40. Teysha

40

TEYSHA

"Mason Thomas Cutler, do you take Sydney Singer to be your lawfully wedded wife?" asks Mick, who's serving as officiant. "Will you honor and cherish her; love, trust, and commit to her, through joy and pain, sickness and health, and whatever life may throw at you both, until death do you part?"

Mason's green eyes gleam as he peers at Sydney. "Yeah, I do. Every damn day from here on out."

Sydney's lips spread wider, the same gleam in her gaze as Mick turns to her.

"Sydney Singer, do you take Mason Cutler to be your lawfully wedded husband? Will you honor and cherish him; love, trust and commit to him, through joy and pain, sickness and health, and whatever life may throw at you both, until death do you part?"

"Every day," she says, parroting Mason. Then the smile that had touched her lips spreads. "I do. I can't wait."

I'm standing off on the sidelines next to Korine, doing my best not to let the tears win. I sniffle as they exchange vows and then Mick orders Mason to kiss his bride.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. Mace, you've got zero-point-five seconds to kiss your dang bride or I'm going to scoop her up for myself!"

His threatening tease is met with a chorus of laughter, jeers, and catcalls. Mason only needs to be told once—he yanks Sydney toward him, crushing his lips to hers in a kiss that's as hot as the summer afternoon.

We clap and whistle and cheer on the happily married couple as they join hands and rush off. Sydney remembers at the last second she's still clutching her bouquet of wild flowers and turns toward the women in attendance.

Shrill screams enter the air as several scramble to catch the airborne flowers. The bouquet smacks into Korine's chest, then rolls to her feet.

As if the crowd couldn't go wilder than they already have. I'm right with them as we break out into an even louder round of applause and Korine smiles shyly, picking up the bouquet. Cash couldn't look more pleased from where he stands on the opposite side with the rest of the groomsmen.

The afternoon morphs into a celebration. The wedding becomes a party as music fills the background and everyone mingles. Mason and Sydney share a dance—or as close to a dance as Mason's ever going to get—to more hoots and hollers.

I watch on with cheeks that ache from smiling so hard. I've given up on pretending that I'll save my eye makeup from running.

The mood is too joyous to care. The future feels bright and hopeful, and I know in my soul I've made the right decision in joining this family. In letting myself fall in love with the rugged, rough-around-the-edges biker that I have.

He comes up the first chance he's able to, grabbing my hands to lead me toward where everybody else is chatting and dancing. A simple glance around shows we're not alone in our festive mood. Korine and Cash are slow dancing, Korine still clutching the wildflower bouquet as Cash hugs her close.

Meanwhile, Mason and Sydney couldn't be more ready to get going. They've started inching toward his bike as if they've had enough of the wedding ceremony itself and would prefer to move onto their honeymoon vacation.

Two weeks in Hawaii.

My watery gaze drifts away from everyone else and meets Logan. I've twined my arms around his shoulders as we sway in place.

"I would say it's all worked out. Don't you think?"

"Not sure you could say that just yet," he answers. "There's still one matter we've got to handle."

"This better not be about the peanut butter cookies! I have no idea what you're talking about."

He grins. "You definitely know all about those damn peanut butter cookies. But that's not what I meant."

"If this is about the word porn?—"

"Baby, this ain't about no fucking word porn," he interrupts with a gruff laugh, squeezing my hips. "This is about you and me and what we need to do."

My brows join together out of puzzled thoughts. "I'm not sure I understand."

"Marry me," he says. "Again. For real this time. On our terms. Let's elope. Right now."

"What? Logan, I don't?—"

"Me. You. My Harley. Las Vegas."

I laugh, the proposal's so ridiculous. Then I glance around as if checking for approval. "You're serious? Right now? "

"Right now. You said you were never spontaneous. You never did things you thought you shouldn't. I'm willing to bet you've never been to Vegas," he says, his grin infectious. His steely eyes brighter than usual. "Think of it as an adventure to kick off our lives together. What d'you think?"

My heart pounds faster in exhilaration as I imagine the long ride on the open road, clinging to Logan as we head off to create our own happy ending. As we remake our wedding in our own unique image and go on an adventure I've never imagined.

A nervous giggle bubbles out of me as I lift myself onto tiptoe and cling tighter to him, my arms locked around his neck.

"Yes," I answer breathlessly. "Okay! Let's do it!"

"Right now?"

"Right now!"

We're both laughing as he grabs hold of my hand and we rush off toward his recently repaired Super Glide that sparkles a vivid shade of crimson under the afternoon sun. Several others notice we're running off and call out to us as we do.

"We're out!" Logan yells from over his shoulder. "Off to go get married."

"Again!" I add between a giggle.

Everybody gathered around explodes into the latest round of cheers. Logan mounts his large bike first then waits for me to bunch up the skirt of my dress and climb aboard behind him. I press myself against his back, snuggling closer, one arm banded around his waist while the other waves goodbye.

The engine rumbles its goodbyes too as we blast off toward the future. The new life we're about to embark on.

As we do, I've never been more grateful for the lesson I've learned—sometimes, the happiest endings really do come from the ugliest beginnings.

THE END…