The Miles family have all arrived and are staying at a hotel in town, we are having a big pre-wedding dinner tonight here with just the two families.
I always get nervous when our families come together, they are just so different and my dad can be so abrasive and blunt. Everyone seems to walk around on their tiptoes so that they don’t rock the boat.
Tristan’s boys are always a great icebreaker though, they seem to fit in wherever they are and as more and more babies arrive things are getting busier and more hectic. Eddie is still quiet around the extended family; he will get there; I know he will. It’s just that every time we come together there is so much going on that he just stays quiet and tries to blend in. I can’t wait for the day that they get to know and love him the way that we do.
“Okay, babe.” Christopher kisses me softly, his hands on my behind. “I’m going to go. I’ll be back in a few hours.”
“Okay.” I kiss him again, our lips lingering over each other’s.
Christopher is going to have a drink with his brothers before our dinner tonight. As close as ever, any chance they get to spend time together they take it. The four of them went to Vegas last month for his bachelor party and I don’t know what they did there but Christopher slept for three days once he got home. His voice was so hoarse from laughing and drinking that I hate to even imagine what went on.
“Tomorrow.” He smiles against my lips, bringing me back to the here and now.
“Tomorrow…” My heart swells, he kisses me softly again as he grips my hair in both his hands.
“God, I can’t fucking wait until you’re my wife.”
I smile against his lips; we are so in love.
The life that we are building together is more than either of us could have ever imagined. Eddie being a part of our lives is such a gift, he is such a special person. The kindest, most thoughtful human I have ever met.
Funny and intelligent, witty and smart. Hardworking too, the best we have on the farm, he’s up looking after the animals first in the morning and he’s the last to check on them every night.
In amongst the chaos and the adoration of our dogs and cats and cows, he’s found himself, he’s our king. The glue that holds us all together.
I’m not sure if the corporate Miles world will ever be for him. Christopher seems to think that this is his grounding stage where the farm is everything to him, it’s his home that he’s helping to build. But he thinks eventually Eddie will need more and then will come to work for Miles Media.
Me…I’m not so sure.
I think back to him bartending in the backpackers and what his life would have turned out like if we never met and I can’t imagine it. It seems so removed from the life we live now.
He would have been fine and he would have excelled in whatever he did, he has that deep kind of resilience that can’t be taught. But I’m so glad that he doesn’t have to be anymore. He can be soft and vulnerable and just loved for who he is.
He can choose whatever path in life that he wants to.
“Don’t get drunk,” I remind Christopher. “We have the dinner tonight, remember?”
“I know.”
“Yeah, you always say you know, but whenever you get with your brothers something snaps in your brain.”
He smirks. “Because they are fucking alcoholics, that’s why. They peer group pressure me.”
I giggle. “Sure they do, you’re the worst out of all of them.”
“See you in a few hours.” I watch him get into his old beat-up truck and pull out down the driveway, I smile as he disappears. So much has changed, I remember the first time he came here and was so mortified by the red utility I made him hire. Now he prefers the older beat-up cars, he reckons they make him feel tougher.
I don’t know who he is kidding, he could never be tough on the land.
Even our cats boss him around, he’s the softy with the huge heart.
I hear a sound in the distance and look over to see Eddie on the tractor following my father down to the far paddock.
Where are they going now?
“There is no time to fix fences today, boys, we have a wedding to organize.”
I walk into the house, take the stairs, unzip the garment bag as it hangs on the back of the door and stare lovingly at the most beautiful wedding dress I have ever seen.
My heart skips a beat.
I’m getting married tomorrow.
Christopher
We all hold our drinks together for a toast. “To Hayden.” Jameson smiles.
“To Hayden,” we all repeat.
“Can you believe it?” I smirk. “How the fuck did I talk her into marrying me, I will never know.”
“Me neither,” Tristan agrees. “Poor bitch should run while she can.”
Elliot chuckles. “Just hurry up and get the ring on so she can’t back out.”
We collectively take a sip of our customary Blue Label scotch. “This is a weird day, isn’t it?” I ask them.
“How so?”
“Well, I’m the last of us to get married.”
“The end of an era.” Jameson nods, almost sadly.
“It is,” we all agree as we fall pensive.
“And not one of us married the kind of girl we thought we would,” Tristan replies.
“I did.” Elliot smiles wistfully. “I married my dream girl.”
Jameson rolls his eyes. “You’re fucking pathetic, you know that? You didn’t even know she painted those paintings.”
“But she did.” Elliot smirks as he holds up his glass in a toast. “But she did. Her art was in my heart.”
They all groan in disgust.
“Like I said, pathetic.” Jameson curls his lip. “And for the record, if Harvey calls me boy tonight, I’m knocking him out,” he adds.
Tristan chuckles. “Please do, I would pay good money to see him kick your ass.”
“I’d like to see that,” I reply. “He could kill you with his eyes closed.”
“Don’t doubt it,” Elliot agrees. “He is one tough motherfucker.”
“So what’s next for the Miles brothers?” Elliot asks. “What happens from here?”
“We watch our kids grow up and take over,” Jameson replies with a shrug.
“Miles, the Next Generation.” I smile sadly. “The end of an era.” I put my hand over my heart. “Don’t, it’s making me sad. I don’t want our stories to be over, I want to stay here forever.”
Jameson fills our glasses again.
“I’m not allowed to get drunk,” I say. “I’ve been warned.”
“Fuck off.” He fills my glass to the top. “You’re not married yet.” He raises his glass for another toast. We all smile, his toasts have always been legendary and as we get older we somehow appreciate them more, we put our glasses up to his.
“To the next generation of Miles’s, may they live greater, faster, harder, and fuck like demons.”
Tristan snorts his drink up his nose. “And for my girls to be virgins forever so that I don’t have to kill anybody.”
“That too.” Elliot nods.
We all chuckle as we toast the closing of an era and the opening of another, to hopes and dreams and fantasies coming true.