Chapter 347

Tessa’s POV

4 years later.

“This had got to be the longest engagement in the history of engagements,” Hannah said as she continued to fuss over my hair for the last several hours. “I’m so happy it’s finally coming to an end.”

I smiled at her through the vanity mirror, feeling a lightness in my chest that I hadn’t felt in a long time. Not since my daughter, Amaya, was born.

“I know,” I told her honestly, biting my lower lip, making Amy huff with dismay as she grabbed more lipstick to fix my makeup that I unknowingly ruined. “With everything that went down 4 years ago, marrying Joseph just didn’t seem right. I really wanted to get my life back in order. I wanted to succeed in my career, Joseph needed to adjust to his new role as Overseer, and plus, I didn’t want to get married pregnant.”

This made both girls pause what they were doing and look at one another before they burst out laughing.

“And now look at you, almost 9 months pregnant again!” Amy laughed.

“And even bigger than before because you are having twins!” Hannah chuckled.

I placed my hands on my largely swollen belly and smiled.

It was true that I didn’t want to get married while pregnant because I felt incredibly fat and unattractive in the wedding dress. But we had picked out this wedding date last year and I had been postponing this wedding for so long, I didn’t want to wait any longer. Joseph deserved this wedding after waiting for me for so long. I didn’t want to disappoint him, so I swallowed my pride and got a dress designed to fit my pregnant belly.

My dress was gorgeous, even if I was largely pregnant. It was designed by one of the best designers in the world. Of course, I let Amy and Hannah do my hair and makeup. Meanwhile, Laura had been put in charge of wedding planning. I had no idea that had been a passion of hers. I always thought she wanted to own her own bookstore, but apparently, she loves planning things and wedding planning was a thing she adored. She was always too shy and afraid to take the initiative though.

She’s really come out of her shell since marrying Austin 2 years ago. When I told her I was finally planning on marrying Joseph, she all but begged me to let her plan the entire wedding.

“You are the most beautiful pregnant bride I have ever seen,” Amy breathed, smiling adoringly at me.

I beamed at her; my cheeks ached from smiling so much. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited to be marrying Joseph. I also missed him like crazy. To keep things traditional, Laura refused to let us see one another in the last 48 hours. Joseph had been living in the mountain village while I’d been living in our New York home.

Over the last few years, we have been going back and forth between locations every other week. Now that I’m a senior writer and editor at Fable Magazine, a well-established blogger, and on my second book release, I can work from pretty much anywhere.

I sighed and looked at the picture on the vanity, a sadness aching my heart. Ruby’s smiling face looked back at me, and I touched my fingers to the picture frame. I always imagined that Ruby would be by my side as my maid of honor when I got married. Knowing that fact, that’s part of the reason why I delayed this wedding. But I couldn’t delay it anymore.

If I couldn’t have Ruby here, at least I would have her in spirit.

The door opened and Laura ran into the room.

“Everything is almost ready. How’s the bride?” She asked her coven mates.

“Gorgeous as ever,” Hannah said.

I turned around to face Laura, trying to wipe the sadness off my face. Laura squealed happily and clapped her hands together.

“You really are a gem,” she breathed, her eyes bright and wide. Tears filled her eyes and to my surprise, she started to weep.

She’s been quite emotional lately and I’m not sure if it’s because of the wedding, or because she could possibly be pregnant as well. But I was shocked when she started to cry in front of me.

Austin walked in soon after and he took Laura in his arms as soon as he saw that she was crying.

“What did you crazy ladies do to my wife?” He teased, knowing she was just being emotional.

“She just walked in, saw the bride, and burst into tears,” Hannah chuckled, shaking her head.

“Yeah, control your woman,” Amy teased right back, making him grin wide.

“Is my woman okay?” He asked Laura, his voice dropping low for her ears alone.

She sniffled and looked up at him.

“Yes,” she said, a smile marring her lips. “I’m just so happy.”

“Mommy!!” I heard a familiar young voice as she ran into the room. She wore a gorgeous light pink dress, and her hair was curled, pinned out of her face, and decorated with light pink flowers. Her little white shoes clicked on the floor as she ran toward me, a bright smile on her gorgeous face. She held a straw woven basket, made by Patty, and in the basket were a ton of pretty colored flowers.

I smiled at her and opened my arms, not caring if she ruined my dress or makeup.

“There’s my flower girl!”

She jumped into my arms, making the ladies gasp.

“Careful!” They all yelled in unison, making Amaya and me chuckle.

“I cited!” Amaya giggled, attempting to say, “I’m excited.”

Amaya was only 3 years old, but she was turning 4 in a few months. She snuggled into my arms and peppered soft kisses on her forehead.

“You’re excited I’m finally marrying your daddy?” I asked her, chuckling.

Not that it made much of a difference to her, but she had been talking about this for weeks. I think she was more excited about the flowers than anything. After I explained to her what a flower girl was, her excitement level grew.

“Yes!” She cooed. “Mommy, you pretty.”

I smiled at my sweet little girl.

“You are beautiful, Amaya,” I whispered for her ears alone.

She giggled again.

“Okay, we need to get into position. Where’s your father?” Laura asked me.

I shrugged but we weren’t left wondering for long because Patty walked in, dragging my father in behind her.

“We didn’t mean to be late,” she huffed. “We kind of… uh… fell behind.”

Her cheeks grew pink, and I raised my brows at her embarrassed features, then I looked at my father who awkwardly shoved his hands in his pockets and cleared his throat. After a beat of silence, I busted out laughing.

“You two are too much,” I laughed as I stood up, Amaya still in my arms.

They are seriously like teenagers.

After the whole thing with Penny went down, my father swore off women for a while. But that changed last year when he started noticing Patty differently. Now, they can’t get enough of one another, and I couldn’t be happier for them.

After I got my promotion at work 2 years ago and I released my first book last year, I got too busy with my career to be a coven leader so after voting, we named Patty the new coven leader. She moved back to their old town so she could live by my father’s farm; she bought their old coven house and now half the coven lives back in the old house. Patty even rebought her bakery from the bank and opened it back up last year.

Some of the coven mates didn’t want to move back though, so they still lived in my house in New York. Though I mainly live in the mountains with Joseph, I still visit the coven houses frequently, especially the one in New York considering my home base and job is in the city.

Esme bounces between both houses and her shop. She also convinced her shop worker, the one who came from a bad coven, to leave her coven and join ours along with a few others from that coven, so we gained a few new members.

Life is certainly never boring, and every day is a new adventure.

“Okay, we need to get into position so you can walk down the aisle,” Laura said, taking Amaya from my arms. “We are just waiting on one more.”

I frowned, looking at my friends.

“Who?” I asked, confused. I had everyone here. My father who was walking me down the aisle, Amy, Hannah, and Patty who are my bridesmaids, and Amaya who is my flower girl.

I opted out of a maid of honor out of respect for Ruby.

They all exchanged excited and knowing looks just before the door opened and to my utter shock, Carter walked into the room!

“Carter?” I gasped.

He smiled brightly at me.

I hadn’t seen Carter in 4 years; not since the big battle ended! I talked to him on and off over the years, but not as much as Joseph had. Joseph had taken his place training the vampire army during Carter’s absence.

Even though he was Joseph’s best friend, I wasn’t expecting him to show up for the wedding. Without much thought, I threw myself into his arms as tears sprang from my eyes.

“No! Not the makeup,” Amy whined pouting, but I didn’t care. Carter was here and he looked amazing!

He wore a suit and looked vibrant as ever like he had never missed a day of working out.

“You didn’t think I’d let my best friend get married without his best man, did you?” He asked, teasingly.

I pulled away from him and swatted his arm.

“How could you not tell me you were going to be here?” I asked him, wiping the makeup smears from my eyes.

He shrugged.

“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I did,” he told me.

“Does Joseph know you are here?”

“Of course, he does. Who do you think bought my plane ticket?” He asked, laughing.

“This is the best surprise ever,” I breathed, smiling brightly at him.

“You won’t be saying that in a second,” he said, running his fingers through his hair. There’s an even better surprise for you.”

I raised my brows at him.

“What are you up to, Carter?” I asked him.

“You should probably be asking me that question,” another, very familiar voice said at the doorway, making my heart practically explode in my chest.

I quickly stepped around Carter, and I gasped at the sight of her in her gorgeous pink and black dress, which matched the pink streaks in her hair. Ruining my makeup was unavoidable at this point because now I was blubbering like a baby, making Amy hiss with aggravation.

I covered my mouth with my hands as I sobbed uncontrollably.

“Oh, my Goddess,” I gasped between breaths.

I was met with her smiling face.

“You didn’t think I was going to let you get married without me, did you?” She asked, raising her brows.

I shook my head, unable to form words.

Carter gave me a little nudge towards her and that was enough for me to run straight into Ruby’s arms.