Nolan heads toward him to relieve him of child duty so that he can figure this out.

"Mom?" He looks over to where his mom was dancing with Sara and Virginia, but she just shrugs her shoulders.

"I've never seen that woman in my life," his mom says.

Callan snaps his fingers over at the security guard I didn't even know he hired, and the man immediately leaves his post and walks our way.

I look between the security guard and this random woman and realize that she is crashing my wedding.

"Are you crashing this wedding?" I decide to ask her, hands on my hips and everyone holding their breath to see how this will play out.

"I mean…maybe?" She shrugs her shoulders.

"She"s really crashing our wedding." I look over at Callan and then at Dakota.

Dakota tries her damn hardest not to crack a smile, but I know that her and I are thinking the same thing.

"This is all wrong," I announce and almost immediately after, I break into laughter along with Dakota.

Everyone, including Karla, is looking at us like we"re Dumb and Dumber.

The security guard reaches our side and I hold my palm up to him.

"That won't be necessary," I squint to look at his badge, "Hansen."

"Sterling," Callan protests.

"She's crashing our wedding, Callan. Honestly, I'm honored." I chuckle again.

Karla, if that's even her real name, snorts from beside me. I turn and give her a confused glare.

"Sorry, I just didn't think anyone would be happy that some stranger is eating all your dessert." She runs her hand up and down her arm, now nervous that she got caught.

"Everything was too perfect. And you're not a stranger now, you ate my dessert. Carry on." I wave my hand at the DJ like it's a magic wand and he immediately starts the music again and everyone goes back to dancing as if nothing happened.

"Sweetheart," Cal says when I reach his side.

"Hon, no one was eating that dessert anyways. She's doing us a favor. And she's doesn't seem to be a harm. Besides, believe it or not, I kind of craved chaos for moment," I defend her. For what reason really? I'm not sure. But I just know that nothing is going to stop this day from being the best day of my life.

So, I grab my husband's hand and dance the night away.