Just One Kiss (25 page)

Brinley Noelle Carter was born two weeks ago on one of the
happiest days of my life. I continue talking to her as I walk us over to the
couch to change her. The front door bangs open and I turn my head to see our
son, Aiden, struggling to carry his little sister inside. “Mama, Haddy cryin’,”
he says, lisping in the cutest way.

Aiden Paul was such a surprise to us. We’d just gotten back
from our honeymoon in Hawaii when I found out I was pregnant. He looks exactly
like his father with dark, curly brown hair and wide, brown eyes. He’s even got
his devilish grin that pretty much has me wrapped around his finger, and the
cunning little three-year-old knows it.

Hadley Erin, my little daddy’s girl, takes after me. She’s
still pretty bald at the moment, but everybody on my side takes a while to grow
their hair in. The few wisps she does have are very blonde, and her eyes are
bright blue. She’s eleven months old now and her brother’s best friend. There’s
nowhere that Hadley goes that Aiden doesn’t follow. He’s going to be such a
pain in her butt when they’re older.

Hadley was only two months old when we found out I was
pregnant again. To say that we were shocked would be an understatement. Brayden
and I never expected for me to get pregnant again so soon, but Brin is such a
gift.

“What happened, Baby?” I ask, holding out my arms for my
older daughter. Aiden half drags, half carries her to me so that I can hold
her. There’s a small scratch on her fist, which I kiss, making her giggle
despite the large crocodile tears in her eyes.

“Thanks for bringing her to me, Aid. You’re such a great big
brother,” I tell my son proudly, leaning over to kiss his head. A huge smile
takes over his face as he clearly takes pride in this. “Where’s your daddy?” I
ask him, carefully standing with both daughters in my arms.

“Daddy outside. He fixin’ a car!” Aiden tells me excitedly.
If he’s not watching over Hadley like a hawk, he’s with his daddy working on
cars. He can’t do much, but we pretend he’s a genius mechanic.

“Wanna open the door for me, Bud?” I ask, watching as he
runs forward. Aiden loves being a helper. I think it has something to do with
him being a big brother and feeling like he should be protective. He does his
best helping me with groceries and taking care of Hadley, and he adores
Brinley. Thankfully, he remembers how fragile Hadley was at Brin’s age, and
doesn’t get too rough with her.

“Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!” Aiden screams as he runs up to his
father. Brayden spins around quickly, dropping whatever tools he was working
with to pick Aiden up and spin him around. Aiden’s high-pitched giggles put a
large grin on my face. There’s nothing better than watching my husband and son
together.

“Brayden, his shirt!” I exclaim, despite my joy in seeing
them play.

He looks down to see the black grease prints now on our
son’s shirt and sends me a sheepish grin. “Nothing you can’t fix.”

I raise an eyebrow. “I’m a mom, not a magician,” I say,
walking to stand right in front of him. Brayden puts Aiden on the ground with a
gentle command to go play before bending down to kiss me lightly on the lips.
“Sorry, Mrs. Carter.” I grin and shake my head. In the past four years, he’s
never gotten tired of calling me that.

“You know, the only reason I let the kids be outside without
me is because you’re there to prevent them from getting hurt,” I tell him
teasingly before turning to Hadley. “Show Daddy your hand, Baby.”

She puts on a theatrical pout and holds the offended hand
out for her Daddy to see. “Aw, Princess,” Brayden coos before scooping her up
and kissing her hand a billion times. Hadley not only has Aiden wrapped around
her finger, but Brayden too. She was his first baby girl and they have the
sweetest relationship. She refuses to go to sleep if Brayden hasn’t sung her a
lullaby, which is crazy since Brayden doesn’t exactly have a singing voice.
More a drowning walrus gurgle.

I grin at how cute they are before lifting Brin higher in my
arms to kiss her forehead. “And how’s my other princess?” Brayden asks, leaning
down to place some kisses on her cheek.

“She just woke up from a nap, so we’ve got at least an hour
of happy time,” I inform him. Brin is definitely a baby who needs regular naps
and sleep. She goes completely mad without them.

“Mama!” Aiden calls. I turn and see he’s standing way too
close to the road for my comfort.

“Aiden!” I yell, panicking a little bit.

Brayden chuckles and kisses my shoulder before running
forward and sweeping a laughing Aiden into his arms. A truck pulls up in front
of them and I realize what Aiden was trying to say. No matter where we are, he
always recognizes Uncle Landon’s truck.

I watch as Evie and Landon hop out and head to the back
doors. Evie steps back carrying two-year-old Ivy while Landon comes around the
truck with Ivy’s twin brother, Zach. After the accident, they began the
adoption process almost immediately and a few years later, they got two
beautiful Brazilian siblings.

Behind them, a nine-year-old Zander jumps from the car,
followed by a six-year-old Nora. They’ve both grown so much, it’s crazy. Nora’s
once blonde hair and blue eyes now match the rest of her family’s dark brown
wavy hair and light brown eyes. Zander is the spitting image of his father and
uncle, and acts just like them. Evie has had to sit down with both father and
son numerous times to talk about their language issues.

“Hola, Chica!” Evie calls, waving to me. I grin and wave
back before leading us into the house.

Right by the front door is my favorite picture from the
wedding. I remember it as if it were yesterday.

I’d been planning basically nonstop for the past year and
had made sure everything was perfect. Our colors were ivory and plum, our cake
was just the right size, we only invited people we actually wanted there,  and
it was perfect. That part was scary, but all in all it went amazingly well.

I remember standing in the center of the bridal room,
looking around as everybody hustled to get ready. Ro, my maid of honor, had
recently dyed her hair bright red and it clashed horribly with the dress in a
way that only she would be able to somehow make sexy. Lena and Evie were my
other bridesmaids, with Nora as my flower girl. They all wore plum-colored
dresses with ivory sashes around the middle. I chose that so it to be the
opposite of my dress, which was ivory with a plum slash.

Brayden must really have loved me since, despite his
protests, he accepted the white tux like a gentleman. The groomsmen—Landon as
his best man, and Carlos and Matty—all got black suits. Zander was our ring
bearer and was honored to have such responsibility.

The girls all kissed me on the cheek one last time before
heading to where we’d all walk down the aisle. I stayed behind, wanting one
last minute of peace before everything got crazy. Before I knew it, Dad was
knocking on the door. “You ready, Banana?” he asked through the locked door. I
shook my head. “Anna?” he asked when he didn’t hear a response.

“I need a minute!” I choked back, feeling my heartbeat pick
up speed.

“Uh, Honey . . . we don’t really have a
minute,” he said, clearly worried.

“Well I need one,” I told him as I began pacing, lifting my dress
so I wouldn’t trip on it. When the bridal march began, I released a muffled
yelp.

“Anna, you okay in there?” Dad asked.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I began to rant, “I can’t do
this! I can’t do this. I’m twenty! I’m only twenty years old and I’m getting
married! What the hell was I thinking? Couldn’t we just wait a couple of years
or something? I mean, why now? Why do I have to get married so young? Brayden
wouldn’t mind, would he? Oh, of course he would!” I threw my hands in the air.

“I’ll be back in a minute,” Dad said, sounding uncomfortable
as he cleared his throat. I continued to pace as I heard his footsteps walk
away. I didn’t know it at the time, but Dad was going to get Brayden.

All of our guests were waiting with confused looks as Dad
quickly walked down the aisle alone. He whispered something in Brayden’s ear,
which caused Brayden to start jogging down the aisle, waving for people to stay
seated. “Just a second, folks. We’ll be back in a minute.”

I heard a soft knock on the door at the same time as
somebody tried to turn the knob. “Anna, open up. It’s me, Baby,” Brayden said.

“No. I’m fine. I’ll just be a minute,” I said.

“Anna, seriously, open the door,” he demanded, making me
scowl.

“You can’t see me in my dress. It’s bad luck,” I told him.

I could hear his snort. “I’m pretty sure that any bad luck
started the second you decided to have a panic attack in your dressing room.”

I glared at him through the door, even though he’d made a
completely valid point. “Now, open the door,” he demanded again in a final
tone.

I sighed and moved forward, flicking the lock. He waited for
me to step back before walking in and closing the door. I felt a little better
when he paused a moment to take in the sight of me in my gown. It was an A-line
style with a plum ribbon tied around the waist with a white flower attached to
it. Under the ribbon, the fabric pulled toward the flower, creating a ripple
across the skirt. There was a small train that touched about two feet of
ground. “You look so beautiful,” he told me sincerely, staring deeply into my
eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” I told him earnestly as I began pacing
again. “I didn’t want to freak out today. I want to marry you, but it’s marriage,
Brayden. Like forever and ever and what if you get sick of me?”

Cupping my cheeks in his hands, he effectively stopped my
pacing as he kissed my nose. “Anna Danielle Holden, I’ve known you for years
now. I’m pretty sure that if I was going to get sick of you, it would’ve been
when you wrecked my truck.”

I bit my lip at the memory. His poor truck. I was driving on
the dirt road to get to my house and lost traction, making it flip multiple
times before being stopped by a large tree.

When Brayden got to the hospital and found me crying, he
instantly assumed that it was because I was hurt. Which I was, with a
concussion and two broken ribs and a fractured arm, but I was actually crying
about his demolished truck. He explained that as long as I was safe, he didn’t
care about the vehicle. But I still feel bad about that. “I’m so sorry!” I
exclaimed. I apologize every time it’s brought up.

“Anna, that’s not the problem here,” he told me softly. “I
love you more than you will ever know. You mean everything to me. But if you
don’t want to marry me, you need to tell me now. Because, like you said, this
is forever. So if we’re like fifty and you get sick of me, you’re just going to
have to deal and spoon feed me anyway.”

I looked into his playful eyes and all of my fears drifted
away. This was Brayden. The guy I loved with all of my heart. Why the hell was
I being such a baby about it? Ever since our fight that Valentine’s Day, I’d
been working so hard on being a better girlfriend. Unfortunately, some days
were harder than others, and it sucked that our wedding day had to be one of
them.

“I love you,” I told him wholeheartedly, throwing my arms
around his shoulders. He chuckled and circled his arms around my waist, lifting
me into the air. I giggled and he set me down. Hand in hand, we walked out of
my dressing room and down the aisle together. It may not have been traditional,
but neither of us would’ve had it any other way.

The reception was the best part of our wedding. Brayden
acted like a fool on the dance floor while I watched and laughed, until he
forced me to join him in his craziness. I didn’t mind one bit. The photo
hanging by the door is of when we were about to cut the cake. Brayden, having
absolutely no respect for my beautiful wedding dress, released his hold on the
knife to grab a huge handful of perfect cake. I didn’t even get a chance to
react before he was throwing it in my face and yelling “Food fight!” If I
didn’t love him so much, I’d have killed him. Instead, I laughed and grabbed my
own handful to rub in his face.

The picture is of us, both covered in chocolate cake and
frosting, with the people surrounding us throwing food everywhere. We’re both
laughing with our arms around the other’s waist as we look into each other’s
eyes. I’ve never felt so beautiful as when I look at that picture, and Brayden
has truly never been more handsome—and that’s a difficult feat.

I’m jostled back to reality. “Everything okay?” Evie asks
behind me, noticing that I’ve stopped to look at the picture. I smile and look
around at my family. “Yeah. Everything is perfect.”