Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Aiden

When I arrive at my apartment, Evan is just cleaning out the rest of his things. A week ago I was worried I’d go out of my mind living with Turner, but now I’m marrying my Birdie in the morning. It’s almost more than I can process.

“I have a favor to ask you,” I say, motioning for him to put the box down and sit. He does, but his dark brows knit together in worry. I take a deep breath and spit it out. “You’ve been a good friend, Evan. My best friend, really, and I want to know if you would do me the honor of standing beside me tomorrow morning?”

He blinks a few times and I realize I didn’t explain why.

“I’m marrying Finchley. Tomorrow morning.”

He blinks again but a wide smile pulls at his lips. His entire face lights up. “What?” he yells, then leaps to his feet and wraps his arms around me in a bear hug. “Of course, I will. Wait until Greer hears about this. We had bets on when this would happen.”

I huff when he squeezes the breath out of me. “Lovely,” I wheeze, and he lessens his grip. “Who won?”

“Hey, I’m a hopeless romantic. Who do you think won?”

I chuckle and wonder when Greer thought it would happen, but it doesn’t matter. It’s happening, and I’m in full-on panic mode. Questions plague my mind, like will I be good enough? Can I keep my promise to protect her? Will life with me be enough, or will we always be fighting her family?

“What does your mom think?”

Oh. Blimey. “Friend, I forgot all about calling me mum.” I tug my hair, ready to lose my mind. Everything is a whirlwind, but in the best way possible.

“I’ll take this out to the car while you call her, then we’ll tell the guys.”

He’s right. I need to call my mum, tell her I’m getting married, and pray it doesn’t lead to another argument about me coming home, back to Ireland.

I try for ten minutes to reach her, but she doesn’t answer. It isn’t exactly the sort of news one can leave in a message, so I’ll have to try again later. It hurts my heart that my dear mum can’t be here to witness my wedding, but I know she loved Finchley. I don’t think it’ll take long to convince her there was no time to waste, so I shove my phone in my pocket with a plan to call her again later.

“Mum? What are you doing here? I’ve been calling you since yesterday!” I shout and shove my phone into my pocket. I had hoped to at least livestream the wedding for her, but here she stands before me, dressed up for a special occasion.

“I’m sorry, my boy. I promised Finchie I’d keep it a secret,” she says, squealing when I lift her into a hug and spin her around. I set her on her feet and take her cheeks in my palms before kissing her forehead. “Oh, I’m so happy. It’s been too long, but here we are. Finally, my boy is marrying his soul mate.”

“Aye, Mum. It took too long, but can you believe it?” I ask, squeezing her again.

“I prayed for it,” she admits, patting my face.

“She called you?” I ask, looking around for my fiancée.

“Aye, right after you left her house yesterday. I hopped a plane and here I am,” she says, patting my chest before adjusting my tie.

Within minutes, she’s pinching cheeks and getting hugs from all the guys. She sure knows how to pull the mum card, and the guys eat it up. It’s another half hour before everyone is settled and the music begins. Evan stands beside me while April comes down the aisle in time to the music, an old Irish lullaby that Finchley always loved. It lightens my heart.

“You ready for this? She’s beautiful,” Evan says, having already seen Finchley in my mum’s old wedding dress.

I bite my bottom lip and nod, somehow keeping tears of joy locked inside until my future steps into view. Ivan stepped up again, giving her someone to lean on while she walks closer to me. Judging by the grin on his face, Ivan doesn’t mind a second of attention he’s getting either. I always loved her hair best wild and free, her light waves dancing over her shoulders, face clean as the day she was born. Her eyes connect with mine and light up brighter than the sun. My mum’s dress, always beautiful, is made more so by the exquisite woman wearing it.

My family, all the Dragons players and their significant others, watch as I almost come apart standing before her.

The pastor speaks but I don’t hear a word until he says, “Do you, Aiden Doyle, take—”

“I do,” I say in a rushed breath I can hardly force from my lips whilst taking her in once more.

The crowd laughs but the pastor goes on, asking if she will also love, honor, and cherish me until she dies.

“I do. I always did,” she says. She takes my hands with nary a tremble and smiles so wide it squints her eyes. “I always did, and I always will.”

“Birdie,” I whisper, moving my hands to her face. I kiss her, though I’m not sure I’m supposed to just yet. The pastor chuckles and pronounces us husband and wife.

Husband.

A week ago, I was a lonely bloke with no hope of love in his life, a broken man with nothing to look forward to. And now? I’m a husband. I’m her husband. She stares back at me, seemingly understanding that I’m working hard to comprehend this moment between us. It’s as if the world stopped and rewound, took us back to where we should have been ten years ago.

“I love you,” she whispers, resting her small hand on my forearm. “This is real.”

I close my eyes and inhale, catching a whiff of her lavender perfume. It is real, and with my last breath I will never let her down again.

I finally break my trance and look out over the small crowd. The ladies are crying and the men are staring at us as if they aren’t quite sure what they witnessed. It’s got us all a little turned around, but Mum has always been good with moments.

“And that, my darlings, is one for the history books. Come, let us eat and drink and dance the day away,” she says. The crowd chuckles and begins to relax, moving to mingle while the caterer gets started.

“Come here,” Finchley says, grabbing my hand to drag me from the crowd. Her smile is still bright and wide, so I follow her without question. We stop in a corner apart from the crowd. “I have to tell you something.”

I brace myself for bad news because this day has been more than I could have ever hoped for.

“I want your mother to come live with us. I talked to her about it when I asked her to visit, and I think she might. She only needs to know it’s also what you want.”

“You…asked my mother to move home? And she said yes?”

She shrugs. “Yeah, I thought that’s what you’d want.”

All the fights, all the late nights arguing with my mum about my need to stay in Denver, and all it took was one call from Finchley to convince my mum to do what I couldn’t get her to do for years. I pull her into a hug and bend to whisper in her ear.

“I love you to the stars and back, Mrs. Doyle.” I wait, wondering if she remembers what we used to say to one another all the time.

She doesn’t miss a beat but responds in kind, “I love you bigger than the whole moon, Mr. Doyle.”