Just What I Need (The Bradfords) (3 page)

He made it halfway down the aisle, gawking around at the big smiles and cameras before he saw Mac. Then he pulled away from Drew and toddled the rest of the way, arms up, jabbering to the man who’d gotten the boy to say his first words only a month prior.

It broke Morgan’s heart a little to think that the boy had spent two years clammed up for who-knew-what-reason but she melted—as did every other woman in the church—when Elijah clamped onto Mac’s leg and said “Da!” loudly and proudly.

Morgan glanced at Sara and saw the younger woman put her hand over her heart and wipe a tear from her cheek before she gave Jessica a smile and took a tissue from Dani.

Morgan thought maybe she’d need a tissue or two herself. God, she loved these people.

Grinning, Mac scooped Elijah up and motioned to Drew to continue the rest of the way down the aisle.

She couldn’t see the older boy, but she’d put good money on the fact that there was an eye-roll involved as Drew took his place next to Kevin.

The kid-cuteness over, it was Morgan’s turn. She moved into position and straightened her skirt, then her veil. Then she glanced at Doug. Her breath caught in her throat as she found him with his eyes glued to where she stood. In that moment, they were the only people in the sanctuary and she pulled in a deep, long breath. He was about to be all hers.

He was already hers. She knew that. They didn’t need the wedding ceremony to make that true. But they both wanted it. They wanted it to be legal, official, real in every sense.

Then Doug gave her a slow smile and a wink and even from the distance she could feel the heat.

Her dad squeezed her hand. “You ready?”

“Never been more ready for anything,” she said honestly. She grinned up at him. “How about you?”

“Of course. I love a good party.”

She laughed. Truer words had never been spoken. “That’s all this is for you? A big party?”

“Well, I can’t think of a better reason to celebrate than one of my daughters finding her true love.”

And just like that she was choked up again. “Thanks, Dad,” Morgan said with a little sniff.

“Let’s go. Dooley looks impatient.”

Morgan grinned. He was impatient. Almost as impatient as she was. He’d called her first thing that morning and had told her, in sexy, graphic detail, how impatient he was to see her—and have her all to himself.

The music changed, her signal that it was her turn, and Morgan felt her stomach flip.

As she walked up the aisle she took note of everything. The flowers were perfect, the tuxes looked fantastic on the already-good-looking band of men Doug had gathered at his side and the dresses were stunning on the beautiful women she was lucky enough to call friends.

But it was everyone’s smiles that really took her breath away. Everyone looked so happy. So genuinely thrilled. Doug’s dad sat on his side of the aisle in his wheelchair with Jay—the sometimes-fill-in caregiver that helped them out—right beside him. His granddaughters had finished their flower girl duties and were sitting on the pew next to Jay. Doug’s sisters and their husbands were part of the wedding party and both of his sisters were dabbing their eyes.

Morgan’s sister, Maddie, on the other hand, was grinning widely. As was her mom. Mindy gave her daughter a wink as she came closer.

And then there was Doug.

He’d been dressed in a tux the first time Morgan met him and she’d instantly wanted him. He looked even better today. Again because of the smile. He looked like a man who was exactly where he wanted to be, doing exactly what he wanted to be doing.

She smiled at him as she took her place.

“White’s your color,” he said, low enough that only she could hear.

“Thanks. You look pretty good yourself.” She leaned in even closer. “Though I’m gonna like that tux even more when it’s on the bedroom floor.”

“I was thinking the floor of the limo.”

“You’re such a sweet talker.”

“I’ll be honest and tell you that I’m hoping your panties are white too. Sweet and innocent.”

“Panties?” she asked. “What panties?” Then she turned to face the minister. She was grinning at Doug’s soft groan as the preacher started with the customary words of introduction.

When the first song started, Doug leaned close. “Don’t freak out but I have to tell you something.”

Morgan glanced at him sharply. “What?”

Oh, crap. What could it be? Everyone was here. She trusted Drew with the rings more than she trusted any of the groomsmen. The weather was beautiful. If it was something with the reception, she could totally handle that. The cake and champagne were truly on the bottom of her priority list. As long as Doug said “I do” and they were pronounced man and wife, nothing else mattered.

“Even more than not freaking out, you can’t even react, okay?” he said softly, stroking his thumb over the back of her hand.

“Doug, you’re scaring me.”

“Nothing to be scared about. Something’s going on and you need to know.”

“Right now?”

“Well, it’s going to change our plans for today a little.”

She frowned, then tried not to. She wasn’t supposed to react. “What is going on?”

“Dani’s in labor.”

Morgan
really
wanted to react to that, but she held it together. “Labor?” she repeated. “Now? Here?”

“Yes. But she doesn’t want us to know. It’s just starting and could be hours yet. But I thought you should know.”

Oh. Morgan so wanted to look at her bridesmaid. This was huge.
Huge
. And Dani was putting her and Doug first. But… “It’s early for the baby isn’t it?”

“A little. I guess Ben knows and he talked with her before he came down the aisle. She’s okay for now.”

“I can’t believe Sam is okay with her being here like this.” Morgan was
itching
to look at Dani. To grab her and hug her. To drive her to the frickin’ hospital. She glanced over at Sam though. He was watching them with a casual smile. He even gave her a wink when he caught her eye. He didn’t seem the least bit ruffled by his wife being in labor at that very moment.

“Sam doesn’t know,” Doug said.

Not reacting was the best acting job she’d ever done. “
What
?”

“Dani’s going to tell him as soon as we say the vows.”

“Well, we’re gonna need to speed this thing up,” she decided.

Doug grinned at her. “My thoughts exactly.”

The song was winding down and Morgan was mentally reviewing the ceremony. They could skip two more songs and hope the minister had prepared only a brief sermon. They’d also written their own vows. “Okay, keep it short and sweet.”

“You got it,” Doug agreed.

As they turned to face the minister again, Morgan had the sneaking suspicion the Doug’s vows had been short to start with.

“Want to hear the best part?” Doug whispered through the side of his mouth.

“The best part of what?”

“It’s twins.”

Oh…crap.

“Pastor?” Morgan said quietly. “I’m not feeling very well. We’re gonna have to jump ahead here.”

Pastor Michaels leaned closer, looking concerned. “Be sure you’re breathing. Don’t lock your knees.”

“Right. Got it. But I had a lot of…tequila last night,” Morgan said. “We really need to speed this up.” She’d had
some
tequila at her pseudo-bachelorette party the night before, so she wasn’t blatantly lying to a man of God.

The minister gave her a disapproving frown, but sighed. “Very well.”

“And we’re not having any more music until the very end,” Morgan added.

Pastor Michaels glanced at the pianist. “Fine.”

He spoke for only three minutes about the important role of friends and family in supporting a marriage. Morgan didn’t feel bad about him skipping through some of that—their friends and family knew that they were valued and would always be a huge part of their marriage. Then he spent about two minutes on how amazing it was for two people so well matched to find each other and how it had to be a part of God’s plan. She liked that part. It amazed her every day how fortunate she felt to have found Doug.

But there was a woman about to have a baby.

Correction—
two
babies.

No one had known it was going to be twins. She wasn’t sure why Sam and Dani had kept that to themselves, but it was going to make things more exciting. Today and going forward.

Morgan looked at her almost-husband.

Babies.

She wanted babies. Lots of them. With Doug. She squeezed his hand.

He turned to face her, ready to say his vows.

She smiled up at him and took a deep breath. Even if it was a shortened version, this was going to be good.

“Morgan,” he started, “I love you more than I ever imagined I could love anyone. Thank you for putting up with me, thank you for making yourself at home in my life, thank you for loving me just as I am. I promise to do the same for you for the rest of my life.”

Wow. Yeah, that really was pretty good. Doug Miller could do a lot with a few words.

She blinked against the sting in her eyes, wet her lips and said her vows to him. They were longer, but she left out at least two paragraphs.

He gave her a bone-melting grin when she was done.

They exchanged their rings, repeating the words after Pastor Michaels quickly.

Finally he said, “I now pronounce you man and wife.”

They were kissing before he even said “man”.

The congregation cheered and Morgan leaned in. “We’ll tell each other the rest of our vows later, okay?”

Doug looked at her. “The rest?”

“You shortened…” She sighed and shook her head, but couldn’t help smiling. “That was it, huh? The whole thing?”

“It was good, wasn’t it?”

Before she could answer, he kissed her again. Lust and love spread through her equally as he gathered her close and she tangled her fingers in his hair. When he lifted his head she had to admit that maybe words weren’t Doug’s strength, but he was not without talent.

“But I’ll say anything you want me to later, Sugar. The more clothes you take off, the more eloquent I’ll get.”

She laughed and pushed him back. “I know from experience that’s not true. But I do love tongue-tying you.”

“Uh, I hate to do this but…” Kevin interrupted.

“Right.” Morgan pulled her eyes from her husband—her
husband
—and turned to his best man. “We’ll get the guests moving out of the church. You guys take care of Dani.”

“What about Dani?”

They all turned to face Sam.

“Uh…” Doug said.

“Wow, that was the shortest wedding ceremony ever,” Dani said, stepping up beside them. “And I think I know why.”

“Why?” Sam asked.

“You told them?” Dani asked, as Eve came up to the front from the pews.

“No, I swear I only told Ben.”

Sam swung to look at Ben. “Told Ben what?”

“I found a note in Ben’s pocket and he had to explain,” Jessica said.

“And then I overheard them talking and made them tell me what was going on,” Mac said. “But how did you know?” he asked Morgan.

“Doug told me.”

“How did you find out?” Eve asked Doug.

“Jess must have dropped the note in the room where we were dressing. I found it when I went back in to grab my jacket and made them fill me in.”

“I’m guessing you told Kevin,” Jessica said.

“Well, yeah,” Doug said, as if it was obvious.

“
What
is going on?” Sam demanded.

Dani stepped forward. “We should probably talk about this somewhere else.”

They all turned together to look out at the congregation that was still gathered in the pews, waiting for Morgan and Doug to leave.

“Right, we’ll start the receiving line,” Morgan said, tugging Doug down the two steps from the altar. Then she couldn’t help it. She turned back quickly and pulled Danika into a hug. “I can’t believe you did this for us.”

“Did
what
?” Sam nearly yelled.

“Sam, calm down, I—” Danika abruptly stopped talking and looked down. The marble floor around her was covered with water and the front of her dress was soaked. She looked back up at them, focusing on her husband. “Uh, things are going a little faster now.”

Mac and Kevin immediately pushed forward.

“Time to go,” Ben announced as Mac swept Dani up into his arms.

Kevin grabbed Dani’s flowers and led the way toward the side door. Ben was right on their heels with Jessica and Sara right behind him.

“I’m in labor,” Dani called over Mac’s shoulder to Sam. “It’s time.”

Morgan glanced swiftly at Sam. His face had gone white.

Doug lunged for his friend, grabbing his arm and pushing him down to sit on the top step. “Breathe,” he ordered.

Morgan turned to say…something…to their friends and family but found Eve was already ushering people toward the doors to the church with help from Doug’s sisters, while their husbands rounded up the kids.