To Be Loved: Final Chapter!

Well, here it is, the last, longest chapter, then I start posting the next installment: Wings.

Skye’s P.O.V.

Aaron’s words were still echoing in my head this morning. Over and over.
I still haven’t told Adam. He should know. He should have been the first to know! But I went and told Aaron instead. I didn’t know what I blamed myself more for: that I told Aaron first instead of Adam, or that I actually told Aaron at all and hurt him.
His reaction had been clear: there was no doubt that he despised me now. It was inevitable, I was sure.
I was deep in thought, and my coffee I got here at the airport got cold. The bitter taste brought me back to the present, and I heard Adam’s voice.
“Everything’s set,” Adam was telling me, sounding excited. “I double checked. Everything will be here on Tuesday, and then the guys will get the stuff ready for the wedding. All we have to do now is wait. ”
I gave a little smile. “That’s great. Look, Adam, I need to talk to you.”
He raised his eyebrow and sat down on the bed. “What’s up?”
“I don’t exactly how to say this, but…”
It took me a moment to figure out how to tell him, to find the right words.
“Well,” I began. “Um…What are your feelings toward…becoming a father?”
He straightened up quickly and looked at me with wide eyes. “You…you mean…?”
I nodded with a smile.
He exhaled, and his eyes lit up. They were practically glowing.
“Yes!” he exclaimed, laughing, completely forgetting about the groggy people around us. He stood, and brought me up with him. He held his arms tight around me. I wrapped my arms around his neck. He pulled back to look at me, and he put his hands up to my face. “You make me the happiest man on Earth, Elena. I love you. I love you, I love you, I love you!” He began twirling with me in his arms, and I laughed out of pure joy. He stopped suddenly, and kneeled down, resting his cheek against my stomach. “You too, little one.”
He stood again and leaned in to kiss me, but then stopped himself.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him.
“Nothing’s wrong,” he said, grinning. “Everything’s perfect. It’s just that…well, I don’t want to kiss you just yet. I want to wait for the wedding.”
I stared at him with disbelief, but, despite myself, started to laugh. “You mean you aren’t going to kiss me until Wednesday?”
He laughed, too. “Yeah, I know it’s kind of ridiculous, but-”
“Don’t worry, I get it. You think it’ll be more romantic.”
He smiled and nodded. “Right.”
“Fine,” I said, and I brushed my fingers over his lips. “Suit yourself.”
Adam smiled under my fingers. “You’re a tease,” he muttered, and then kissed me on the forehead.
“That doesn’t count,” he told me, grinning again.
“My turn,” I heard someone say. I turned around, and there was my dad.
“Dad!”
“Come here, sweetie!” he yelled with arms wide open.
I ran up to him, and his arms embraced me.
“Careful, dad,” I muttered, then smiled. “You don’t want to squish your grandchild, do you?”
He pulled away and looked at me with wide eyes, his mouth hanging open a little.
He laughed almost hysterically. “I can’t believe it! Last time I came back from a trip, I found out you were getting married. Now, my baby’s havin’ a baby!” Then he looked down at me with glowing eyes. “I’m glad, honey. Congrats.”

No matter how good it felt to be with my father again, I couldn’t stop worrying about Aaron. Would he call? Would he pick up if I called? Would he come to the wedding that he knew he could now come to, thanks to my millions of messages?
I knew where he was. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind. I just needed to gather the guts to actually go and talk to him.
“Um, Adam? Do you mind if I take your car? I need to check on Ariana, see if she has her bridesmaids dress.”
“Sure.” He fished in his pocket for the keys then flung them at me, and I caught them in midair.
“Thanks,” I said, then turned and began walking toward the door, then turned back again.
“By the way, you haven’t even told me who your best man is,” I said casually, afraid of what his response might be.
He gave me a little smile, then told me in a soft voice, “It’s still Aaron. So you better make sure he be there.”
I blew out a sigh of relief and smiled back at him. “I will.”
I started the engine as soon as I entered his Porsche, and drove down to the beach.
Just as I suspected, I found Aaron there, skipping rocks.
I stood behind him and cleared my throat.
“Oh, hey,” he mumbled, not even having to turn to know it was me. “How’d Adam take the news?”
“I’m here to know how you took the news.”
I heard something noticeably different in his voice when he spoke. The way he spoke sounded almost…relieved, carefree even. He sounded more relaxed than he’d been in days.
“Actually, I couldn’t be happier. I’m happy for you and Adam. And I’m also glad because it finally made me realize something.”
Finally, he turned to face me.
“It made me realize how strong your love is for Adam, and nothing I do could possibly change that.”
He took my hands in his. “I would never want to hurt you or my brother. But I can’t help my feelings for you. I love you, and I’ll always love you, but for the sake of your happiness with my brother, I’ll love you as I should; as a friend, as a sister.”
This made me suck in a gasp. For the sake of your happiness. This was a hard sacrifice he was making. For me. For my happiness. For my happiness.
“My true love will come,” he continued. “Some day. But for now, I’m just happy as long as you are.”
All of this made me wonder. Made me wonder what life would have been like without him, just me and Adam. Made me wonder what life would have been like, just us. Made me wonder if his true love would come one day and save him from the burden that I have become to him. Made me wonder how I would ever be able to thank him for doing this for me. Made me wonder that maybe everything could be happily ever after in the end after all.
“So you’ll come to the wedding?” I whispered. I couldn’t lift my head. He lifted it for me, cupping my chin in his hand so I was looking directly at him.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he said, just as softly as me. Then he removed his cupped hand from under my chin and gave it a soft, playful little nudge, clicking his tongue once. I smiled weakly, and he pulled me into his arms. His embrace did so many things at once. Sent a chill through my body, made my cheeks warm, gave me a shiver that ran up my spine, raised goose bumps on my skin. Most of all, it made me realize that I’d have to feel all of this every single time I was in his arms from now on, and that I’d have to get used to it.

“You look beautiful, honey.”
My father’s voice startled me. I hadn’t heard him come into the room. “Oh, hey, Dad.”
He chuckled. “I remember when you used to dress like this everyday when you played dress up. That too too always looked so cute on you. And now look at you.”
His kind, fatherly words gave me warmth, gave me confidence.
I never knew what was the reason behind the nervousness that brides got right before the wedding, but it was sure as hell happening to me. These pre-wedding jitters just added to my nerves.
But as I heard my dad’s reassuring voice, all those jitters and nerves disappeared. I looked myself in the mirror, and I didn’t see the same Elena Skye I’d always been. I saw the Elena Skye I was about to become. I saw the Elena Skye that would be a wife, that would be a mother.
“Can I come in?”
My jitters returned as I saw Aaron’s head poking in the room through the mirror.
Please don’t leave me alone with him. Please don’t leave me alone with him, I chanted in my head, hoping that it was possible to will my father to do so.
“I’ll just leave you two alone,” my father muttered as he stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.
Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh.
It was silent for three long seconds before Aaron spoke. “You look beautiful.”
“Yeah, that’s what you’re supposed to say,” I joked, though I felt an edge to my voice.
“Doesn’t mean it’s not rue,” he replied. “I mean, you just looks so…gorgeous. You’re surely going to knock em’ dead.”
I chuckled and looked down at the floor when I felt my cheeks grow hot.
“I wanted to give you something.”
My heart skipped a beat.
He held out a white box, with the length of a 12-inch ruler. Slowly, he opened it.
The first thing I saw was the beautiful silver necklace that showed a small fern hanging in the middle.
“I thought it would look nice with your dress,” he said softly.
Right above the necklace, there was something imprinted into the cardboard that held the necklace in place.
No man is worth your tears, but once you find one that is, he won't make you cry.
I felt my throat tightening, and I held my hand up to it. “It’s beautiful,” I croaked. “Would you-”
“Of course,” he said, reading my mind. I turned back to the mirror and saw as the mirror copied his movement, mimicked him as his hands quickly hooked the necklace on and then rested weightless on my shoulders.
I felt something had been missing, and now, everything was perfect. I joined Aaron as he studied me in the mirror. The necklace glistened softly in the light. It went beautifully with my flowing dress, and even with my hair with white lilies pinned to a few of the bouncing curls. My glossy lips were pink and smooth, and as I caught a glimpse of my blue eyes, which looked bluer than ever, my rosy-colored lips began to quiver and my eyes started watering.
“Aw, don’t cry, Elena. You’ll mess up that beautiful make-up of yours.”
I sucked in a deep breathe and turned to him. “Your right.” I gave him a sincere look. “Thank you. You don’t know how much this means to me.”
“It didn’t cost that much.”
“No, I said shaking my head. “I mean everything you’ve ever done for me, everything you are doing for me, and everything you will probably do for me. I don’t know how I’ll ever forgive myself for hurting you, and just know that I never meant to-”
“It was just a necklace,” he muttered. Then he chuckled and said, “Kidding.”
There was a knock on the door, and my father stepped back in. “Hey, kiddo, sorry to interrupt, but he have to get you down that aisle.”
“I’ll go tell them to get ready for the bride,” Aaron announced, and left the room.
My heart started pounding, and my stomach churned, though I was sure that was from the pregnancy.
I grabbed my bouquet as my father offered me his elbow, and I slipped my hand through his.
“Stop looking so worried,” my father told me. “Everything’s fine. Now put on that smile that the ‘too too’ you would wear.”
I smiled unwillingly as he told me that.
Usually, time was not on my side. Had bad timing, time went by too fast or too slow. I wanted things to go by fast today. But today, time was giving me a break. It seems as soon as we stepped out that door, we were already in the backyard, on the long, red carpet rolled out in front of us.
I took a deep breath and waited for my cue to start walking. The wedding march began, and the few dozens of people stood.
Left. Right. Left. Right.
It seemed like only a few steps before I was right in front of Adam, not being able to help but smile at how handsome he looked in his tux. Once I saw him, I saw no one else, not even Aaron.
Beautiful, he mouthed.
It seemed like only a few minutes had passed when it was time for the vows.
Adam spoke first. In my head, I was thinking, No matter what he says, don’t cry.
“Elena. My beautiful Elena. I believe it was fate that we met. In all my life, I never met someone as beautiful, as smart, as caring, as sweet, as perfect as you.”
Don’t cry, don’t cry, I said louder in my head.
"You’re my everything. A bee is nothing without it’s sweet honey, a singer is nothing without their voice, and I am nothing without you. I love you, and don’t you dare forget it.”
Damn it, I thought as the tears strolled down my face.
I began what I had rehearsed so many times. “Adam.” I smiled as I said his name. “There have been so many ‘best days of my life’ with you. This will be one of them.” I paused for a short moment. “And the next-” I took a deep breath and put a hand up to my belly. “Will be when the child growing inside me is born, with you right there by my side.”
Adam smiled. There were gasps and mutters from the audience. But I continued.
“And I hope to share many more ‘best days’ with you, for as long as our love will last.”
Love you, I mouthed.
We said our ‘I Do’s’, exchanged the rings, and finally, the minister said the words:
“By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”
Adam stepped closer and put one arm around my waist. He rested the other on my cheek. Slowly, he leaned in and my eyes fluttered closed as he pressed his lips to mine.
He was heavenly gentle, but when I carefully bit down on his bottom lip and tugged, he smiled and gave me a more passionate kiss. When he broke away, the guests cheered and began throwing flower petals. Adam gave me one more kiss, a soft kiss on the forehead, then picked me up and stood me on a nearby metal folding chair. I turned away from the crowd and shouted, “Ready?“ to the people behind me, then launched my bouquet over my head. I was surprised when Ariana caught it. I laughed when she looked at Noah with a smug look and he started whistling.
I looked over to where Aaron was standing and began to walk toward him. When I stood right in front of him, he held his arms wide open. “Come ‘ere, lil’ sis!” I wrapped my arms around his waist and he started to shake me left and right. We both laughed, but then Aaron stopped laughing for some reason, so I stopped, too. I looked up at him to see that he was staring at something in back of me, so I turned. There was Adam, standing tall, in front of me and his fraternal twin brother Aaron. And there I stood between both men that I loved, feeling small. I moved to the side and pushed them a bit closer.
Adam held out his hand. Aaron took it and they shook fiercely. I could tell both their grips were tight. And then my happily ever after happened. Adam pulled Aaron into his arms, patted his back and said to him, “I missed you, little brother.”

Epilogue

Aaron’s P.O.V.

I’d say things were finally back to normal, but they were never normal in the first place, so I’ll say that things are finally normal. Elena is happy, and that’s all I could wish for. The both of us really are like brother and sister now, always messing with each other. She has some kind of attitude toward me now. She acts cold sometimes, gotten real feisty. I always pretend to hit on her to tease her. (Or at least that‘s what I tell her.)
She’s six-months pregnant, and I’m actually pretty psyched. Adam is practically jumping up and down for the day to come.
Turns out Noah and Ariana did get married, about three months later. Shocker.
Everything’s normal, but that doesn’t mean that things aren’t different. Because things between me and Adam will never be the same again. It’s not completely awkward between us, but it’s not a stroll in the park, either. Our brotherhood has changed forever, our bond and trust gone, and it’s all thanks to the woman we could never say no to, to the woman we could never stay mad at. To the woman we will always love, Elena.