Kiki was the picture of everything precious as she walked down the aisle, flinging clumps of rose petals. And clumps they were, rather than the rainfall of petals her dad had imagined, I would suppose.

I bit back a laugh each time I watched her reach into her basket and grab a handful of the fragile blossoms in her fist, smoosh it like I’d seen her do dozens of times with play-dough, then toss it to the ground to one side of her path.

She’d then repeat the procedure and toss another ball of mashed petals to the other side. To her credit, the petal balls did break apart on impact, leaving behind scattered pieces of crushed roses along the aisle in her wake.

“Shh,” I cautioned Kade, who was snickering beside me as he watched her entrance. I looked over her head and my breath caught in my throat.

I mean, I’d noticed that Laurie was attractive many times over the years... objectively speaking. But the sight of him in that dove grey suit with the pink rosebud boutonniere that perfectly matched his necktie startled me more than I would have expected.

And the fact that he was walking toward me hand-in-hand with his two amazing sons was almost more than my heart could handle. In that one moment of complete awe, I almost forgot that we weren’t really getting married. All three kids looked radiant as they accompanied their dad down the aisle, their young faces shining with happiness and hope.

It hit me a second later that we were really doing this thing. As it sunk in that this was a complete sham that we were perpetuating in front of our families and friends—not to mention his children, a flood of shame washed over me.

Even if we were doing this for the best of reasons, the idea of lying to those three trusting little souls, who were so thrilled to be including me in their family, made me even more determined than ever that none of them would be hurt in this process.

And really, why should they be hurt anyway? Whether we were fake-married, hanging out on the porch after supper, or doing chores around the farm, Laurie would always be my best friend. I’d love these kids whether I was married to their dad or not, right?

Before I knew what was happening, Laurie was standing beside me, and the kids were lined up to his left while we all faced Judge Anderson as he went over the Dearly Beloveds.

When he had Laurie and I face each other for the vows, I found myself distracted by the violet striations in Laurie’s blue eyes. Had they always been there? And if so, how had I ever missed them?

“Dean MacIntosh...” the judge jolted me to attention as he loudly cleared his throat and joked for the benefit of our guests. “I guess our boy, Dean, is a little bit twitterpated and has got himself lost in thought about his omega, folks.”

My omega. Holy shit. Was Laurie going to be my omega now? Seriously? What the hell was I doing? I was startled from my distracted thoughts again, this time by Kade kicking me in the ankle with the pointy toe of his dress shoes.

The judge was looking at me expectantly, as if waiting for a response. I started to panic again, when Laurie caught my eye. He looked like he was fighting the urge to giggle at this ridiculousness as he simply mouthed the two words I needed to say.

I nodded gratefully squeaked out those words he’d given me. “I do.” Laurie grinned in obvious relief, and I was struck by a dimple that winked at me, a few inches to the left of his mouth.

Where had that come from? How had I never realized that the guy I thought I knew backwards and forwards had a dimple? I ran a finger under the satin noose I wore around my neck, then let my hand flutter back down to my side when I realized that I was probably making a scene.

Laurie smiled gently and reached out to hold my hands for the rest of the ceremony, giving mine a slight squeeze as if to let me know that he understood. Either that, or he was trying to tell me to calm my shit. Either way, it worked. His touch always did soothe me, for whatever reason.

I saw his lips moving before I realized that Laurie was now saying his own “I do”. I was suddenly glad that Kade had insisted on gifting us with a videographer for today’s ceremony.

My brother’s thinking was probably more along the lines of having something to tease me with later, but after this fiasco, I’d be happy to be able to play it back someday and actually hear what the judge had said.

Laurie was grinning again, and I realized that the judge had just pronounced us married and was giving me permission to kiss my groom. Movement from the corner of my eye had me glancing over to see that bitch Helen Adams leaning forward and watching with interest to see if we’d actually kiss.

Apparently, the bitch wasn’t fooled by our little fake marriage and was anxious to prove it false—if I failed to show affection right now, then we’d gone through this entire dog-and-pony show for nothing.

I flashed Laurie a wink and said a quick prayer that he wouldn’t hate me for this as I put my hands on his waist and pulled him close as I settled my lips over his.

Kissing Laurie wasn’t as big of a shock as I’d expected. His lips were just as soft and plump as any other lips I’d ever kissed. If it weren’t for the fact that I knew who I was kissing, and the subtle scent of his aftershave, I wouldn’t even know that I was kissing another man, except for the slight tickle of this stubble against my chin. While I was cataloguing this in my mind, two things occurred to me.

First, was Laurie kissing me back? And also—holy shit… Laurie was actually kissing me back! Secondly, was I imagining things or had this kiss gone on a little too long?

As soon as these two things occurred to me, I broke the kiss and pulled back, feeling a little dazed. Kade let out a loud wolf whistle, and Laurie blushed as he turned back to the judge, as though he were afraid of looking at me right now.

I genuinely had no idea what the hell I was doing, and the day continued to swirl in a blur. All through our post-wedding luncheon, the cake cutting, and toasts from our friends—everything went on around me as though it were happening to somebody else.

As evening fell, and the lights we’d strung up around the yard were lit up, a local band began to play at the edge of the portable dance floor that had been laid out—yet another touch of Laurie’s perfect planning.

I finally started feeling like myself again about halfway through our first dance as I finally started to relax. Dancing with Laurie was nothing new for me. Given my love of dance after a childhood spent taking classes with my brother, Laurie and I had danced together many times over the years. I cleared my throat and decided to address my weird behavior.

“I’m sorry if I’ve been acting like a doofus, this whole day has been crazy. I can’t believe I spaced out like that during the ceremony, but thanks for coming to my assistance and coaching me through the I do’s.”

Laurie chuckled. “I wasn’t sure if you were about to run for the border, or lose your lunch. I figured you were either having second, or maybe third, thoughts—or, you were in freak-out mode. Kind of like whenever you had to give an oral report back in school, remember? Every single time, you totally froze and I’d mouth the words to you from my desk to help you along.”

Once again, I found myself entranced and distracted by that winking dimple, and accidentally stumbled. When I stepped on Laurie’s foot, I jerked back in dismay.

Laurie’s face darkened. “Just because we’re married or whatever, doesn’t change anything. I’m still Laurie—and we’ve danced together a million times—so please don’t act weird now, Dean.”

I shook my head, feeling like a complete ass and knowing that I needed to explain before things got any worse. Before I could say anything though, the band opened the floor to everybody and people started swarming around us.

Kiki came flying out of nowhere, throwing her arms out to me with an adorable pout. “You and Daddy danced long enough, it’s my turn now.”

I started to tell her she could go on the next song, but Laurie was already withdrawing with an awkward look on his face. He waved his hands toward Kiki, and shot me a nervous smile.

“Kiki’s right, I’ve kept you to myself long enough—go ahead and dance with her now. I’ll just… Well, I mean… I should probably go check on the boys…”

With that, Laurie took off and was absorbed into the crowd while I gave my attention to Kiki. I let her stand on the tops of my feet while I guided her around the floor until she tired.

Several songs later, I lifted her to my hip and pretended to waltz her around, my heart warming as she laughed.

“Fatherhood looks good on you, little brother.”

I glanced up to see Kade pushing his way in, and soon found myself involved in a three-way waltz with my brother and my new daughter, who was still happily ensconced on my hip.

Matty dancing nearby with one of the kids from the dance studio, and I looked around until I found Chris. He’d found an empty spot on the ground, and was lying there in his clean suit with his ear pressed to the earth.

I shook my head with a quiet laugh, knowing full well that Laurie would be bitching about the grass stains later—but not at all concerned, because at the end of the day, this was how Chris was able to relate to the vibrations of the world around him.

Kiki yawned, and I wondered how much longer this party was going to continue. I pulled my brother off the dance floor, as I looked around for Laurie.

“It’s getting late, should I see about getting the kids to bed? Do you think that’s going to be my job now too?”

Kade rolled his eyes. “What I think is that you and your new husband have a lot of conversations in store. And obviously, the kids need to be in bed for that to happen—that, and maybe wait until you’ve been married longer than a few hours before you stick your nose in regarding parenting questions?”

I nodded at the obvious sense of his words. A moment later, I was startled to hear Grandma Dot’s voice over the bands microphone. Kade got up and slipped away as she began to speak.

“Alright ladies and germs, the wedding is over and our boys need to get going to their wedding night. You don’t gotta go home—but you can’t stay here. We surely do appreciate you all for coming to share this joy with our family, but now I’ll be thanking you all the more for leaving.”

I was mortified by my grandmother, but people around me seemed to be taking it in stride. I realized that everybody was laughing as they started grabbing their stuff and heading to their cars—either they’d already been looking for a chance to leave, or they knew that my crazy grandmother meant business. Either way, the party was definitely over.

Granny Libby came bustling over and plucked Kiki right out of my lap. “All right, young man. It’s time for you to get going, you have your wedding night to get to now, as your grandmother said.”

“No, we didn’t plan anything actually, Granny Libby,” Laurie said as he came striding over. “Besides, we have court first thing in the morning tomorrow. We couldn’t go anywhere if we wanted to, so don’t worry—we’ll be fine in our own rooms right here on the farm.”

“Your grandmother and I knew that you had court in the morning, that’s why we got you a room at the B&B right down the street from the courthouse. Don’t worry, it’s not the same one that those awful Adams people are staying at, we wouldn’t do that to you boys.” As Granny Libby spoke, she pulled an envelope from her pocket and passed it to me.

Grandma Dot walked up with each of my new sons in hand. “You heard your Granny. You’ll find your room key in that envelope, as well as the key to your room for tomorrow night—and the rest of the week too.”

“Rest of the week?” I asked curiously as I opened the envelope.

“That’s right. Your Granny and I decided that this whole family-moon nonsense was unnecessary. You don’t need to bond with these kids, they already love you. No, you guys need time for just you. You’ve been friends your whole lives, but this is a new chapter in your relationship. Trust an old lady on this one, honey,” Grandma winked.

Laurie shook his head. “But, we promised the kids—“

Granny Libby gently held up a hand to silence him mid-sentence.

“Grandma and I will be taking the kids to the amusement park as planned. You boys are going an hour down the interstate to your room at a lovely couples resort we reserved for you. They have everything from couples massages, meditation, even a sauna. Not that you can go in that, given your condition. At least I don’t think so?”

Granny stopped for a moment, as if perplexed about whether or not Laurie should use a sauna.

Grandma shook her head. “They can look that up on their phones, Libby. The boys are adults—they can find out what Laurie can or can’t do. The important thing is that they’ll be figuring it out together while we have the kids.”

Grandma paused to lift an imperious brow in my direction. “Now you listen, boy. Libby and I have waited long enough to have great-grandkids to spoil. You guys wouldn’t want to deny us our fun, now would you?”

Laurie looked at me as if begging me to intercede, but I had nothing. A second later, the answer dawned on me and I looked at my grandmother.

“Granny, we can’t go to the B&B tonight, we aren’t even packed! All of our things are here, and like Laurie said—we have court first thing in the morning.”

“Got you covered, little brother,” Kade chirped happily as he and my other traitorous brother, Zeke, came walking up carrying a pair of suitcases.

I narrowed my eyes at my brothers, as they stood there with overly innocent looks on their faces. I shook my head then and took a deep breath before I turned to Laurie.

“It seems like we’re outnumbered, Laurie. Would you care to join me at the B&B tonight?”