IT WAS A little after seven when Logan finally turned onto their street and made his way down to the cabin. The snow had let up, but there was a beautiful dusting over all the trees and homes as he wove his way down to the far end of the street.

He’d called Tate when he’d finally made their exit to let him know he was on his way, and he couldn’t wait to finally get there and out of the damn car. As he made his way down the drive, Logan veered off in the direction of the barn to park his Audi, since the odds were it would be snowing later tonight.

When he got there, he was pleasantly surprised to see the doors were open, and when he drove inside, he spotted Cole standing there in a long black trench coat, a scarf, and gloves.

Logan cut the engine, and when he got out, he grabbed his coat off the back seat, shrugged into it, and shut the door.

“Jesus,” he said as he came around to the trunk and opened it. “What a night. I could do with a stiff drink and Tate right about now.” Logan thought about that for a minute and then laughed. “Or a drink and a stiff Tate, I’m not picky. Where is he, by the way?”

“He’s around,” Cole said as he looked inside at the duffel Logan was about to grab. “You can leave that there.”

“Huh?” Logan said, giving Cole a why would I do that? look.

“Your bag—you can leave it there.”

Logan turned to face him, and just as he was about to ask Cole what his deal was, Cole reached out and shut the trunk.

“Cole, what the—”

“Stop talking,” Cole said, and held a finger up. “I know that’s hard for you. But stop talking and listen for a minute, okay?”

“Did you start drinking early or something?”

“Logan…” Something about Cole’s tone resonated with Logan then. He sounded so serious, but his eyes were alight with…excitement? So Logan reluctantly shut his mouth. “I have instructions for you, and you need to follow them without complaint or I’ll get in trouble, and so will you.”

“What do you mean you—”

“Shh,” Cole said again, and Logan bit his tongue. “Very good. Okay, we’re going to head back to the house, and when we get there, we’re going to go through the back door and you are to go straight to your room.”

Logan laughed, a hearty laugh that filled the barn. “Cole, what the hell is going on? I have to go to my room? What, am I in trouble? Oooh, is Tate in there? Waiting for me? Is that my reward after being stuck in traffic for hours?”

Cole rolled his eyes, but his lips twitched before he turned around and walked out of the barn, clearly not about to tell Logan anything else.

What the hell? He had no idea what was going on. But he wasn’t about to stand out there in the cold all night. “Hey, wait up, would you?”

He jogged outside, hands in his coat pockets as the two of them walked along the path that led back to the house, snow crunching under their feet.

“Did you guys pick up the wood for the bonfire tonight?” Logan asked as they went, and Cole nodded.

“We did.”

“And are the kids excited?”

“Very.”

Logan stopped and said, “Is there a reason you’re being all weird tonight?”

Cole turned back to face Logan and gave him a smug smile. “Nope. I’m just enjoying the peace and quiet of this place. It’s so odd that you bought this property, since you still can’t handle silence worth a shit.”

“I can handle it just fine. But I’ve been sitting in a car by myself for the past however many hours, and the first face I see when I pull up is yours, and you’re acting weird. Are you sure you didn’t get stuck into the whiskey already?” When Cole started walking again, Logan followed. “Aww, man. You did start without me, didn’t you?”

“No. None of us did. Trust me. We waited for you,” Cole said when they finally got to the back door of the cabin and he shoved it open.

Logan stopped and scuffed his boots on the mat.

“Again. You’re acting really bizarre,” he said as he walked inside and was shocked at the silence that greeted him. “Where is everyone? Where’s your wife and kids?”

Cole grabbed Logan’s arm as he went to walk down the hall to investigate, and directed him into the master bedroom instead. “I told you, we have rules to follow tonight.”

What is he going on about with these rules? If Cole didn’t hurry up and explain, Logan was going to lose his patience. It was already starting to wear thin. “Do you want to maybe turn on a—”

Cole flicked on the light before he’d finished his sentence, and when Logan’s eyes adjusted to the brightness, they latched on to his tuxedo hanging on the closet door. It was perfectly pressed as it stared him down, and as Logan’s brain began to compute, he whirled around to see Cole standing inside the bedroom with the door shut behind him.

“What’s that for?” Logan’s heart was thumping so hard that he was surprised Cole couldn’t hear it, and when he looked back over his shoulder to see if he’d really seen what he thought he had—yep, the tuxedo is still hanging there.

“You know what it’s for,” Cole said, and Logan’s head whipped back around so he was looking his brother in the eye.

“No, no,” Logan said, and shook his head. “There’s no way. Tate wants—”

“You to unwind a little, eat some of the food over on that tray, then take a shower and get dressed.”

Logan’s mouth fell open and his hands started to shake.

Oh my God. Is this really happening?

When he couldn’t seem to work out how to ask the question, he merely looked at Cole, who took a step forward and clasped either side of his arms.

“You’re getting married tonight, Logan. So take a deep breath, soak it in, and if you still want that stiff drink, I put a glass of Macallan over on that tray for you.”

Logan swallowed once and then licked his suddenly dry lips. He was finding it difficult to think. Difficult to breathe. Difficult to do anything other than just stand there, stunned speechless.

He glanced over at the tray by the bed and noticed there was some finger foods, cheese and crackers, and, yes, a glass of whiskey—and beside it was a note. He then looked back to Cole and finally managed to say, “Tate… He…uh…”

“He’s here. He planned everything. Well, with some help from us. But all he wants tonight is for you to relax—”

A noise partway between shock and happiness escaped Logan. “Like that’s going to happen now.”

“Right,” Cole said, and reached behind for the door handle. “But try. He wants you to enjoy this. And Logan?”

“Yeah?”

“If you need anything, I’ll be just outside. Otherwise, get ready and knock on this door when you’re done.”

Logan finally brought a hand up to rub over his face, and when he let it drop to his side, a smile he could no longer contain spread across his lips. “I’m getting married tonight.”

“I know,” Cole said. “I’m the one who’s going to perform it.”

When Logan’s mouth fell open, Cole walked out the door and said, “Go have that drink, Logan, and I’ll see you soon.”

* * *

TATE STOOD IN front of the window of the guest room watching the snow that was just now starting to fall again, as he waited for Cole to come and let them know that Logan was in their room and hadn’t made a run for the hills.

It’d been around twenty minutes since he’d spoken to Logan on the phone, and around ten minutes ago they’d heard Cole and Logan enter the house. The cabin was so quiet right now you could hear a pin drop. They had turned all the lights off so the place was plunged into darkness, and everyone had gathered in the guest room with Tate to keep Logan in the dark as much as possible.

The fact that Logan had turned up late had actually worked to their advantage in the end, because the night would only add to the ambience of what was about to happen. It was going to be a spectacular moment in their lives neither of them would forget, and Tate couldn’t wait to watch it unfold.

“Tate, stop twisting your hands like that,” his dad whispered from where he sat by Jackie on a large wooden trunk at the end of the bed. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”

Tate immediately dropped his hands by his sides and shook them as he aimed a tight smile in their direction. He was nervous as hell. Not about the wedding or the marriage, but by what Logan’s reaction would be to it all when he found out. But Rachel had been right that they send Cole in. If anyone could handle Logan, it was his brother.

Rachel was sitting with Thomas and Lila on the edge of the bed in the center of the room, the two little ones eagerly playing the game of hide and seek, as they all waited for the signal to move the plan along.

A soft knock on the door caught Tate’s attention, and Rachel said, “You stay there. I’ll check.”

She hopped off the bed, walked over to the door, and cracked it open just a fraction. When she saw who was on the other side, she opened the door and let Cole in. “Is he here?” she asked.

Cole looked around the room, a serious expression on his face, and then he nodded. “He is.”

“How is he?” Tate asked.

Cole turned his attention on him, and the tight line of his mouth finally curved into a wicked-big smile. “Shocked speechless.”

“In a good way?” Tate asked, and held his breath.

Cole reached for his arm and squeezed it. “In an I can’t believe I’m this lucky kind of way.”

Tate let his breath out in a rush. Thank God.

“I just heard the shower turn on,” Cole told them. “So I have about, what? An hour?”

Tate laughed. “Maybe about twenty minutes.”

“Okay. I need to get changed.”

“Your suit is in the bathroom,” Rachel told him, and then moved up to her tiptoes to kiss him. As Cole headed off, Rachel looked back at Tate. “I guess I need to go and stand guard, then.”

She walked over to the bed where Thomas and Lila still sat and cupped a hand on both their cheeks. “You be good for Mr. Will and Miss Jackie, okay?”

“Okay,” Thomas said, and aimed a grin at her, handsome as ever in his little tailored suit and tie.

“Kiss,” Lila said, and pointed to her cheek, and Rachel leaned down to kiss her.

“You look very pretty, little miss. I like these flowers in your hair.”

“You pretty,” Lila said, and hugged Rachel around the neck.

They both looked beautiful, Tate thought, as he watched mother and daughter.

“Okay,” she said, as she straightened and came back over to Tate, whose hands she took in hers. “I promised myself I wouldn’t cry before the actual ceremony, so I’m just going to say that I love you. I have one amazing brother, but the day Logan brought you home, I gained another. You two are perfect for each other, and I can’t wait to see Logan’s face when he lays eyes on you tonight.” Rachel kissed his cheek, and then she whispered in his ear, “You did the impossible. You made Logan realize what we knew all along. That he deserves to be loved and by someone good and honest. Someone like you.”

Tate brought one of her dainty hands up to his lips and kissed it, humbled to his core by her faith in him. He shut his eyes, and when he felt her touch his hair, Tate swallowed and raised his eyes back to hers.

“Thank you,” he said as she bit down on her lip, clearly trying to fight back a wave of emotion. “Thank you for saving me that day, so I could have this one. I love you, Rach.”

Rachel brought her fingers to her mouth, her eyes shimmering with tears as she nodded. Tate winked at her, and when she grinned, he smiled in return.

“Right,” she said, and brushed away a tear from the corner of her eye before turning to head to the door. “I’ll see you all soon.”

As she left, Tate took a deep breath and turned to see that his father had been watching the exchange while Jackie was with the kids.

“I didn’t know that,” Will said as he got to his feet and walked over to where Tate was tugging the sleeves of his shirt down under his jacket.

“You didn’t know what?”

“That she was there that day with you. The day of the accident.”

“Yeah,” Tate said, thinking back to that tragic time in his life. But through it all, Logan, Rachel, and Cole had been there for him. A family he never knew he’d have, and one he’d never felt more loved by, and today…today he got to make them officially his. “She’s an amazing woman.”

“That she is. They’re all pretty amazing, aren’t they?” his dad said as they turned to see Lila clapping her hands and Thomas laughing at something Jackie was saying.

Tate bumped his arm against his father’s. “Jackie’s pretty amazing too.” When Will looked at him, Tate grinned.

“Yeah. I like her.”

“Like her, huh? Don’t get too carried away,” Tate joked.

“I like her a lot,” Will said. “But tonight isn’t about me. Are you ready to do this?”

Tate touched the ring on his finger and thought about the man at the other end of the hall getting ready. “This might sound crazy, but I feel like I’ve been getting ready for this my entire life.”

Will reached for Tate’s face and smiled widely. “Doesn’t sound crazy to me.”

Tate felt his eyes grow damp, and he tried to swallow around the lump in his throat. His emotions were so close to the surface that he had to let them out or get swallowed by them. “I love him so much, Dad.”

Tate was shocked to see his father’s eyes tear just as his were, and when Will patted Tate’s cheek, he said, “I know you do. So, pull yourself together so you can go and marry him.”

Tate nodded, and as he was about to go and find a tissue, he saw Jackie walking over with a box. “Thank you.”

She leaned in and kissed his cheek. “You’re welcome. You look very handsome tonight. Logan’s a lucky man.”

“Yes, he is,” Will said.

“Right,” Jackie said. “I’m going to take these two munchkins and head out there. I’ll see you two shortly.”

Tate waved at them, and as they left the room, he walked over to the full-length mirror for a final once-over, just to make sure everything was in place.

As he stared at the reflection looking back at him, Tate was reminded of a time where he’d been so unsure of who exactly that man was. He’d been so confused by the feelings he was experiencing with Logan, and he’d spent a good deal of time searching for those differences in his outward appearance to see if he could spot the change. But as he stood there now, looking at the man in the tuxedo with the curly hair, slight stubble, and confident expression on his face, Tate knew exactly who he was and who he was meant to be.

William Tate Mitchell.

And it was time to go and make that official.