Emmett
As I looked into her eyes, I couldn’t believe that I got to be with her for the rest of my life. Even though I hadn’t taken the promotion, I knew we had the best future ahead.
I hurried up and changed into my casual clothes before anyone else tried to come into the room, and once I was finished, I waited for her.
“I’m so happy, Autumn.” I had to tell her how I felt.
“Me too, Emmett. I’ve been waiting for us to get to this moment since last night.”
I wanted one last night, but because of some old superstition that said we couldn’t see each other before the wedding, I was shit out of luck.
“Me too, baby. I wanted you all night, and when I had to wake up without you, it was so hard.”
“I heard you were giving Kaye a hard time.” She giggled, and her laughter made me want her even more.
I stroked her back and met her eyes. “Yeah, can you blame me? I’d like to think that you were putting up just as much of a fight.” She smirked, and I knew she had.
“I might have a little.”
“Well, I’m going to behave, but if we didn’t have to get back down to our guests, I’d have you horizontal already.”
“As much as I’d encourage it, we need to talk even more.” Her expression was so serious that I wasn’t sure if I was in trouble for something or not.
“Yeah? So, let’s talk.” I leaned down and kissed her, and she took my breath away as she moved up against me. I wanted to take her then and there, but I didn’t want to paw all over her or be disrespectful, considering there was a houseful of people, including our daughter and her father.
I broke away and left her panting. “We’ll have to make that last.”
“I have some news, and I’m not sure how you’re going to take it, Emmett.” She met my eyes and gave me a look that let me know she was worried.
“Hey, it’s okay. You can tell me anything.” I started to worry when she gave me a sideways glance and then looked down at her shoes. “Autumn?”
“I wanted to do something really special for you, and I thought about what you said about hurting over Pen, and well, I contacted Jason.”
My veins were suddenly pumping lava, and my heart felt like it was going to explode. It wasn’t that she had talked to her ex, but that she hadn’t talked to me about the reason why first.
“Why?”
“I asked him if he ever planned to be in Penelope’s life again, and I let him know we were getting married. He said he was serious that he was moving on, and I asked him to sign his rights away.”
I hated that she’d asked him, knowing he’d probably said no. “What did he say?”
“He said no at first, but when I threatened to take him to court for child support, he signed these.” She held out some papers that had his name.
“He’s just going to give her up? Just like that?” I couldn’t believe it. My heart felt like it was filled with helium and my hand was ice cold. I reached out to her and pulled her close, unable to speak until I swallowed the lump in my throat.
“There’s still some stuff to take care of, Emmett, but if you want to pursue it, we can.”
“Hell yeah, I want to. This means I can adopt her, right?”
“Yes. I haven’t said anything to Pen, of course. I didn’t want to get her hopes up or anything. There’s a chance he could change his mind if we don’t hurry up and file this paperwork. I don’t think we’ll have a problem. He’s never paid me a dime, and he’s supposedly in a relationship with a stripper, and I can’t imagine she’s the motherly type.”
“You found all of this out for me in a week?”
“Yeah, well, it’s been a busy work week.” She gave a little laugh and then laid her head back on my shoulder. “Oh, Emmett, I was so worried you’d be upset, but I was also so excited to tell you the news.”
“Thank you, baby. You couldn’t have given me a better gift.” I didn’t think it was possible to love her more than I already did, but my heart was so full that I felt the excess running down my cheeks. I dried my eyes and gave her another kiss. “Come on, let’s go see our girl.”
“Wait.” She grabbed my arm and held me with her. “There’s more. I know about the promotion you turned down.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I didn’t want you to worry about it. When I asked about how you’d feel, you didn’t seem too happy about it.” If she’d told me she was okay with it, I would have told her, but she didn’t seem to like the idea.
“If you’d told me it was real, I might have had a different opinion.” She shook her head and took a deep breath. “Did you want the position?”
“I don’t want to be away from you any more than I have to be, but yeah, I did want it. I just want you to want me to have it.”
“You’re worried about the time away, and I understand that. I also appreciate it. It’s not like when my father was building the company though, Emmett. Hudson works a lot of hours, sure, but we run this company, and if I want time with you, I’ll make sure we have time. The important thing is that you’re happy, too. It can’t always be about me and Penelope’s happiness.”
“You being happy makes me happy.”
“I want you to take the job,” she said.
“Are you sure? I don’t want us to regret it later.”
“If we regret it, we’ll figure it out. This is a huge opportunity, not only for you, but for the company, my father, me, and Pen, and I know you want it.”
“I do. I’ll tell your father.” I took her hand and pulled her in for another hug. “If we don’t get down to the others, I swear, babe, I’m going to make love to you right here and now.” I gave a laugh but I was serious. We’d been all over each other, and I was losing my control.
“Okay,” she said. “I can’t wait to see Pen.”
“As long as you don’t have any other surprises up your sleeve, we might make it down in time to see our guests.”
“God knows what they think we’re doing,” she said.
When we got downstairs, the crowd began cheering for us. I felt my face turn red, even though we hadn’t been doing anything. “Thank you all for being here.”
Autumn just smiled and worked the room as we made our way through the crowd, greeting as many as possible. We made it to the cake, where the photographer was waiting to take pictures of us cutting our cake. Thankfully, everyone had been served their meals and seemed very happy, which I know was a relief to Autumn who had been worried about the menu.
I found Pen sitting at a corner table with her grandfather. “How’s my little girl doing? Did you get you some chicken?”
“Yes, Daddy. Grandpa cut it up for me.” I looked over to see Paul and Kaye across the room, holding hands and talking to another couple. I was happy he seemed to be getting along so well with Kaye, and I couldn’t believe we were leaving Penelope with them for an entire week.
I took Autumn’s hand and pulled her to the side. “Baby, I’m not sure about this weeklong trip we’re taking.”
“She’ll be with Paul, and Kaye can babysit the both of them.”
“I know, but it’s a long way off, and what if something happens?” I didn’t know if we should go to the islands and leave her behind, no matter how much I wanted to have her mother all to myself for the entire week. I’d even had the idea that the two of us would stay naked the entire time and set a new record for being on our backs, but now, I was seriously reconsidering.
“She’ll be fine, Emmett.” She turned to Pen. “Aren’t you excited that you’ll get to spend the whole week with Uncle Paul and Ms. Kaye?”
“Yes, Mama.”
My father spoke up. “She’ll be fine. I’m going to come by and check on her a few times next week. She’s a mature young lady, and she’ll be just fine.”
“See, even Dad is going to help out. Don’t you have something you want to tell him before we take the floor and have our dance?”
I couldn’t believe she was going to make me talk to him right then about the promotion, but I wasn’t going to argue with my wife. “Yes, sir. About that promotion. I’d like to reconsider and accept your offer. Autumn made me see that it was going to be okay, and if the offer is still on the table, I’d like to have the honor.” I held my breath and hoped that he was still cool with it.
“I had a feeling you’d come to your senses, so the offer still stands. It’s yours when Hudson retires, and you’ll start training immediately. When you return, of course.” He gave a little laugh. “You know, it’s important for you and your wife to have a little alone time, like away from the kiddos, now and then.” He gave me a wink, and then the photographer finally grabbed our attention.
Autumn wanted all of the traditional photos of cake cutting and feeding, poses with family and with just each other, and one of our rings. Then we took a few pictures with our friends, and I took Autumn’s hand so we could have our dance together.
I led her out onto the floor, which was right in the middle of our front room where the seats had been moved away for us to have a place to dance, and even though the house was massive, it seemed cozy with all of the people in it.
“Remember when we danced at my other wedding?” she asked.
“I do. Your mom made me do it.” I smiled, and she wiped a tear from her eye. “I know she did because I asked her to. I wanted to talk to you so badly and see what was on your mind. I knew you hated the crowd, and I knew you were just doing it all for me, just like tonight.” She giggled. “So, what are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that I can’t wait to get you all to myself for a week, and I’m wondering how I’ll manage to make it without seeing Pen for that long. I’m afraid to leave her with Paul. It didn’t dawn on me what a knucklehead he was until I really thought about what I was leaving behind. That’s my baby girl, for Pete’s sake. If something happened to either of you, I don’t know what I’d do.”
“You’re a good father to worry so much, Emmett”
“Are you really okay with it?” I couldn’t get over that she was okay with the fact that she’d be away from Pen for the first time ever.
“Well, I was okay with it until you started pointing out what a knucklehead Paul is.” She looked over, and I turned to see that she was looking at Paul and Kaye, who were watching us dance, along with everyone else in the room.
“Damn, I didn’t realize we had such a captive audience.” The song ended, and I was glad that she’d chosen a short one for us to dance to. Just as I was about to walk away, she pulled me back.
“Not so fast, husband of mine. I have another surprise for you.”
“Another one?” She gave me a sweet smile and then motioned for Kaye to bring her a gift bag she’d been waiting for. “What the heck is going on? I didn’t get you anything, baby. I didn’t know we were supposed to exchange gifts.” It wasn’t like I’d ever been married before.
“You already have. Trust me. Open the bag.” She nudged me on.
I opened the bag and found a small box inside, and I had a feeling it was something like a watch or some other expensive gift, and I felt like a real asshole for not getting her something. Then when I opened it up, inside was a tiny pair of white baby booties.
“What’s this?” I looked up as it hit me. “You’re pregnant?” I’ll never forget the smile she gave me and then the way I scooped her up in my arms and spun her around until she begged me to put her down.