Then, I saw Jack and Grace. I smiled when I thought about how happy Gunner was to have his parents living on the ranch. The plan was for Gunner and Ellie to finish building their house, and then Jack and Grace were going to move into the cabin. Jack seemed so happy and at peace, and I knew he loved working with Gunner on the ranch.
“Do you see Garrett and Emma dancing?” Ari shouted.
I shook my head and looked around. Just as I spotted them, Garrett was spinning Emma around. They looked so damn happy. I glanced down at Ari, and she smiled. I knew she was thinking the same thing I was.
“Do you think they still keep a quilt in their truck?” Ari asked before she started to laugh.
I threw my head back and laughed along with her. “I bet they do, baby. I bet they do!”
***
After two hours of dancing, drinking, and laughing my ass off listening to Garrett and a few other old timers talking, Josh, Gunner, and I were sitting at a table looking out on the dance floor.
Ari, Ells, and Heather were all dancing to Chris Cagle’s “Let There Be Cowgirls.” Damn. My dick was getting hard just watching Ari. I loved the way she threw her head back every time she laughed or the way her damn body moved to the beat of the song. I had to adjust myself and look away. I glanced over at Gunner and had to smile. It was a good thing that bastard was married to my sister, or I’d be kicking his ass right now because of the way he was looking at her.
I looked over at Josh. Poor stupid bastard was just staring at Heather out on the dance floor. I really felt bad for him, but I wasn’t really what to do for those two.
“How are the wedding plans coming along?” Gunner shouted in my ear.
I rolled my eyes and shook my head. Holy hell, the wedding plans. I cringed, just thinking about it.
“Fine.”
Gunner and Josh both started laughing.
“Just fine? Come on, dude. You can give us more than that,” Gunner said.
I let out a sigh and looked around. Ari’s parents weren’t there, but I swore I wouldn’t put it past her dad to have spies follow my ass around.
Josh got up and moved to the other side of me. “What the fuck are you looking around for?” Josh said as he looked around. “Is it top-secret shit?”
“I’m just putting this out there; I wouldn’t put anything past Ari’s dad. I can’t tell you how many times that man has threatened my life. He refuses to let us pay for any part of the wedding because according to him, ‘His baby girl will get the wedding of her dreams.’ I’m responsible for the honeymoon though. If I don’t make it special, he has threatened to cut off my dick.”
Josh and Gunner both laughed again.
“It’s not funny. Fucker scares the shit out of me.”
Josh took a long drink of his beer. “As he should. I swear if I ever have a girl, I’m gonna threaten any man who comes in contact with her until I’m too old to know any better.”
“I gotta agree with Josh. I’d be the same damn way if it came to my girl,” Gunner said.
I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess. Anyway, the plans are going good. I think they’re pretty much done with it all. Jenny is amazing, and she’s really done another fabulous job with everything.”
Gunner said, “I tell ya what. Ari couldn’t have picked a better place. When I took Ells to the Mansion at Judges’ Hill for her birthday last year, it was breathtaking.”
“Breathtaking? Dude...marriage has turned you into a pussy,” Josh said with a laugh.
“Fuck you, Josh.”
I glanced back out onto the dance floor and sat up a little. It looked like some asshole was trying to pull Ellie away from Ari and Heather. Ari looked over at me, and before I could even react, I heard Gunner.
“Motherfucker.”
Gunner jumped up and started to make his way out to the middle of the barn.
Jack must have noticed it, too, because he stepped in front of Gunner, giving me enough time to get around them to get to Ellie and the asshole.
“Dude, I suggest you take your hands off my sister now,” I said.
The drunk pecker-head let go of Ellie’s arm and looked me up and down.
“You about to do something about it?”
I let out a laugh. “I think you’d rather deal with me than her husband, asshole.”
“Yeah, well, I think I’ll take my chances.” He started to reach for Ellie again as she took a step back.
I saw Gunner coming up on my right side.
“Gunner, don’t do it.”
It was too late. Before I could even stop him, Gunner turned the guy around and punched him square in the face. The poor bastard took two steps back and fell on his ass.
Gunner walked up to him and bent down.
“If you ever so much as look at my wife again, I’ll make sure you hurt for months.”
Ellie walked over and grabbed Gunner by the arm, pulling him away. The douchebag looked up at me.
I just shrugged my shoulders.
“I told you, dude.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
ARI
“What fun am I going to have, Ells? I can’t even drink. How fun is a bachelorette party when the damn bride can’t even drink?”
Ellie rolled her eyes and looked over at Heather. “Heather isn’t drinking either, and I already told you I won’t.”
“Amanda will. You know that red-headed bitch will drink enough for all four of us plus some.”
Heather laughed, and Ellie sat down on the sofa, letting out a long sigh.
We were staying at the cottage on my parents’ property and the guys were at my parents’ place on the lake. I was dying to know what they had in store for Jeff’s bachelor party.
I reached over and grabbed my cell phone only to have Ellie snag it out of my hand.
“No! You’re not calling him, Ari. You have called him three times in the last hour.”
“Don’t you want to know what they’re up to tonight? What if girls are there?”
Amanda piped in, “Oh, Jesus H. Christ, Ari, stop worrying so much. It’s like Ells’s bachelorette party all over again. Now, I haven’t been out in months, Brad’s mother is driving me fucking crazy, and all I want to do is drink myself under a table and dance with a good-looking guy, who I’m hoping will at least grab my ass once while we dance.”
I just sat there and stared at Amanda. I glanced over at Ellie and Heather, and they were pretty much looking at Amanda in the same way.
“Holy hell, Mandy, married life sure is treating you well,” Ellie said.
Heather let out a giggle.
Amanda sighed and sat down in the chair across from me.
“I think I got married too soon.”
“What?” Ellie, Heather, and I all said at the same time. “Amanda, are you and Brad having troubles?”
Amanda shook her head, fighting back tears. “No, Ari, we aren’t having any troubles. Things have never been better.”
“Then, why the hell would you say you got married too soon?”
“Because if I wasn’t married yet, Brad’s bitch of a douche-twat mother wouldn’t be bugging me to have a baby. She wouldn’t be taking me to lunch once a week and giving me advice on how to get pregnant. She acts like I don’t fucking know how to get pregnant.”
We all started laughing, and Amanda ended up joining in on the laughter.
“Come on, Ari, let’s go. I promise the evening is not going to be filled with naked men or anything that will make your pregnant ass, or Jeff’s ass for that matter, have to worry.”
“Fine, let’s go.” I said.
Amanda jumped up and started clapping. Heather rolled her eyes, and Ellie walked over and reached out her hand to help me up. As Amanda and Heather walked out the door first, Ellie held me back.
“Are you okay, Ari? You feeling okay, sweets?”
I let out a sigh and felt the tears building in my eyes.
“Were you scared, Ells?”
“To get married? Yeah, Ari, I was scared to death.”
“This is all I’ve ever wanted, Ellie. I’ve only ever wanted to be with him to wake up next to him every morning, and to go to sleep next to him every night. I want to have babies, have fights, make up, and kiss in the rain with him. He is the only one I want to do those things with. So why am I so damn scared? I mean, I’m having his baby in six months. This should be nothing!”