Chapter 6

Well, my mother had worked it all out. Not a single snafu had ruined her wedding planning. Then again, my parents lived in a small town in Connecticut, so not too much was going on. It had been fairly easy to get the church and minister on board. And the flowers—hydrangea and peony bouquets—were just from the local florist.

I took a deep breath and glanced around, nerves bubbling in my stomach. As a young girl, I dreamed of a wedding in this old, quaint, white church with a gorgeous steeple. I just never imagined it would be like this.

My eyes caught Finn in his gray suit. Dark-haired and handsome, with a smile that did weird things to my belly. Some would call that a dream groom, but this wasn't a love story.

I shifted in my heels, almost tipping to the side, and my mom reached out to steady me. I didn't wear heels much—no reason to when I worked from home,

"Glad we could pull this off on such short notice." My mom sounded entirely too sunshiny.

We had all agreed that no one but my parents would know the true story of what was going down today. None of the rest of our families crowded into the small space at the back of the church believed anything, but Finn and I had a whirlwind romance. Luckily, all our siblings were able to make it, and Lily even let me borrow her wedding dress.

I rubbed my hand down the fitted lace. It was sort of itchy, but I couldn't complain. At least it fits. One more thing that just fell into place like this was fate.

"Yeah, everything worked out perfectly and the kids really like Finn." That at least was true. Even Shane had admitted Finn was okay.

My eyes drifted his way again, to where he stood with his brother, his nephew Chris, and Jayden and Kai. Finn stumbled as Diesel yanked on his leash. Kai had begged to bring the dog today, and shockingly, Finn agreed. I had thought he was a straight-laced grump when I first met him, but I wasn't sure anymore.

Not after agreeing to help me with the kids and making an effort to get to know them.

I turned back to my mom. "It was like it was meant to be."

"I'm still shocked by all this." Finn's mother shook her head. "Honestly, I wouldn't put it past Finn, but never realized Ivy was so impulsive."

I kept my face neutral, but that was the second comment from his mother along those lines. I almost felt bad for Finn. He seemed to have the same issue I did. Maybe a lot of parents had trouble rectifying the idea that their impulsive kids grew up.

Although maybe Finn hadn't. He did randomly agree to marry me.

"Oh, our little Ivy has always had a flair for chaos. She switched her major four times and changed schools twice, and then one day she just brought home our first grandson." My mom smiled at Shane. "We love you."

"I know. I live with Ivy, Mimi. I understand what it's like, trust me."

"Yeah. Growing up with her and Holly was fun." Lily rested her hand on her very round pregnant belly.

I wasn't sure how I'd feel when she first announced her pregnancy. I had hoped I wouldn't be sad or resentful, and it was great to know I didn't feel anything but happy for her.

"Not our fault you got all the high-strung genes." My younger sister, Holly, shot Lily a smirk.

"You mean responsible and organized?"

"Tomayto, tomahto," Holly fired back.

The minister stepped into the vestibule and waved toward the big wooden doors that led into the sanctuary. "Everyone needs to get into their places please."

Finn, Declan, and the rest of the boys made their way to the front of the church. Well, all except for Shane, who held back a moment before escorting my mom to her seat. Finn's parents followed them down the aisle to take their seats, too.

Now it was just me, my dad and sisters, Natalie and her daughter Addy, and my two girls. Blair and Addy looked excited, spinning in their blue pastel dresses and holding small bouquets we picked up at the grocery store. Maia looked quite annoyed by their level of excitement.

I couldn't believe we had time this week to run by Target and find dresses for everyone, never mind finding dresses in varying shades of blue that didn't look like we picked random garments off a rack without regard for a theme or color scheme.

All of this was thrown together too fast. Probably wasn't the best way for the kids. But honestly, they were excited and didn't seem to have any issues. And technically, they got us into this mess. Not to mention, they all seemed to like Finn.

Everything was going well except for one small thing—Finn's brother Declan couldn't stop glaring at me.