Chapter 40

 

That week, Mitch and Sammy went back to the Dunbar house. Rico was staying with them, sleeping in Mitch's bed no less. That was a sweet deal.

It was an incredible feeling to go to bed and wake up next to him. When Rico was the first to wake up, he loved that moment when Mitch would first open his eyes and then smile at him, a good morning on his lips and then a kiss.

It wasn't all good though. With the painting downstairs finished, the house was ready to be sold, but his grandmother wasn't ready to put it on the market. At first he thought there was too much going on especially with Sam and Wyatt's wedding coming up. But then Grandmother started dropping hints about Mitch renting the house from her. So far he hadn't said he would, and Rico was afraid to get his hopes up.

 

On the day of Sam and Wyatt's wedding, he and Mitch woke up early to the sound of Sammy puttering around excitedly. It wasn't like they could sleep late. It was a busy day. They needed to get ready, and they were also babysitting DJ and Riley to free up Sam and Wyatt while they got ready.

Raquel came by with DJ and Riley and their little suits for their wedding. Gloria and Lara were there too for the moment. Lara was kidnapping Sammy so she, Noreen and Raquel could give her and Gloria fancy hairdos for the wedding.

Lara and Raquel were getting some things together while the kids were in the kitchen with Rico and Mitch. Rico was having his usual dose of coffee, and that caused some controversy among the kids.

"Coffee isn't any good," Riley declared. "Uncle Wyatt let me try a little bit. It tastes baaad."

"It's for grown-ups, not for kids," DJ lectured him.

"I'm never gonna drink it," Riley decided. With grim disapproval on their small faces, all the kids glared up at Rico and his giant cup of coffee.

"We can drink chocolate milk," Sammy said and they all looked up at Rico again, expectantly this time.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked them. "You already had cereal."

"Do we have chocolate milk, Rico?" Sammy asked.

Rico looked over at Mitch, who told the kids the bad news. "Sorry, we're out. I'll put it on the list. We have regular milk, and you can have one cookie each. Will that work for you guys?" Mitch asked them and of course they said yes.

"Am I the strict one?" Rico wondered seeing how Mitch indulged them.

"It's a special day," Mitch said as he served up cookies and milk.

 

The treats got polished off, and the girls got whisked off to Lara's to get ready. That left the guys to hang out in the newly painted living room. Rico was reading the comics page with Riley. DJ was at the window making sure it wouldn't rain for the wedding. The skies were clear, but DJ still looked uneasy.

"What's on your mind, DJ?" Mitch asked seeing his anxious face.

DJ turned a pair of very serious eyes to him, and told him. "I don't want to mess up at the wedding."

Unlike his crazy younger brother, DJ was such a serious little boy and he looked so nervous about today.

"You know what to do. You'll be fine," Mitch reassured him and then Rico added his own take on it.

"You won't mess up because you have your suits," Rico told them.

The boys looked from Rico to their suits where they hung over the back of the couch.

Rico explained. "You know how superheroes are just regular dudes wearing regular clothes, but then they change into their superhero costumes and they're ready for action."

The boys nodded. They definitely knew all about that.

"Well you suits are like that too. Once you put them on, you'll be ready for anything, and you'll do great," Rico assured them.

"We'll be like superheroes," DJ said to Riley, and the boys now looked at their suits like they thought they just might have some special powers.

 

With the boys taken care of, Sam and Wyatt were spending the morning together. There was some mention of separating the grooms before the wedding, but Sam got this tragic look on his face at the idea, so no one had the heart to do it.

At least Sam and Wyatt were arriving up on the hill separately. Mitch and Rico were picking up Sam, and Wyatt's friends were bringing him to a different area up on the hill. That way they wouldn't see each other at least for a little while right before the wedding.

Parking at the foot of the hill, Rico and Mitch went up holding hands. DJ and Riley held Sam's hands, and they looked so cute in their little suits. Sam looked amazing in a perfectly fitted, light gray suit.

They were meeting Lara and the girls there. When they arrived at the orchard, the girls weren't there yet, so Rico kept Sam company while he paced around among the peach trees. There wasn't anywhere to sit anyway. There was no seating allowed in the orchard, but Wyatt promised they would keep the ceremony short.

It was a beautiful day. The hill was shining and sunlight burst among the treetops. Bows had been placed around trees and flower baskets hung from branches. Mrs. York, the orchard attendant, had supervised the decorating to make sure no damage was done to the trees. The number of guests allowed in the orchard was limited. That was probably a good thing since Sam was so nervous.

"Do I look OK?" he asked Rico and blinked at him anxiously.

"You look amazing," Rico told him as he brushed a leaf off his shoulder.

Sam needed more reassurances though. "Do I look like a groom?"

"You're nervous like a groom, so you do," Rico said to him. "You couldn't look more like a groom if you tried. And I'm proud to be your best man, and it means a lot to me to be part of your wedding. But when I say that again in my best man speech, pretend you're hearing it for the first time, OK?"

"Are you nervous about the speech?" Sam asked.

Rico had to admit the truth. "Sure I am, but I'll bluff my way through."

"I'll try to do that too," Sam said and stood straighter and took a deep breath.

"Haven't I told you that you have a terrible poker face? You're allowed to be nervous," Rico told him.

"Not this nervous," Sam said and he looked pretty scared.

"Sam?" Rico said as he started to get worried.

Just then the girls arrived with Sammy and Gloria running ahead, eager to show off their cute outfits and hair. Mitch, DJ and Riley came over to admire them. Sammy spun around to show them her frilly, pink and white dress that used to belong to Gloria. The dress had been upgraded with flowers sewn into the hem. Her hair had been curled and pinned up with more flowers.

"Look at you," Mitch said and gave her a careful hug while Rico got out his phone and snapped tons of pictures.

"You look like a grown up lady," DJ said.

Gloria stood on her toes and waited. DJ didn't fail her. "You too, Gloria."

The girls were very happy to hear that. Though to Rico, they looked like adorable, little cupcakes.

"Did you hear that, Rico?" Sammy asked him. "I'm a grown up lady."

"You are. You're a tiny, adorable, grown up lady," Rico told her and gave her a kiss on the cheek as she giggled.

 

As the groom, Sam leaned down to talk to his flower girls. "You two look so pretty. Thank you for being our flower girls."

"Yay! Hugs!" Gloria announced and opened her arms to hug Sam. Sammy did too and Sam hugged both of them.

Rico was back to taking pictures, but then Gloria had another announcement to make. "I know something good. Momma said you and Mr. Wyatt are gonna be happy for sure."

Sam was clearly touched by that and speechless for a second. "I think so too. Thank you."

 

Now that Gloria had given him that pep talk, Sam looked a little better. Rico spotted his grandmother coming over with a few of the other people from the café.

"Look at you all gussied up," his grandmother said as Rico went to meet her. "So handsome." She gazed at him with fond pride then pinched his cheeks.

"Ow, she pinched my cheeks. You better watch out, Sammy," Rico called out to her, and she put her hands over her cheeks to protect them.

"I won't pinch this sweet, little beauty," his grandmother said and Sammy ran over and hugged her, grateful to be spared probably.

 

Lara and Noreen took DJ and Riley to hang out with Wyatt for a while, and Gloria went with them because she wanted to be seen and see everybody. Sammy wanted to hang out with her dad though.

"Rico is busy being a best man. I'm gonna stay with you so you're not lonely, Daddy," she said to Mitch, but Rico wondered if she wanted to stay close to her dad because she was nervous. She had never been to a wedding or been a flower girl before.

"You are going to be a great flower girl," Mitch told her.

He looked absolutely gorgeous, but Rico decided he had to tear himself away from him anyway. Since right now Grandma was monopolizing Sam, Rico figured this was a good time to go and touch base with Wyatt. He and his buddies were hanging out on the clearing on the other side of the hill.

"You guys keep an eye on Sam for me. I'll go check in with Wyatt," Rico told Mitch and Sammy.

 

Coming from the leafy shade of the peach orchard, Rico came out onto the clearing where Wyatt was waiting along with the others. It was bright and sunny here, but there was a nice breeze blowing. Lara was off to the side with Raquel while Wyatt was talking to Noreen.

As Rico gave them a minute, Lara gave him an update. "Noreen is taking her turn to keep Wyatt steady. His bachelor buddies were driving him crazy, and Raquel got all weepy." Lara elbowed her and Raquel looked embarrassed.

"I get emotional at weddings, and Wyatt is my best friend," Raquel whined.

"Don't you worry," Lara told her. "Noreen knows how to cool things down. That woman doesn't have a single, solitary, sentimental bone in her tiny, little body. But she does look cute in that dress I put her in, right?"

"Oh, for God's sake, just go and confess your undying love to her already," Rico snapped at her, but Lara just shook her head at him.

"A little tense?" Raquel asked him.

"Maybe a little, but I'll keep my cool around Wyatt," Rico promised her and he went to switch places with Noreen.

 

As he approached, the first words out of Wyatt's mouth were, "How is Sam?"

"He's doing OK," Rico told him.

"Yu and Stan are still not allowed to talk to him. If you see them go near him, take them down hard," Wyatt instructed him. "They're expendable. Sam is not."

"You sure are nice to your friends."

"I love 'em, but I'll kill them if they upset my groom on our wedding day," Wyatt declared. "How about you? You have any warnings for me? Threats? Like 'You better be good to Sam or else.'"

"I can see you adore Sam. Keep up the good work," Rico told him and gave him a hug.

"I will," Wyatt said.

Damn, he was so in love and it was written all over his face. He looked overwhelmed too, blinking up at the bright, blue sky, which matched the color of his eyes. Rico had expected him to be much calmer than Sam, but it looked like the enormity of this day was getting to both of them.

"I feel so happy it hurts," Wyatt told him in a rough voice. "I didn't even know this kind of feeling existed. It's crazy."

Now Rico did warn him. "Keep it together, man."

Wyatt did look a little more sober as he gripped Rico's arm. "How is Sam doing?"

"You already asked me that. He's OK."

"Good. Go be with him, or I'm going over there myself," Wyatt threatened.

"I'm going," Rico told him and he was off. Damn, he was a handful. Everyone was going crazy, but as the best man, Rico was expected to keep his cool.

How was he supposed to do that when all these heightened emotions were swirling all around him, and Mitch was there looking impossibly handsome? All Rico wanted to do was throw himself into his arms and tell him to never, ever let go.