1 week later
Deacon's POV
For me to you that this past week has been busy was is an understatement, it has been the most chaotic week of my life and considering what I do for do for a living, that should tell you everything that you need to know about the chaos that has engulfed everyone and every spare moment that has been awarded to us lately.
The only person who the chaos has not affected has been Mia, mostly because she only knows about the Omerta signing that is taking place tonight, she has no clue about Trisha's main goal for today. Although in another few hours, that secret will be out in the open.
Between getting some small business meetings done, basically rearranging half a wing of living arrangements, getting Dimitri and Christoph settled in comfortably, dealing with the few people who were making a stink about him, planning the Omertà signing and working in secret with Eric and Trisha for this afternoon's festivities needless to say it's been one wild ride.
Though it was and will always be worth it, as long as I am able to look down the aisle and see her eyes glistening with tears of joy, as well as being able to witness my father walking his daughter down the aisle. Of course she doesn't know about that part of this evening's Omerta signing. That part is in it's own right something I had no part in at all.
Mia's office had been officially combined with mine, which she was beyond thrilled about it surprisingly. Her old office was set up as a nursery for Christoph, which I had to say Trisha had done an amazing job in erasing the office feel from it. Then again when it came to tasks like these, there is no one else that I would trust more than her, she has a true gift for making something amazing with the smallest amounts of information.
I'm still not sure exactly how Trisha had managed to pull off everything that she had for today, not only had she managed to create Christoph's amazing nursery, she was who was responsible for finding the perfect way to combine Mia's office with my own, but she had also planned out the most amazing ceremony for Mia and I to renew our vows. Truthfully, it everything that Mia deserved and more than I could have ever managed to plan on my own.
Of course not everything was easy, after some searching she had even managed to find the designer that had made the original dress that Mia had adores and got him to agree to make her one in under a week. Even my jeweler came through and early might I add, and the rings were nothing short of amazing.
Currently I think Mia should be getting ready just as I was with the girls somehow managing to keep her from seeing everything around her, including her dress.
I haven't been able to focus on that at long enough to find out if things were going according to plan or not since the only thought in my head was what was she going to look like walking down the aisle in that dress.
We had managed to have enough time to make sure some of our closest allies were coming in for the ceremony today. It wasn't the typical huge style wedding that I had always been accustomed to seeing, but it was big enough for us.
Nicco had, had to sneak his tux out to the vehicle this morning along six other garment bags while not getting caught by Mia. Which was amusing to watch I can tell you that, since Mia is the hardest person in the world to sneak around. I'll give him credit though, he managed to pull it off.
As Trisha and the girls had eventually forced an unwilling Mia out the door, Nicco followed close behind.
I had decided to give him full charge of Mia's security detail, and you want to talk about a shake up. Within twenty minutes that day I saw at least four of her previous detail red faced, fuming and cursing a blue streak because they apparently didn't meet Nicco's standards when it came to Mia's safety.
I fumbled with my tie in irritation, for the millionth time trying to get it right, when I heard Axel coming in the door to my room complaining.
"Tell me again why exactly you decided to give Rose a gun?" He asked, while rubbing the side of his head.
"We've been over this how many now, you know she was going to get one eventually Axel, so why exactly are we going over this again?"
Alex and Eric came in shortly after still laughing about whatever had happened. "Man, that was all your fault and you damn well know it.
Axel here wanted to go check up on Rose to make sure everything was going okay. Well apparently, when he walked into the room, no one noticed him since they were all busy with things. So he decided to stroll right up behind Rose, grab her by the waist from behind and she...she...she..." Alex couldn't even finish his sentence before he started laughing so hard he was leaning on the chair in front of him for support.
"She what?" I asked, not being able to understand what could have possibly been that funny.
"She fucking pistol whipped me with her damn gun! Cracked me right in the side of the damn skull Deacon! Rose might be little and all, but holy mother of hell does she pack a whollap."
Even though I was laughing just as hard as Alex and Eric now I couldn't help but to take my own jab at his situation. "Wait, your Rose pistol whipped you with her gun? And it hurt that thick skull of yours?"
"I saw fucking stars!" Axel exclaimed. "When I find out who the asshole was who taught her that I swear to god and all that is holy in this world that I'm going to break everyone of their fingers."
"Remind me to sell tickets to that fight. Front row for that one would make me a rich man if I needed it."
"You know who taught her that? Who the hell was it?"
I tried fighting back a laugh as he stood patiently waiting for a response. "Not even you're that stupid Axel. Who would be the only person that Rose would be comfortable with teaching her how to use a gun besides you?"
His eyes went from fire to defeat in a millisecond as he put two and two together. "Seriously!!! You can sell the damn tickets, I'm still going to try."
Alex cracked up again. "Axel, do you remember what happened the last you thought that it a good idea to try and go toe to toe with her?"
Axel's glared in his direction. "Shut up asshole."
"I don't want to hear you whining around for a week when she knocks you flat out." Alex laughed. "I would have thought that you learned your lesson the first time that when it comes to Mia it doesn't matter how big you are, she'll kick the shit outta you."
"Oh shut it. It's not like I'd actually do it. Can't I just let off some steam?" He huffed.
I looked at him. "Marry her already Axel."
"What?" He questioned looking at me with wide eyes.
"You heard me you idiot just marry the girl already. It's not like she hasn't already agreed to."
He looked at me still in shock. "You don't care?"
"Why would I care Axel? You love her, she loves you what's the issue?"
"She made her decision about signing last night." He answered looking around at us. "We all know what that means for Rose and I. We're good though, we talked it through last night, we're still going to be what we are. We all have our price to pay for the life we lead, I guess this is mine." He sounded at peace with the choice, but even I knew the difference between being at peace with a decision over being happy with it. He was definitely not happy with it.
I sighed as both Alex and Eric understood what he was talking about. We all three sat as Axel took a minute to pull himself together. I caught the glance he made towards his left hand. It was a look of willing the it's appearance to change what he saw. "You're still going to marry her."
He looked up at me with bewilderment in his eyes. "Deacon, I knew what I signed up for. As long as I can at least still hold on behind closed doors that will be enough, I just want to be able to make sure she's happy at the end of the day. As long as she's happy then I'm happy too." His voice waivered slightly, as he looked between the three of us. "We just had to accept that this is how our lives were meant to play out. Maybe her and I will find out that there are advantages that we didn't think about." He said again, clearly trying to convince himself as he rubbed his right hand over his left clearly spending more time than he hand meant to on one finger, particularly feeling where a ring would be.
"Axel, you're going to be able to marry her. Trust me from experience on this okay, you may think that those small, stolen moments will be enough they aren't. They'll never be enough to live on." I looked at him, as he nodded slowly. "And anyways there's an already decorated wedding venue waiting on us all to show up."
His eyes widened in pure shock at my statement. "You're telling me to what
Deacon, just jump in and marry her during your ceremony?"
"How about after?" I laughed. "Just be ready when the time comes. Deal? It's not like you don't already have the license."
"Deal." He said calmly.
"Just do all of us a favor for tonight though." I teased. "Get a damn hotel room for the night. I love you both dearly, but your room is not soundproof and I would prefer my kids not hearing those sounds yet. I'm not sure I'm ready to hear that ever."
"I'm actually not so sure I'm ready for it myself." He commented nervously, rubbing the back of his neck, looking to me in silence asking how to be okay with causing that pain to someone you love.
"It's hard, but you'll know when the time comes, you just know." I chuckled.
"Aww, our little boy is growing up." Alex teased. "I'm sure it'll be a great time for you Axel. They get wilder after they say I do. I'm sure after the ring goes on she's gonna blow your mind in ways you didn't know were possible. Cassie turned into a wild woman."
Axel rubbed both his hands over his legs as he pursed his lips together in an attempt not to snap at the comment Alex had made.
I sent Alex a heated look after what he said. "That's about enough." I snapped at him. "You of all people should know what respect looks like when you see it."
Alex looked at me and then to Axel. "Oh, man I'm sorry, I didn't realize she was still, figured that ship had already sailed awhile ago. I didn't mean anything by it."
"You're good, everybody assumes that. We just don't correct them. I didn't figure it really mattered as long as I didn't let it change how I felt about agreeing to wait for her. And you're absolutely sure about this?"
"Absolutely, we can't have you being the only one of us that doesn't get his girl."
2 hours later
I was standing up in front of around 150 people waiting for Mia to make her appearance at the surprise wedding she should have had the first time.
When the music started to softly play I watched as each one of the girls made their way down the aisle taking their places.
We all held our breath when Mia came into sight escorted by my father, still wearing the blindfold she had left in this morning. I watched as he slipped behind Mia briefly and allowed the blindfold to fall to the floor.
Her breath caught and her eyes started to tear. She covered her mouth as she looked around at everyone standing awaiting her entry.
As the music started to play again my father stepped back to her side as he led her up the aisle. She looked like an angel walking towards me. That dress was a work of art, that made her look like the woman she was. Mia was priceless to all of us. Through everything before me, and what we've been through since we've been together, she still managed to find beauty in the smallest things.
As they stopped in front of me, and my father gave her hand to me I realized this wasn't just something I had done because she deserved it. This was the way to stop all the doubting that may still be floating around.
"You remembered my dress?" She cried softly, as she looked around the entire room breathlessly. "You remembered everything I told you? Why?"
"I may have saved some pictures for a rainy day." I laughed. "And because you deserved your dream, down to the dress. Though you'll have to thank Trisha for most of this. Since she planned all of this herself, down to finding that dress." The ceremony went as expected, as Mia and I enjoyed going through the motions of the traditional ceremony we hadn't gotten the first time.
When I retrieved her new rings from my pocket she started to cry. This was how it should have been from the beginning for us. But the wait was worth it in my opinion. Mia had never looked more beautiful than she did right now to me. Her tears, the way she looked at me in wonder as she kept sneaking glances around taking in every small detail so she could memorize it. "Don't worry there's plenty of pictures for you to remember it all by." I whispered. "And one more surprise for the day."
"I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."
I didn't have to be told twice as I pulled her into me, crashing my lips onto hers, sealing my promise that for as long as my heart beats it's going to beat only for her.
As I pulled away from her, seeing a blush had crept into her cheeks I laughed.
"Ever the romantic huh?"
"I guess so." She smiled back.
"Well then you're going to love what is going to happen right now." I whispered into her ear. "I would like to thank all of you for making the time to come today and celebrate with us. We both appreciate it more than we can ever put into words, but there is one more thing that needs to happen before this day is complete."
"What's going on?" Her eyes darted around wildly as I helped her step away from the center of the room with me.
I nudged Axel forward a bit. "Go get your girl. I thought maybe you could use these as well." Handing him a small black velvet box. "I didn't figure you had the time to go get her a proper set. I may have had an extra set laying around."
Mia's Pov
I saw Deacon handing a ring box over to Axel. I looked at Deacon as tears started pouring again. "Are they?"
"She just doesn't know it yet." He smiled. "Just watch."
Axel took a shaky breath as he looked towards where Rose was standing. "Rose, can you come here please. There's something that I need to do and I need you to help me do it the right way."
Rose looked at him, her eyes glistening slightly as she took a few steps forward meeting him where he stood. "We talked about this remember? It'll be okay, we'll be okay." She whispered barely audible to anyone else. "It'll be hard I know, but we can make the small moments be enough."
"Deacon, what's going on?" I asked.
"Rose made her choice last night." He answered lightly. "Since Axel would never ask to have a special circumstance given to him, that meant that of they weren't married by the time they both sign tonight, that they couldn't get married. So, I told him to marry her now."
I looked between the two of them, they deserved to be together happily.
"Rose, we still can still do this right now. Please, marry me here and now. I may not be a perfect man, but I love you like no one else could ever possibly love you. I don't want stolen moments with you, I want all day with you. I can't stand the thought of never sharing my name with you or having family with you. I want to make your dreams of your own family a dream come true. One that you can touch. I may not be a perfect man, but I'm hoping that you still think I'm perfect for you. Especially since your parents think I might still be good enough, that they won't be ashamed to tell people who I am and since they let me fly them out here not knowing if you'd actually agree to do this."
"Rose." I called lightly to her. When she looked over to me, I could see the conflict in her eyes. "Rose, marry that man right now, you're not going to find another man who is going to wait for you. Take it from me, the good ones are worth more than moments, and stolen glances, they're worth the risk of loss. Now either marry him or I'll find someone who will."
I could see Rose's eyes tear even more as she stared at him with an undeniable look of a woman was sick of wearing a name, when the one she wanted was standing right in front of her. "Fuck it. Okay." Rose agreed. "Of course you're the perfect man for me, you have been since I met you, and I can't wait to share your name for the rest of our lives."
I laughed just as loud as everyone else who knew Rose did. "Well, I think I may have rubbed off a little bit."
Axel turned and laughed at me briefly smiling. "You think and by the way you owe me a strong drink tomorrow since it's technically your fault I got pistol whipped by her today."
"I just got her to agree to this set up. I think that's a little better than a strong drink there buddy." I glanced at Rose and then to Axel. "Plus, I think she's going to be the one needing something strong tonight." I sent a wink in Rose's direction as she turned the brightest shade of red I'd ever seen in my life. "Most definitely going to need something strong tonight."