Thanks to Connie and Bridget, our renewal ceremony and reception was absolutely perfect.
Standing here with my two best friends and Griff, I watched as my bride gushed over the people she loves.
Oddly enough, each time I asked to fill her glass, she asked for sparkling champagne. According to my wife, she wanted to remember every moment. As if I would deny her anything...
The surprise and joy I saw on her face when she caught sight of our family waiting on the dock will never leave me.
Fleetingly, I thought of my parents and how their damn stubbornness had them missing out on their only son’s happiness and the fucking beautiful daughter-in-law they never bothered to know.
But I let the thought go.
My family was here.
My wife, my life, was here.
It was happening now.
“Nice boat,” Butch said in awe of the vessel I demanded we call ‘Superstar’. “How in the hell did she manage that?”
“Bought it online,” I said proud of my wife.
“Pharis just... ordered a boat online?” Aaron asked. “Without seeing it?”
“She might have had some help,” Griff grinned then shrugged. “What? I like boats.”
“What did that sucker cost?” Aaron asked.
Then it hit me, “She won’t spill.” Facing Griff, I asked, “So how much?”
“Couldn’t say,” he muttered, pushing off the makeshift bar Bridget ordered and had set up.
I was about to pry further when he slapped my shoulder and confessed, “She’s the daughter I never had, and she’s worth every penny.”
“Wait, you bought the boat?”
Smirking he extended his hand and I took it. With a firm grip he simply said, “Thanks for taking care of our superstar.”
Many hours later, after Griff and the guys exhausted themselves dancing with my bride, the men took their women back to the hotel, and I went in search of my bride. It should come as no surprise that I found her staring out at the ocean from the bow of our boat.
Coming up behind her, I wrapped myself around Pharis, resting my chin on her shoulder.
“Hell of a night, Mrs. Ellis.”
“Hell of a night, Mr. Ellis,” she replied softly.
“Happy?”
“I’ve never been happier. You are always full of surprises,” she smiled up at me. “Are you happy?”
“I live to surprise you, baby,” I promised her then thrust forward a bit. “What do you think? Do I feel happy to you?”
Laughing, she said, “You’re perpetually happy, Eddie.”
This was totally true. “You never mentioned Griff buying you a boat.”
“I said we got a boat, and he didn’t buy me a boat, he bought us a boat. He loves you too, you know.”
“Fuck,” I chuckled. “He’s deserves more than a bottle of whisky for Christmas this year.”
“I think he’ll like finding out he’s going to be a grandpa more, baby.”
As if time sped up and then came crashing to a halt, I watched Pharis turn around and immediately my eyes went to her stomach followed by my hands. There was a baby in there? My baby? Our baby?
I was going to be a father?
Letting that sink in, I realized she was talking, but I’ll be damned if I heard a word she said.
Because emotions I didn’t even know I had were surfacing.
Christ, as if I wasn’t protective of her before...
The only thing missing from this moment was a club carved from wood and a loin cloth.
Hello inner caveman!
I wanted, no needed to fuck her, claim here again just to make sure no one got near what was mine.
Hell, if she’d allow it I’d piss on her leg, but I thought that’s a firm no. Pharis was into all kinds of dirty but not that kind of dirty.
So, overwhelmed and ready to explode, I knew I needed an outlet, and I needed it now.
I was so out of my mind in joy that I didn’t notice how close I was to the boat’s edge until I went over it.
“Oh my God, Eddie!” I looked up to see my wife staring down at me with wide panicked eyes.
And what did I do from the water but blurt, “I get to cook for two!”
Throwing her head back, Pharis roared with laughter and headed to the rear of the boat to wait for me.
I swam her way, she lowered the steps and sank down in her dress to take a seat on the top wrung.
Moving between her legs, I rested my cheek on her belly whispering, “I love both of my babies.”
Cradling my body against hers, my superstar said, “And we love you, daddy.”
My wife was right, sometimes it does take everything falling apart before it can fall into place.
For us, it took divorce.