Page 55 of Hello Trouble

GRAYSON

I walked down the hallway to Hayes’s old bedroom in disbelief that my son was getting married today. And to a woman as incredible as Della, no less. Hayes was getting ready in the main bedroom downstairs while the ladies used all the bedrooms and the bathroom upstairs to get ready for the big day.

For a long time, I thought Hayes would be a bachelor forever. But Della was exactly what he needed. It was clear in the way he lived his life now. Before he fell for her, it was like he wanted to live as fast as possible.

Now he slowed down. He savored his life with Della instead of racing it away.

I reached the last door in the hallway and knocked.

Soon, the door opened, my daughter-in-law Liv there to greet me. She looked pretty in a mint-green dress, her hair twisted up into a bun. “Hey, Gray,” she said warmly.

I smiled at her. “You look lovely.”

“Thank you,” she replied with a grin. “You’re so handsome in a suit, Gray.” She straightened my lapel for me.

“Any chance I can get a second with the bride?” I asked.

Liv peeked back over her shoulder then looked back at me. “Sure thing. I’ll give you a few minutes.” She walked past me and left the door open, showing Della sitting in front of the desk where Hayes used to do homework. When I could convince him to do it.

My mind flashed back to my little boy who felt everything so deeply. To my surly teen no one seemed able to reach. To the young man who made a life for himself as a mechanic and business owner. God, it had gone by so fast.

It was hard to believe my son had grown into the man marrying this stunner of a woman.

Today she wore a champagne-colored dress with a full skirt that spilled around the chair she sat in. But the dress paled compared to her. She wore simple makeup, her curly red hair pulled into a loose bun at the base of her neck. “How did my son get so lucky to marry you?” My throat felt tight.

Della smiled, getting up to hug me. “I feel so lucky to be with him and to marry into this family.” She patted my cheek gently. “You should be incredibly proud of yourself for the men you raised. They wouldn’t be who they are without you, Gray.”

A ball of emotion formed in my throat, and I had to swallow it down. “Thought I wouldn’t cry today,” I managed.

Her eyes shone as she smiled. “I got you something just in case...” She walked to the corner of the room where a tote bag sat on the nightstand. Then she reached in and pulled out a folded piece of fabric.

Passing it to me, she said, “A handkerchief for you.”

I took it in my hands, studying the sunflower embroidered in the corner next to a blue heart.

I gave her a watery smile, wishing yet again that my wife could be at her son’s wedding. “Maya would have loved you.”

Now she pressed at her eyes. “Oh, Gray...”

“I know,” I said roughly. “Before we get to the ceremony, I wanted to tell you how grateful I am to have you in our family. You are exactly what Hayes needed. And you’ve made our family so much fuller with your presence, Dell. I can’t wait for you to be a Madigan.”

She smiled up at me and then hugged me, pressing a kiss to my cheek. “Thank you, Gray.”

“Of course,” I replied. “I’ll let you get to it. I’m sure other people want their time with the bride.”

At her wave goodbye, I let myself out to find Liv waiting in the hallway with Della’s parents. We exchanged a few kind words, putting me on the verge of tears again, and then I made my way downstairs to see my son, tucking the handkerchief into my jacket pocket.

It was almost time. And even though I knew Hayes loved Della with his whole heart, part of me worried he would take up his old ways and run.

So I took a deep breath before knocking on my bedroom door, not quite sure what I would find with the seconds ticking down.

“Come in,” Hayes called.

I walked in, seeing Fletcher adjusting the black tie at Hayes’s neck. Hayes wore an all-black suit with a black tie, and it looked damn good on him. Especially when Fletcher stepped back, revealing the perfectly straight tie.

“You look so grown up,” I uttered.

Hayes gave me a pained look. “I’m over thirty, Dad.”

“You’re still my little boy,” I managed, reaching for the handkerchief.

“Oh boy,” Fletcher said, coming to my side and wrapping his arm around my shoulders. “You don’t want to show emotion in front of groomzilla.”

I raised my eyebrows in surprise as I dabbed at my eyes. “Groomzilla?”

Hayes shot him a glare. “Just ‘cause I want Della to have a good fucking day, all of a sudden I’m a groomzilla. Bah.” Hayes turned back to the mirror, adjusting his jacket.

Fletcher leaned closer to my ear. “Turns out the company wanted to send a new limo instead of the vintage one Hayes picked out months ago. Hayes had words for them.”

“Yeah,” Hayes chimed in. “And they’re sending the right fucking one. With free champagne.”

I chuckled. “Atta boy.”

Hayes smiled slightly, and I walked up to him, rubbing his shoulders through the suit jacket. “How are you feeling, son?”

He lifted a shoulder in response, looking at me in the mirror with a weary expression. “I’m thinking I’ll feel a hell of a lot better once Della says ‘I do.’” He turned around to face us. “Why the fuck didn’t we go to Vegas the second she said yes to marrying me?”

Well, I guess he was still my son. “Because you wanted to make her happy. Like a good husband does.”

Hayes’s lips twitched. “Fucking stupid of me.”

Fletcher and I both laughed.

Hayes fiddled with the sleeves of his shirt, adjusting the cuff links. “I knew I wanted her to be my wife on our first date... I thought she’s the one . Scared the hell out of me.”

I smiled. “I thought the same thing about your mom the first day I met her.”

Both Fletcher and Hayes looked at me in surprise. “You did?” Hayes asked.

I nodded. “Of course, it took me four years to stop running from it.” I shook my head. “Turns out you’re a smarter man than me.”

“We already knew that,” Hayes cracked. But there was a hint of his usual playfulness missing from his voice, and he looked down and turned back to the mirror.

Fletcher looked between us and said, “I’m going to make sure everyone knows it’s about time to start.”

He left the room, and Hayes and I were alone with only Chopper for company, lying on my bed like he thought he was king of the house. To be fair, he looked the part in his little black doggy suit.

I walked up to my son in the mirror, looking at him but seeing the little boy his mom and I loved so very much. Maya always had a soft spot for him. Days like today were harder without her, even decades later.

“You know what your mom always said about you?” I asked him.

“That I was a hundred pounds of energy in a fifty-pound suit?”

I chuckled. “In addition to that.”

Hayes smiled slightly. “Tell me.”

“She said, ‘Hayes feels so much because he has so much to give.’”

I paused, taking a shaky breath, and Hayes’s bottom lip quavered to match.

I gripped his shoulder with one hand and his hand with my other as we looked at each other in the mirror. “She knew all those years ago how good you are inside. How great of a friend and brother you would be. How great of a husband.”

Hayes turned to me now, his eyes tortured. “I can’t lose her like we lost Mom. I can’t, Dad, I?—”

I shushed him, pulling him into a hug. “I know.”

Hayes gripped my back while I held the back of his neck in my hand.

Still holding him, I said, “You’re brave, Hayes. To love Della with your whole heart on your sleeve. Even knowing what loss looks like. That’s the man Della’s marrying. The brave, kindhearted man she loves.”

Hayes sniffed and stepped back, wiping at his eyes. “Thank you, Dad. For always seeing me when most people judged.”

Tears threatened again, but I blinked them back. “Always,” I promised.

A knock sounded on the door, and Fletcher called, “It’s time.”

“You ready?” I asked my son.

Hayes grinned at me. “What part of Vegas didn’t you understand?”

Chuckling, I took his hand, and we walked out of the room toward his happily ever after.

After walking him down the aisle, I took my seat in the front row next to my best friend. My Aggie.

She looked gorgeous in a soft blue dress that reached halfway down her calves and strappy silver heels that showed the bright red polish on her toes. She patted my knee, saying, “Don’t worry, I brought tissues.”

I gave her a grateful smile. “Good, ‘cause my hanky’s already getting full.”

“Oh gross,” she said with a small chuckle.

I reached down and squeezed her hand. “Thank you for thinking of me.” Aggie was my best friend. She was my sunrise after so much pain of losing my wife and raising five boys on my own. Even if we weren’t in love, I loved her still.

She smiled over at me, something in her eyes I couldn’t quite place. But before I could ask how she was feeling, the preacher said it was time for us all to stand for the bride.

Guitar strings plucked softly as Della came out of the house with her dad, looking even more stunning as the early evening light caught the red shock of her hair.

She walked down the aisle toward Hayes, tears slowly dripping down her cheeks even as she smiled at her groom. And when I looked at my son, he was crying too.

She reached the end of the aisle, her dad shaking Hayes’s hand.

Their relationship had started off rough, but in the last year, Hayes had shown up for Della like he promised.

And her dad started to see Hayes through his daughter’s eyes.

So he smiled at Hayes, and then he gave Della a big hug before walking to the other side of the aisle and holding his wife in his arms.

A pang of wistfulness, of envy, shot through me. Even though I appreciated Aggie’s friendship and cared for her deeply, it should be my wife sitting next to me.

I was lost in a sea of grief as the preacher started talking, but slowly brought myself to shore in time for the vows. They’d written their vows themselves at Hayes’s suggestion. He’d told me canned words could never come close to saying how he felt for Della.

She went first, speaking eloquently of her love and appreciation for Hayes. For always being himself and loving her exactly as she is.

And then my son spoke his vows.

“Everyone here knows I’m not the best with words,” he began. “I cuss a lot.”

A chuckle went through everyone here.

“Turns out, when you find your forever, it’s easy to say how much you love them.”

Aggie passed me a tissue, and I pressed it to the corners of my eyes.

Hayes gripped his bride’s hands, running his thumbs over her freckled skin.

“Della, I was so afraid when we first started dating. I was afraid to fuck it up. Afraid to hurt you. Afraid you’d figure out you’re an angel too good for a devil like me.

.. But turns out, I should have been afraid of missing out on a love like this. ”

As Hayes spoke the rest of his vows, I gave up on holding back tears, and they flowed down my cheeks as I wiped at them.

Over the course of the ceremony, my tears changed to a happy smile. They made sure Hayes’s sense of humor and Della’s contagious joy were incorporated into every bit of the wedding. And when they kissed, I stood up with everyone else, whooping and cheering for their happily ever after.

As people started filing out of their seats, I noticed just how happy everyone seemed. Almost everyone.

To my side, tears streamed down my Aggie’s cheeks. She tried to hide her pain by looking away, but I held her elbows, steering her toward me. “Aggie, what’s wrong?”

She looked up at me, so much pain in her eyes it shot through my heart. “I’m just... I’m realizing that I might never have a love like that.” She twisted from me and joined the group of people walking toward the tent set up for the reception.

But I stayed frozen in place, an all-too familiar ache cutting me bone deep.

I loved Aggie, but I’d loved a woman once before.

I hardly survived her loss, and only because I promised Maya I’d stay strong for our boys. How could I do it a second time?

A cheer erupted as Hayes stopped on the path to the reception building and dipped Della into a romantic kiss.

And then a small voice spoke in my head...

If my son can be brave, maybe I can too.

Thank you for reading Hello Trouble! To get a spicy peek at what Hayes and Della are up to after the wedding, get the free bonus scene today !

Read Gray and Aggie’s story in Hello Handsome !