Blinding Trust (Mitchell Family #7)(62)
Author: Jennifer Foor

I rolled on top of her. “My pleasure.”

Epilogue

“I can’t believe it still fits.”

Miranda stood back and admired me in my original wedding dress. “It’s perfect.”

“Should I wear the cowboy boots, too?”

She nodded. “Of course. Did the girls like their sundresses? Ty’s mom worked all week on them.”

“Yeah, they love them. She got the sizes perfect.” I couldn’t believe she’d made them for me.

“It’s time for your hair and makeup.” Amy came walking in carrying a tool box of products. Miranda smiled and they dug in. They’d already decided that I was wearing my hair down. Miranda was doing my makeup, while Amy did my hair.

In the next room, I could hear the girls getting dressed. My mom was in charge of getting them pretty. They wanted to surprise me, even though I’d already seen their dresses.

I had to admit that this time around, all of this seemed so much fun. Everyone was relaxed and I couldn’t wait to party with the family.

When it was time to walk down the aisle, my girls came running out.

Christian and Addy held hands as they walked right to their daddy. He was standing with his arms down at his sides, but as they approached, he held their hands.

Noah came walking around the barn. He was wearing jeans, a clean white shirt and a pair of boots. He smiled when he saw me all dressed up. “You look real pretty, Mom.”

“You don’t look bad yourself.”

I put my arm in his and we walked down the small aisle. Since it was just our close family, Ty wasted no time being his normal self. I got halfway down the aisle and he started whistling. “Nice ass!”

The barn filled with laughter. “Shut up, party crasher!” I stuck my tongue out at him and noticed the girls were doing it too.

Colt was all smiles when we reached him. It felt so perfect to be standing up there with our three children.

Since we were already legally married, John had agreed to play the minister. He stood in front of us and let Colt take the lead.

He turned around and faced our family. “I’m goin’ to try to make this short.” He faced me again and took both of my hands in his. “The past eleven or so years have been the best years of my life. Lovin’ you is the easiest thing I’ve ever had to do. Every single mornin’, when I get up to start my day, I look over at you sleepin’ and thank God for givin’ you to me.” He paused for a minute. “Several months ago, we had a big scare. Nobody ever wants to hear that they might lose the person they love. Life is precious, but I couldn’t see myself getting’ by without you by my side. Savanna, you are the glue that holds our family together. I just want you to know that no matter how old we get, no matter what we have to go through, no matter how hard we have to fight, I’m going to stand by you for the rest of my life. I love you, darlin’. I always have and I always will.”

“You broke the guy code to have her!” Ty joked. We heard him groan and turned to see Miranda’s elbow in his side. He hunched over in his seat.

Colt laughed and looked back at me. “You were worth the fight,” he whispered.

It made me blush. “You’re the best I’ve ever had,” I whispered back.

“We ain’t here to watch you two tell secrets!” Conner added.

I took Colt’s hands again and looked up at him. “It’s hard for me to put into words just how much you mean to me. It was easier when we were first married to just say what was on my mind. After all we’ve been through, it’s hard to find the words that can even compare to the way I’ve grown to love you even more. You say you watch me when I sleep. Well, when you’re not next to me at night, I can’t sleep. Sometimes hearing you snore comforts me. I feel like I need you to breathe. It’s as if my whole reason for existing solely depends on your love for me. I never could have gotten through the last few months without you. You weren’t just my caretaker. You were everything to me and the kids. There’s something that I want to tell you.” I turned to face our family. “I need to tell you all something, that I’ve never told anyone. It’s kind of embarrassing, but I think if you hear it, you’ll get a kick out of me telling you.”

Colt had no clue what I was going to say. I took a couple deep breaths and looked up at him. “When I was around twelve years old, I wasn’t exactly the prettiest of the girls. My hair was cut short. I had braces and everyone said I was built like a boy. Ty was the only guy that was nice to me, so I found myself hanging out with him all of the time. It just so happened that during that summer, his older cousin came to stay. Even at twelve, I knew beauty when I saw it. He was the most attractive human being that I’d ever laid eyes on. I swooned over him, along with all the other girls. The problem was that he made fun of me and so did the other girls. They said someone like him would never look at me. They said I’d never even get a boyfriend. I went home that night and cried my eyes out. I told myself that one day I’d be beautiful and someone like that gorgeous teenage boy would love me. I pretended he was my pillow and I made out with him every night.” I started laughing. “Ty solved the boyfriend problem but, I think he only asked me because he felt sorry for me.”

“Not true!” He added.

“Anyway, I never thought, in a million years that the same handsome boy would be the man that I fell madly in love with. I just wanted you to know that I pretended you were my pillow, even before I dated your cousin, even before you knew I was really a girl.”

Colt and everyone else started to laugh. He leaned in and kissed me.

“Oh and just so you know, you kiss way better than my pillow.”

“I’m goin’ to throw up in my boot!” Conner announced. “Kiss her and lets get to drinkin’!”

“Fine!” Colt leaned down and planted a beautifully long kiss on me. We could hear the kids laughing at us.

Our vows weren’t traditional. I don’t even think we said our ‘I do’s’. All that mattered was that we shared our love with our family.

As the night progressed, Colt pulled me to the side. “So, let me get this straight. Technically, I was your first kiss?”

“If you count frenching with a pillow.” I laughed.

Ty cut in, “Can you both stop discrediting me. I’m the whole reason you’re even together. I think I should at least be able to see the new boobs in person, for my part in all of this.”