Page 4 of Grimm County Wishes (Grimm County Lawmen #4)

A l stood at the front of the church, feeling uncharacteristically anxious in front of the sea of guests.

He’d made quite the leap from teenage thief to sheriff’s groomsman.

His mother would have gotten a kick out of that, if she was sober.

Al hadn’t seen her in years. When he refused to give her money for her drug habit, she told him she didn’t want anything to do with him.

Fine by him. He’d stopped looking to her as a mother when he started buying his own groceries at ten years old.

Christian stared down the aisle patiently, his face shining with love for his bride.

Pachelbel’s “Canon in D” played softly as the doors opened.

Jeannie was the first to walk down the aisle, and Al nearly swallowed his tongue as he drank her in.

The strapless turquoise dress hugged her curves in all the right ways, showing just enough cleavage to make his heart race.

The skirt ran all the way to the floor, draping her like an elegant princess.

Her honey-rich hair was piled on her head in some kind of fancy updo, and his fingers itched to pull out the pins and let her hair fall against—

Old garbage. Nursing homes. Gutting fish. He needed to think of something, anything, to distract Al Junior, who had decided to stand up for the wedding.

Rose walked down the aisle next, followed by Snow. Al glanced at Nick and Hunter’s faces, finding similar sappy expressions on each. The music changed to “Here Comes the Bride,” and this time, Marina stood at the entrance.

With no parents to walk her down the aisle, Marina chose to walk by herself.

Christian had told them she’d toyed with the idea of asking Sofia, her sort-of stepmother, but he vetoed it.

He was willing to give Marina the world but drew the line at having the head of the Romano crime family in his wedding.

Al watched as Christian’s hand moved up to wipe a tear from his cheek. The love he had for Marina, hell, the love all the deputies had for their women, was a foreign concept to Al. His mom had been a literal crackwhore, which left him with no clue about his father.

Ben and Jeannie’s parents weren’t much better. Their dad had been sentenced to life in prison when Jeannie was in kindergarten. After he was killed in a prison fight, their mom started dating around like it was her new job .

The three of them were already used to taking care of themselves, so her inattention didn’t make a big difference.

Ben had inherited the trailer from his father, so they didn’t need to worry about becoming homeless whenever their mom decided to stay with her latest beau.

Jeannie could fake her mom’s signature and voice when needed.

They knew the best food pantries, and Ben and Al could steal whatever else.

Al snorted when he remembered the year Jeannie started her period.

She stole as many pads as she could from the bathrooms at school, but eventually had to ask them for help.

Ben was horrified, but Al didn’t mind. It wasn’t any different from them stealing toilet paper or deodorant.

They could have afforded the off-brand kind, but he figured lady products were important enough that he wanted to steal the best.

Thank fuck. His hard on was finally gone. He’d have to remember to add period products to his list of deflation visualization aides.

Marina made it to the front of the church and stood next to Christian.

“You look beautiful, princess.”

“You’re not so bad yourself.”

Christian leaned down to kiss her when the minister cleared his throat. “Not yet, Sheriff. ”

Christian sighed and straightened back up. “Then let’s get on with it.”

Marina giggled and linked her arm in his.

The service began, and it wasn’t much different from any other wedding Al had been to over the years.

His focus drifted back to Jeannie. Her blue eyes softened when she caught his glance, and she gave him a smile.

As he continued to stare, her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to give him a subtle nod toward Marina and Christian.

Al shrugged, biting his lip as he looked her body up and down.

She rolled her eyes, and Al had to stifle a laugh when he noticed her tapping her middle finger against her bouquet.

A few years after Ben went away, they’d saved up enough money to move out of the trailer park and into a much safer duplex.

She resisted at first, hating to spend the extra money on anything but Ben.

But after Ben threatened to cut off her visits if she didn’t move, she finally relented.

Al lived on the A side; she had the B side.

They hung out most nights, unless one of them had a date.

Then they’d hang out at breakfast and rehash the night’s events.

But something had shifted over the last year.

Waking up to someone holding a pair of scissors next to his dick had caused him to re-evaluate his life’s choices.

Hunter had assured him that Carina couldn’t create clones from his pubes, but still.

It was time to grow up. As he watched Christian fall in love, followed by Nick and then Hunter, he realized that healthy, stable relationships did exist. And maybe he wanted one too.

“With this ring, I thee wed.” Marina’s voice was strong as she spoke her vows.

A blush spread over Jeannie’s cheeks as Al held her gaze while Marina and Christian recited their vows of love and devotion. Visions of Jeannie saying those words in a white lacy dress flashed in his mind.

He blew her a kiss and winked, falling back on his usual charm to defuse the growing tension. Jeannie rolled her eyes and mouthed “Asshole.” His shoulders shook with silent laughter.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

The church erupted in cheers as Christian bent his wife backward with a deep kiss. They finally came up for air and began the procession down the aisle. If Al thought Christian looked happy before, it was nothing compared to this moment.

He stepped out of order and reached for Jeannie’s arm.

With Jeannie as maid of honor and Hunter as best man, those two were supposed to walk down the aisle together, leaving Al to walk with Snow.

But Hunter still felt a little salty that Al had taken Snow to prom—even though it was a million years ago—so Al agreed to trade spots with him.

It had nothing to do with the fact that Al wanted to walk down the aisle next to Jeannie. Nothing at all.