Fake Dating My Ex's Hockey Star Brother (Maya Scott) novel Chapter 271

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Epilogue 6

ALLISON’S POV

$25 Pents

“I’m gonna give you the advice I got from Lucy and a bunch of other guys online,” Katy says, holding my hand. “Marriage is different from a relationship, and you know why? You’re actually his boss

now.”

I laugh, and it comes out more startled than elegant, which is probably not what my makeup artist had in mind after forty minutes of work. “That’s the advice?”

“That’s the foundation,” she says seriously. “Everything else builds on it.”

I nod, because yeah, she’d know better than me. She’s been married to Braydon for half a year, and even though that doesn’t sound like long, people manage to get divorced before they even reach that milestone, so I’m assuming she’s developed opinions that actually work.

Also, she’s currently carrying a secret.

Well, less of a secret and more of a tiny seed only I know about besides Braydon. Four weeks

along, and she’s already been touching her stomach about every twelve minutes.

“So I just

The door swings open.

My mum enters the room, dressed in her mother–of–the–bride ensemble and holding her phone up.

“Hold that pose,” she says to me. “The light is good right now.”

“Mum, I think it’s enough.”

The shutter sound effect fires four times in rapid succession.

“Just a few more.” She angles the phone again.

“You’ve taken a hundred photos in the last thirty minutes.” I complain.

Mum lowers the phone just slightly. “It’s your wedding, Allison. And hopefully, it only happens once.

“Okay-”

“I should have gotten a first look.” Mum cuts in, her brows pulling together. “You should have come to my room first, before anything. Just me and you.” She pauses. “Consider it a gift to me for being a single mother.”

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Epoque 6

I tilt my head. “Since when are you a single mother?”

+25 Pobl

She straightens. “I am officially divorced. Your father gets no credit for anything from this point forward. I have updated my position.”

“He might be somewhere in this building right now and hear you.”

She rolls her eyes. “Then he’ll know.”

I shake my head. Inviting my dad today almost gave her a stroke but I still did anyway.

The photographer appears in the doorway. “We’re ready for the first look.”

My stomach drops straight through the floor.

I exhale slowly and turn to Katy. “How do I look?”

“You are the most beautiful person in this room,” she answers, her eyes brimming with tears and pure happiness on her face. “Every single inch of you is perfect and I know my brother is the luckiest man on earth.”

I nod and let myself sit in it for a moment, unashamed, because I have earned this. My dress alone took six months and it’s custom designed, every detail exactly what I’d described. Justin did not even act surprised at a single number the designer quoted him.

And when I’d told him I wanted this wedding in Georgia, here at Blackberry Ridge, with the gardens and the open sky and with a specific aesthetic, he didn’t question it. He just agreed and said then that’s where we’re doing it.

So yes. I want to be the most beautiful bride ever to the best man. I think that’s reasonable.

My mum appears at my left side, Katy at my right. Between the two of them they guide me out of the room and into the garden path, which has been transformed, flowers lining every inch of the walkway, soft and overflowing.

And then I see him.

Justin, the absolute love of my life, is standing at the end of the path with his back to me, his broad shoulders filling out his suit. The photographer and videographer hover at a respectful distance. Everything else has gone quiet.

My heart is hammering and I am focusing very hard on not sweating.

Katy gives my hand one last squeeze. Then she and my mum step back, and it’s just me.

I take one deep breath.

“I hope I have the right groom.” I say.

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Epilogue 6

Justin stiffens for a second.

Then he turns slowly, and his eyes find me, instantly going wide.

+25 Ports

His hand flies to his mouth and he stands for a moment, completely still, and staring at me. His eyes go from bright to glassy in seconds.

“My God.” His voice comes out rough, like it barely made it.

I smile and my own eyes start to sting, which was not part of the plan. “Hi, sweetheart.”

He laughs, and drops his hand from his mouth, blinking fast. He presses his lips together, trying to hold it, and then his face just crumbles, his hand coming up to cover his eyes this time.

“Baby” I choke out, laughing and walking toward him slowly. “Are you crying?”

“No.” He shakes his head, rubbing his eyes. “I mean, it’s good tears.”

“I know.” I say, cupping his face. “I know.”

He looks at me for another long moment, and exhales.

“You are-” He stops and starts again. “My love, you are the most-” Another stop and he exhales. ” I don’t have the words.”

“That’s okay, baby.”

“No it’s not, I want to-” His jaw works. “You’re so beautiful. You’re so… I don’t know how I’m going to get through this whole day without-” He gestures vaguely at his own face. “Your beauty brings tears to my eyes. You’re a dream come true. My everything.”

“You haven’t even seen me walk down the aisle yet and you’re already like this,” I whisper, brushing my thumb along his jaw.

He makes a sound that is half laugh. “Don’t.”

“I’m just saying. We have a whole ceremony.”

“I know. I know, I’m aware.” He wipes his eye again. “Give me a second.”

“Take your time.” I’m smiling so hard my face hurts. “The priest will wait.”

He laughs for real this time, pulling me a half step closer by the hand, and the photographer is moving around us and neither of us are looking at her.

“I love you,” he says. Simply, finally, like it’s the thing that was underneath all the other words he couldn’t find.

“I love you,” I say back.

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Epilogue 6.

We pose for pictures after.

+25 Points

Walking to the altar to my husband is probably the only thing I want to think about when my time

on this earth is over.

Not the flowers, though they’re perfect. Not the music, though it’s exactly what I chose. Just him,

standing at the end of the aisle with his hands clasped in front of him and his eyes fixed on me

from the first second I appear, and the way his whole face is unguarded. The love in his

expression. The desire. The need. Like I am simultaneously the most ordinary and most

extraordinary thing he has ever seen and he cannot fully reconcile the two.

He cried at the first look. He is blinking very hard right now and I can tell he’s losing the battle

again, and I fall in love with him for approximately the ten thousandth time just watching him try to hold himself together.

He kept wiping his eyes during the photos and he’s doing it now, subtly, with one knuckle.

And even now, facing each other as the priest is speaking, I want to walk down again. I want to do

the whole thing again just to watch his face when he first sees me, to feel my heart hammering the

way it did on the path, to have my mum squeeze my hand one last time before stepping back.

“When you are ready, you may speak your vows.” The priest’s voice carries across the garden.

Everything fades around me, all of it narrowing down to just Justin’s face, and the small

cream–colored book Braydon is pressing into his hand.

Justin looks down at it. Then he looks up at me, and smiles.

He clears his throat.

“I’m going to be honest,” he starts. “This took me a really long time to write.”

A giggle escapes me before I can stop it.

“I am, genuinely, a person of very few words.” He adds, earning laughter from the guests. “But I have a few things I want to say.”

He takes a deep breath.

“I will never let you miss a meal. That’s the first one and I mean it in every possible way. I mean I will learn every menu, in every city, in every country you film in, and I will have something waiting for you when you wrap no matter what time it is.”

My throat is tightening.

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+25 Points I will show up,” he continues. 7 will be the person in your corner who never needs you to explain yourself, who already knows, who already chose you before you even finished the sentence.” He pauses. I have been choosing you since before I even understood that’s what I was doing. And I am going to spend the rest of my life being completely obvious about it.”

He closes the book.

The next part he says from memory, holding my gaze.

I love you in a way that has made me a better version of every single thing I am. And I promise you that whatever this life looks like, whatever it throws at us, you will never have to hold any of it alone. Not one day. Not one hour.” His voice dips. “You are my home, Allison. And I am yours for the rest of my life.”

The first tear slides down my face before I even feel it coming.

Then another, my vision blurring and I am trying very hard to breathe normally.

Justin reaches out with one thumb and catches the tear on my cheek, careful, like he does

everything.

When the priest looks to me, my throat is burning. I have no book. I didn’t write anything down,

because I was certain I would know what to say when I got here.

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