Soft kisses pepper my bare shoulder slowly waking me up, opening my eyes. I can't help the smile already on my face. Today is my wedding day.

"Good morning beautiful," Chris whispers in my ear from behind me. Turning in his arms so I can face him I gently kiss him back.

"Good morning love, I can't wait for this evening." I tell him.

Vivienne stirs in the bassinet making herself known. Smiling at Chris I reach over and lift her into my arms, settling her down between Chris and I as we soak in the quiet of the morning still, thinking about the day ahead. I know traditionally Chris and I would not have spent the night together and I shouldn't be seeing him until the ceremony but nothing about our situation is traditional. 

The plan is this morning we'll set up some flowers out back, then Chris and Tyler are going to pick up the food for dinner. After he leaves to pick up the catering I'm going to start getting ready and then we won't see each other until the ceremony. I'm so excited for him to see me in my dress. Chris is wearing a suit not a tux and the boys are both just wearing dress shirts. I found the cutest dress for Vivienne, its cream colored with a big bow in the back, Ms Racheal gave me a beautiful yellow head bow for her as well. Suddenly the door bell pulls our attention from each other.

"That's probably your dad," Chris says, flinging the covers off. Both our dads are coming over to help with the yard set up. My dad has still been staying at Chris's old place, it's been so nice having him so close with the kids, the boys love seeing him as much as they have. Picking up Vivienne I start to follow him downstairs.

"Good morning you two love birds! Ready to get married today kiddo?" My dad greets me with a hug and a kiss. Moving to the baby in my arms next he lifts her from me to give her kisses on her neck, she squeals at him happily as he hands her back to me.

"Let's go see what we can do with this yard," he pats Chris on the shoulder and heads out back. Twenty minutes later Mr Bob is here as well with coffee and bagels for everyone. The men all get to work out back, we have bouquets of flowers and Kate brought over some white curtains that Chris promises will look like drapery when he's done.

A few hours later I step out back to call the three of them in for lunch and gasp at what they have done to our backyard. The gazebo has white drapes hung all around the openings and flowers laid all along the railings and walking up the steps to it. Using more flowers and some plastic candles on the ground they have created an aisle to walk down. Extra flowers were placed on our table out here and we have an additional table set up as well for the food to be served from. It looks amazing and it will be just perfect for our little celebration. After we all have had enough to eat Chris gets ready to go pick up the food for later and the dads head out to start getting ready. Right on schedule Kate and Ms Racheal show up and we head up stairs to do our hair and makeup.

"So how are things going with Tyler?" I ask Kate the second we get settled. Immediately her ears turn bright red.

"He's good, we’ve been talking a little bit." She replies shyly.

"Just talking?" I ask, raising my eyebrows. Ms Racheal looks over waiting for her answer too now.

"We’ve only kissed!" Kate yells. "Usually by now I've sealed the deal if I like the guy but I'm so nervous!" She continues flailing her arms around. Ms Racheal and I shared a look and burst out laughing.

"Kate honey there's nothing wrong with seriously liking someone, and you could do worse, Tyler is a great catch." Ms Racheal tells her reassuringly.

"You're right, I'm just gonna go for it, I know he likes me too, he's made it more than obvious." Kate says the last part more to herself than to us. Turning to me she adds,

"there's Champaign down stairs right?" I nod yes and she hops up from her seat. Soon after she's back with three glasses for us. Raising her glass for a toast we follow as she says, "here's to Larkin getting married and me getting laid, to us!" Laughing we sip our wine and settle into doing our hair.

I'm going to leave mine down in long beachy waves pinned back out of my face. We took turns helping with each other's makeup and the only jewelry I'm wearing is my new birthstone necklace and simple stud earrings. Before I know it, it's time to head downstairs. My dad is waiting for me in the kitchen and I pass Vivienne to Ms Racheal as he hugs me before extending his arm. Soon Kate and Ms Racheal are gone and it's just my dad and I.

"I love you Larkin, your mom and Finn would be so proud of you, as I am." He kisses my head, "and I promise I'm going to be around more now, I'm going to stay in town for a bit longer." He finishes smiling at me.

"Ready?" He asks.

"Ready," I say happily, and I really am. Stepping onto my back porch tears instantly fill my eyes. 

It's dusk and the sun has just set, the candles along the isle are lit up and there are fairy lights strung up in all the white drapes I didn't notice in the day light. Kate and Tyler are standing together on one side up in the gazebo and Ms Racheal and Mr Bob are standing on the other side. Connor and Noah look so handsome standing next to the officiant and Chris is breathtaking. 

He's waiting for me at the bottom of the steps up to where our family and friends all are. We make the walk to him in no time and my dad passes my hand to Chris's, then hugs him and climbs the steps to wait with the others. Chris leads me into the center of the gazebo and everyone circles around us,

"You look beautiful, love," he whispers to me. I respond by leaning in to kiss his cheek. Our ceremony is warm and intimate, the officiant leads us through the importance of our commitment to each other and we share personally written vows. I can't help the tears that fall at his wonderful words to me and the kids. We exchange rings and a contentment settles over me as he slides his ring onto my finger, this feels perfect.

"You may now kiss the bride," he says smiling at us. Chris softly holds the back of my neck and leans in to kiss me, his lips are soft as we touch and I open my mouth to allow him to deepen it. As we pull apart everyone around us claps and the boys join us in a group hug.

“Now let's eat!" Noah yells from the middle of our group. We all laugh and start making our way over toward the buffet table set up. 

For dinner we're having grilled chicken, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans and a strawberry salad. It looks amazing and my stomach growls loudly making everyone laugh.

"Why don't we let mommy go first," Chris says to the boys as we all grab plates.

"Thank you gentlemen," I say as I start loading my plate up.

"Mommy, is there ranch?" Noah asks from behind me.

"We have some inside, I'll grab you some ok?" I say as I make my way to the table. Once I set my plate down I head into the kitchen to grab his ranch because what five year old doesn't want ranch on almost everything. Opening the fridge door I find what I need and close the door to someone standing right behind it. Before I can scream a hand is on my mouth and a knife is to my throat.

"I must have missed my wedding invite.” Hope says darkly to me.

"Better late than never right?" I'm too scared to try and say anything I just stare at her with wide eyes, "The house next door is empty, we’re going to go over there and you're going to help me get out of here. Start walking, now!" she says as she pushes the knife harder into my neck. I whimper at her but move my feet, she steps behind me still holding the knife and we make our way toward the garage door. 

Just as we walk through I can hear the back door slide open, my heart rate picks up, I hope whoever it is discovers us before it's too late. But it's not until the door is closing behind us that I hear Chris call out for me.

"Larkin? Everything ok?" The door closes completely and we are out the side door and crossing the yard quickly, she has a broken backdoor cracked open for us and she closes it behind me and jams a crowbar through the door frame effectively wedging it closed. Hope pushes me into the empty home towards the kitchen.

"What do you want, Hope? How does this help you at all?"' I ask her once we stop.

"You're going to use that big bank account of yours to get me out of the country.”