His arms squeezed around me tighter and I felt his chest let out a sigh. When we let go of each other, I could see that he had tears in his eyes too.

“Paula would have wanted so badly to be here with you today,” he said. “But I hope you know that she is here in a sense. You, and me, and even Michael, all carry her with us and see her in you every day. We will all tell your children about what a wonderful and strong woman their grandmother was—just like their mom.”

Just as I was about to hug him again, Anna popped into the room.

“Oh my gosh,” she said when she saw me. “Lisette, you look amazing.”

“Thank you,” I smiled. “Are you sure I don’t look like I’m about three sizes too big around the middle for this dress?”

“Oh stop it!” she giggled as she walked in and handed me a beautiful little bouquet of flowers to walk down the aisle with. “You are literally tiny everywhere else except for your baby bump, and I think that is the most beautiful part of the dress.”

I smiled and looked down to rub my stomach. The baby was moving around in there, so it must have been as nervous and excited as I was. The dress had a wide, satin sash that went around my waist with an empire waistline that flattered my pregnant body. It was a beautiful dress, covered in tufts of lace at the ends of the sleeves and the bottom of the skirt that looked like sea foam, and sparkling, clear rhinestones that shimmered every time that I moved. Between the gorgeous dress and my mother’s hair comb, I truly did feel like a princess in my own story.

“Are you ready?” Anna asked with excitement in her eyes. “All of the guests have arrived, the officiant is standing at the archway waiting, and everything is in place.”

“What about Michael?” I asked.

Adam grinned at me.

“Oh he’s definitely there,” he snickered. “He’s been standing there beneath the archway waiting since before any of us even got here.”

A warmth usurped my entire body as I thought about Michael at the end of the walkway. I was walking toward my future and carrying our future inside of me. I couldn’t wait another moment longer to get married to him.

“Yes,” I said. “I’m ready.”

I took Adam’s arm as he led me out of the room, and we followed Anna outside. When we stepped out, all of the guests stood and turned to look at me. I didn’t see any of them though. I only saw Michael.

Adam walked me down the aisle and I could hear the soft sound of a string quartet playing somewhere in the background around me. It all felt like a dream. And Michael looked every bit the part of the prince at the end of my journey. Every step that I took toward him made me feel stronger and happier than before. When we reached the end of the walkway, Adam gave me a kiss on the cheek and then went to stand next to Michael. He gave him a pat on the back and then Michael stepped forward to take my hand and bring me to stand next to him in front of the officiant.

While she was reading some ceremonial words, I couldn’t even concentrate on what she was saying. From the look on Michael’s face, neither could he. We stood so closely facing each other, that when he whispered to me as the officiant was speaking, I could hear him even though no one else could.

“Do you remember what you said to me back on that mountaintop in Asheville?” he whispered.

“Yes,” I said. “And do you remember what you said to me?”

He smiled and nodded his head.

“Those are the only vows that we will ever need.”

When the ceremony was over, and the after party had died down to just a few lingering guests; Michael, Adam, and I snuck off to a quiet corner to indulge in another drink and reminisce about times that only the three of us knew about and held closely to our hearts.

“You know,” Adam said. “I knew that this is where we would all be sitting together one day—at your wedding. Why do you think that I brought that question up?”

“Oh please,” Michael joked. “You were completely drunk. There’s no way that you posed that question just to get us to both think about it.”

Adam shrugged and the mischievous grin on his face made me think that he really did know what he was doing then. To think how lucky I was to have such wonderful men who loved me in such different ways.

“I hope that today was as perfect a day as you wanted it to be,” Michael said as he kissed the top of my hand and held it to his chest.

“It was,” I smiled. “In every way. The only thing more that I could have wanted, was to have Julian and my mother here with us.”

“I know,” he said. “I would have wanted that too.”

Michael reached his hand over to rest on my belly and when he did, the baby moved around.

“But our child is here,” he said as his eyes opened wide in response to the movement he felt beneath his fingers. “And whether it be a boy or a girl, I think that our child will bring a part of everyone we have ever loved with them. We will make sure that the memory of Paula and Julian lives on forever in us and in our baby.”

His words warmed my heart, and I knew that Michael was right.

The three of us spent a bit longer together, and then Michael and I left to go home and spend our intimate wedding night together.

“You are the most beautiful woman in existence,” Michael said as he helped me take off my wedding dress once we got into our bedroom.

He kissed the back of my neck and as my dress fell down to the floor by my feet, his arms wrapped around me and his hands trailed down over my breasts, onto my stomach, and then down toward the top of my thighs. I turned around in his arms and started to unbutton his shirt until I was able to pull it off of him. Then my fingers worked to unzip his pants. As we stood there nakedly against each other with our clothing at our ankles, I looked up into his deep eyes and felt a longing more urgent than any I had ever had.

“Make love to me,” I pleaded as I urged my body against him and tilted my head up to kiss his lips.

His tongue slid into my mouth and his hands reached underneath my butt to lift me up and carry me over to the bed. When he laid me down onto the mattress, he climbed carefully over me, making sure not to put his weight on me and to caress every part of my body as if I was the most revered thing in the universe to him.

“How did I ever get so lucky?” he whispered as he leaned down to kiss me and gently pluck the hair comb from my hair.

“It’s not luck,” I said to him as I tried to steady my trembling body beneath his. “This was the story we were meant to have and the journey we were meant to go through. We’ve earned this now. We’ve earned each other.”

Michael smiled and gently pushed my thighs apart. Places deep within me began to quiver when I felt the pressure of his warm, hard cock push into me. He was slow, and steady, and careful, and when he had completely come into my body, I felt as if I had an insatiable need that could never be quenched.

With every push into me, the pleasure climbed until we were both trying to hold onto the tendrils of each moment to savor the climbing sensation until we couldn’t hold on any longer. Michael moaned as he exploded within me, and I gasped with pleasure as I unraveled around him. We held onto our shaking bodies together and caught our breath, until he gently withdrew and laid beside me. He pulled me up onto his shoulder and I threw one leg over his as we laid in a satisfied, heaving heap of limbs that tangled together.

“What do you think the baby is going to be?” he asked after we had laid there for a while in a comfortable silence. “Do you think it will be a boy or a girl?”

“I’m not sure,” I said. “Did you want to find out?”

“No, I want it to be a surprise if that’s okay with you.”

“I would like that too,” I said.

“Did you have any names in mind?”

“Only one,” I answered. “If it’s a girl, I thought that I would like to name her Astrid.”

“That’s a beautiful name. I love it. It’s very unusual too. What made you think of that name?”

“It was my mother’s middle name—Paula Astrid.”

I felt a pang of sadness in my chest when I thought about if the baby were to be a girl, and the fact that she would never know her grandmother—the woman who was very much responsible for my being alive and with her father this very day.

“It’s perfect,” Michael said as he held me closer and kissed my forehead. “I love it.”