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Maybe we agreed to something sort of pretend, but the feelings rushing through my chest as I stare across the small space at the woman who’s about to be my wife are very real.

Jesus.

The two of them…they’re pure perfection.

I don’t want this to be pretend. I want to stand beside Victoria and vow forever with her.

It seems impossible. It seems backward. It seems…exactly the opposite of what I always wanted. Because it is the opposite of what I thought I wanted.

And yet it’s true. As I stand here staring between my little princess and my queen, I can’t help but feel like the future is in my fingertips. It’s just up to me to grab onto it.

“You’re both gorgeous,” I say. I wish I knew a word that meant more than gorgeous. It’s not quite strong enough to express what I really feel when I look at the two of them standing side by side in matching dresses.

They look like they could be mother and daughter, and while that’s not what this is about—I didn’t fall for Victoria with any notion that she might be a good fit to mother the child who suddenly appeared in my life—it’s still falling into place somehow. Maybe because it’s what’s meant to be, and when fate is at work, we’re powerless to stop it.

I clear my throat as I try to stop staring, but I have this strange pull to never stop looking at the two of them, like if I let them out of my sight, if I even blink, maybe they’ll disappear and I’ll realize this was all just some crazy dream.

I didn’t want any of this as little as three months ago, and now I’m terrified I’ll lose it all.

I guess that’s the sort of scar being sent away as a child will leave you with. I never thought I deserved any of this, and that’s probably why I spent so long pushing it away and keeping people at a distance. It’s been hard for me to open up to anyone, and I never let myself get attached to another person—until Harper came along, and then Victoria became the one person I wanted to open up to.

I never even felt like I mattered unless I was on the field. But Harper and Hartley make me feel like I matter. They give me a purpose, and I just pray I don’t do anything to fuck this up.

I walk over and kneel to give Harper a hug first, and then I step in front of Victoria. Her breath hitches at my proximity, and I lean down and run my nose along hers before I press a soft kiss to her lips.

“Eww!” Harper whines. I can’t help a small laugh. Leave it to kids to lighten the mood.

“Ready?” I finally ask, and my voice comes out low and raspy.

“Ready,” Victoria says, and her voice is a little hoarse, too.

My chest lights with nerves.

It’s all planned. Neither of us is going to back out.

Yet I’m still nervous.

It’s not a total surprise since her father knows and my daughter knows, but it’s still going to come as quite a shock to the people gathered here tonight—especially to the ex, who I’m guessing isn’t going to take this well.

We’re heading over a little earlier than the rest of the Hartley family, so we have a shuttle to ourselves. I try not to think of everything that might go wrong, and when we arrive at the dock, I spot a familiar and friendly face.

“You made it!” I say, clapping my best friend Tristan on the back.

His wife stands beside him holding their baby, who’s a year old today. Who wouldn’t want to spend their first birthday in the fucking Bahamas?

So maybe I had to do a little convincing where the wife was concerned. She had a whole party planned, but when Tristan told her I was getting married and asked him to show up to be my best man, they made the trip down here.

And I could not be more thankful.

“You remember Harper,” I begin, and Tristan formally holds a hand out to her for her to shake. She giggles and shakes it, and then Tessa bends down to give her a little side squeeze.

“Victoria, I’d like to introduce you to my best friend, Tristan Higgins,” I say. “And this is his wife Tessa and their baby, Fallon. Higgins family, this is my bride.”

“Lovely meeting all of you,” she says, shaking hands and issuing hugs.

“So this is the girl you can’t stop talking about,” Tristan says, giving Victoria a once-over, and Tessa smacks him in the arm while I fidget a little.

Victoria raises a brow as she turns to look at me. “All good things, I assume?”

“Only the best,” I agree, and Tristan laughs.

“How wonderful that you came all this way,” Victoria says. “Thank you.”

“I for one couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see with my very own eyeballs the thing I never thought I’d see,” Tristan teases me.

I shoot him a look. “Don’t make me regret inviting you.”

“I’m honored to be your best man today,” he says, and I pound him on the back.

“Thanks for making the trip out,” I say.

“If you two lovebirds are about done,” Tessa teases as she pats my back, “let’s go get you married.”

We get on the boat, find the arch of flowers and chairs set up for our impromptu wedding, chat with the officiant, and head toward the bar for a drink to settle the nerves.

I go with tequila, obviously, and Victoria gets herself a margarita and orders a kiddie cocktail for Harper, who’s standing back with Tessa while we order.

“You know how much I like hearing kitty and cock in the same sentence, but what the fuck did you just order my kid?” I ask.

She laughs. “A kiddie cocktail. Kid, like a child,” she enunciates. “Not Kit, like a pussycat.”

“What’s in it?”

“Sprite, grenadine, and cherries.” The bartender hands it over the counter. “It was my favorite drink when I was a kid.”

She hands it to Harper, and the three of us hold up our glasses in what will be the last toast before we’re officially a family. “To the rest of our lives,” I say softly, grabbing Victoria’s hand, and she squeezes mine as she repeats the toast and we clink glasses.

Harper’s eyes light up at her first sip, and I have a feeling there’s going to be a whole lot more kiddie cocktails with plenty of good things to toast to in our future.