Mine to Take （Southern Weddings #5）
Natasha Madison
prologue
Dearest Love,
It’s that time again…
Wedding season.
The best season of the year.
Sofia has taken over.
The stars have aligned, and it looks like not only is her first love back in her life, but she has to plan his wedding.
Will he walk down the aisle?
Who will be the bride?
You know what they say.
Only time will tell
XOXO NM
sofia
I jump when the alarm starts blaring from the island behind me. The milk I was pouring into my coffee cup is spilled on the side. I put the frother down at the same time the blaring of the alarm gets louder and louder as the seconds tick by. “I’m coming, I’m coming!” I shout to the alarm, which at this point is so loud I’m about to cover my ears like my baby cousins do when I squeal out that I love them so much.
I press snooze by mistake. “Dammit,” I say, grabbing my phone and walking back to the sink. Turning on the warm water, I wet a cloth before cleaning up the spilled milk. “I think this is good luck,” I mumble to myself before rinsing the cloth off and returning back to the coffee. I grab the cup and bring it to my lips, smelling the aroma of coffee fill my nose makes me smile right before I take a sip. “That’s like little pieces of heaven,” I whisper before walking back up the stairs toward my bedroom.
When I get to the landing, I look over the railing that lets you see down into the great room. This house is massive, way too big for me, but try telling my grandfather that. The house was bought, and security was installed before I saw it. “Don’t argue with me,” he said softly, “I’m old.” Which made me snort-laugh. My grandfather is a lot of things, but old and delicate aren’t any of them. If you looked up Southern gentleman in the dictionary, there would be a picture of him.
I shake my head thinking of the last time we had the conversation, missing him just a touch more today. As I make my way toward my bedroom, I walk down the hallway. I look at all the pictures I lined up on the wall of my family. The middle picture on the wall is the whole family. It took some hours to rein everyone in, then about a hundred pictures to get the picture. My great-grandparents stand in the middle while everyone is around them. Around that picture is a picture of me with my parents taken at graduation day. My father with his arm around me, pulling me closer to him as he looks at my mother with all the love I’ve always seen in his eyes. It’s right next to the first picture we ever took together. I’m sitting on the horse with him behind me, his shirt is off, and he’s got his arms wrapped around me. From the story they told me, my parents shared one night together before my father joined the military. Wires got crossed, and he found out about me the first time we met. Even in the picture, we have the same smirk. From that day on, he made sure I knew how much he would have changed the past. I smile when I think about him, sending him a text.
Just sending you a message to say I love you, Dad.
I walk into the two open French doors and go straight to the bed. Turning on the television that faces the bed, the soft light fills the darkened room as I watch the news before turning on the Investigative Discovery Channel. I’m in love with my bed, something my grandmother, Olivia, set up for me. The whole house actually has her stamp of approval. I want to say I helped pick the things in my house, but I didn’t, she did it all. It’s not because I didn’t want to, it’s more that I know how much she loves this stuff. Literally, the whole family just lets her do things because it makes her happy. My grandfather let her style one of their homes in all white. They even call it the White House, and no one wants to stay in it.
The phone rings, and I pick it up, smiling again when I see it’s my dad. “Hello.”
“Hello, Sunshine.” He calls me by my nickname like he always does. “Why are you up so early?”
“It’s not early.” I look down and see that it’s six ten. “Okay, fine, maybe it’s a bit early.” I bring the cup of coffee to my lips. “But the first day on the job is a big deal.”
“It is,” he agrees, and I hear the truck door close on his side of the phone. “You’ve been dreaming about this since you were seven, and Grandma Olivia bought you a mini wedding dress.”
“It was the best gift I ever got.” I sigh, remembering all the time I spent in that dress. If I wasn’t in school, I was in that dress. I prepared so many weddings with so many of my stuffed animals, it was crazy.