If I Never Knew You (If I Never Knew You Series) (16 page)

"So, do you two want classic or something more your style?" Phillip asks. I look at Orion with a raised eyebrow.

"Our style," Orion says, smirking.

"Alright then, everyone sit," Phillip says. I look at the guests as they all sit in their chairs. "We're gathered here today because my son finally managed to ask the love of his life to marry him..."

"Three years late," I say.

"If I knew you wanted to do it earlier, I would have asked earlier," Orion says.

"Sure you would have," I reply.

"I'm not a mind reader, babe," Orion says.

"Save the arguments for after the ceremony, please," Phillip laughs. I giggle as Orion mutters an apology. "Today, Madison and Orion have written their own vows, I believe?"

"Yep," Orion says.

"Then you go first," Phillip instructs.

"What?" Orion asks. "I thought we agreed Madison goes first."

"Alphabetically you go first," I counter.

"What about last names?" Orion asks.

"Still you," Andy says.

"Wanna go with the Plan B vows, then?" I ask as I tap Orion on the shoulder.

"Plan B vows? Okay." Orion says with a smile. "That would be easier. Boys?"

The band members all jump up and run over to their instruments. We had rehearsed this change to Plan B secretly with Phillip and the guys, whom we had sworn to secrecy. Our guests look baffled as the band gets settled and started.

Orion turns my head to look at him and starts to sing the vows we had written together just weeks ago. I join in with the band and, when it's all over, both our families and friends are in tears.

"Well that pretty much sums it up," Phillip says, wiping away a tear. "Do you two take each other to be your lawfully wedded husband and wife?"

"Say yes, Mommy!" Noah says. His little voice is so excited and happy that everyone laughs.

"Thanks, Honey, I know what I'm doing," I say, smiling at my little boy. I look at Phillip. "I so do."

"Same here," Orion says.

"Alright, no objections?" Phillip asks, looking at the guests. "Good, Noah?"

Everyone looks at the little boy. He looks shocked to be the center of attention now.

"What?" Noah asks.

"The rings," Phillip says.

"What rings?" Noah asks.

Andy crouches next to him and pulls the rings out of his own pocket, before putting them in his nephew's outstretched hand.

"Here you are, Daddy," Noah says, handing Orion my ring. "Here, Mommy." He hands me mine. The ring exchange is just as exciting as the rest of the ceremony, since we finally kiss for the first time as husband and wife. Then Orion, Andy, Nora and I sign the wedding register before Phillip finally announces Orion and me as husband and wife.

"Mommy, Mommy, are you gonna tell Daddy now?" Noah asks, running over to us later on.

Orion and I are sitting on a bench watching everyone else mingle. I lift him onto my lap. Okay, so I wasn't keeping Baby Number Two a secret from everyone. Noah knows and so does Phillip.

"Tell me what?" Orion asks.

"Mommy was gonna tell you that she's pregunt...pragna..." Noah tries to pronounce the word, but fails rather adorably.

"The word is pregnant, Sweetheart," I say. "And I was going to wait until tonight to tell him, you little spoiler!"

"Oops, sorry," Noah says.

"Aw, I can't stay mad at you. Not with that cute little face of yours," I say. "Go find Uncle Andy." I put him back down and he runs off.

"Uncle Andy still sounds funny," Orion says. "So, pregnant again, are we?"

"We?" I ask. "Excuse me, who's the one who has to carry the baby for nine months and go through twenty hours of labor?"

"Point taken," Orion says. Noah took forever to be born and he was nearly two weeks overdue. He just did not want out. "So, let me rephrase it. Pregnant again, are you?"

"And again, excuse me?" I ask. "Whose fault is it?"

"How about I just stop talking?" Orion asks. "That work for you?"

"Very much so," I say and give him a kiss.

Like I said, this is the happiest point of my life. And I have a feeling there's going to be a lot more.

Flash forward twenty years after Madison is rescued from her abusive boyfriend by Orion, they now have a twenty-year-old son, Noah, and a sixteen-year-old daughter, Riley. Now it is Riley's turn to deal with her own problems at Kennewa High School. With the help from her friends and family, will she be able to balance her time between her successful band, The Valentinas, and the school play she is writing? Will she be able to choose between her current boyfriend, Preston, and her long-time friend, Landon?

When shady figures from her parents' past re-emerge, Riley's life is thrown into a tailspin of danger and emotion. The pressure from her record company and writing her school's play begin to weigh her down, badly. Will her family and friends be able to help her along the way, or will she have to save herself? Or will she make it safely out of high school at all?