Snow flurries fell from the sky, and Nick fidgeted with his tie as he waited for his bride beneath the cedar gazebo on Manning Farms.
They’d decided to hold the ceremony the day after she’d proposed, giving Clara and Cassie enough time to be part of things while inviting some members of the Pack.
He wore gray pants with a slim fitting, black velvet jacket his mate had picked out for him. Didn’t matter a fig to him. Nick would’ve worn a potato sack if she’d asked him to.
“Daddy, stop fidgeting!” his daughter scolded.
“You tell him,” Cassie encouraged.
He barked out a laugh at their shenanigans. Those two were already thick as thieves. Still, Nick watched his little sprout for any signs of unhappiness.
She seemed happy, but he needed to be sure. Dropping to one knee despite the snow flurrying down, he looked into his daughter’s eyes so much like his own.
“Clara, are you okay with all of this?”
“What? Of course I am, Daddy.” She smiled and rolled her eyes. “You’re getting me what I always wanted for Christmas!”
“What’s that?” Stephanie asked.
Nick’s eyes flashed towards where she approached, walking along the dark green carpet they’d rolled over the snow for her to walk on.
Fucking hell.
Nick was tongue tied. The woman was drop dead gorgeous on any day of the week, but in the fur-trimmed, off the shoulder ivory gown that clung to her curves like a second skin, she looked like a goddess. A beautiful, sexy, loving winter goddess.
“He’s getting me you, Stephie! And you Cassie! And David and Marco,” Clara said, her tiny hands pointing at everyone in their small wedding party and interrupting his train of thought.
“What are you talking about, sprout?”
“Family,” Stephanie answered for him, taking Clara’s hand in one of hers and his in the other.
“That’s right!” Clara said. “You got me a family, Daddy. I have a new mom, a sister, a brother-in-law, and a nephew.”
“And a Pack too,” Kurt added, from his position at the makeshift pulpit.
“That means you got me what I wanted too,” Stephanie whispered, reaching on tiptoe to kiss him quickly.
Her sapphire eyes blazed with love, a sentiment that echoed in his pounding heart. Happiness nearly drowned him as he looked at the woman he loved.
“We about ready to do this?” Kurt interrupted.
“Before I begin,” the lawyer started with a stage whisper. “I was wondering, uh, if the bride might be willing to sign my collection of Macconwood Charity Calendars after the event?”
Nicholas growled. Stephanie laughed. And Clara told everyone to start already. Cassie echoed the sentiment.
“I was just asking. Alright, alright. Let’s see now. Here we go,” Kurt opened the book he was holding and began to read a very appropriate passage about hope and new beginnings.
The couple held hands beneath the gazebo with Clara and Cassie, her mate and baby, all standing beside them. Snow began to fall, blanketing the group in a crystalline blanket of pure white that with the Douglas Firs, Spruces, and dozens of potted roses and holiday blooms, made the bride and groom feel as if they were in a Christmas wonderland.
All in all, it was a terrific ceremony, full of humor, warmth, hope, and, most importantly, love.
That evening, as Clara slept soundly at her new big sister’s house, Stephanie and Nicholas kissed beneath the mistletoe that hung over their doorway before heading inside.
“I am hanging that plant up everywhere,” he grinned. “Year round.”
“What? Why?”
“Because, wife, that was your excuse the first time you kissed me.”
His Wolf growled softly with joy. She was in his arms, mated, claimed, and wed, and he’d never been happier.
Mine.
“You know,” his mate said, beaming with joy. “I recall a promise you once made to get me in your bed.”
“I did say that. Didn’t I, Mrs. Winters?”
“Yes, you certainly did, Mr. Winters.”
Nicholas bent, lifting his bride into his arms, and carried her to their bed.
“I love you, Nick,” she said, eyes wide and vulnerable.
He kissed her lips, baring his soul to the one he loved most. His Stephanie. His one and only true and fated mate.
“I’m going to love you for the rest of my life.”
“You better,” she grinned.
Thanks for reading!
* * *
Liked this story? Want more? Check out the whole series here: The Macconwood Pack Tales.
Looking for more about the Macconwood Wolves, then try my Maccon City Shifters books. Or catch up on how the Alpha and his Wolf Guard found their mates in the Macconwood Pack Novel Series, from book1, Charley’s Christmas Wolf, to book 8, Werewolf Fever.
Thank you so much for reading!
Del mare alla stella,
C.D. Gorri