I Won't Give Up (30 page)

“
Cooper,
I fell in love with you for the qualities, abilities, and outlook
on life that you have, and would never
try to reshape you in a different image.
 
I promise to respect you as a person with your own interests, desires, and needs, and to realize that those are sometimes different, but no less important than my own.
I promise to keep myself open to you, to let you see through the window of my personal world into my innermost fears and feelings, secrets and dreams.
I promise to grow along with you, to be willing to face change as we both change in order to keep our relationship alive and exciting.
And finally, I promise to love you in good times and in bad, with all I have to give and all I feel inside
in the only way I know how which is
completely and forever
.” I tightened my grip on his hand and looked him in his emerald green eyes as I recited the last part of my vows.

“
I Fiona, take you Cooper, to be my
best
friend,
my lover, the father of my children and my husband. I will be yours in times of plenty and times of want, in times of sickness and in times of health, in times of joy and in times of sorrow, in times of failure and in times of triumph. I promise to cherish and respect you, to care for you, to comfort and encourage you, to stay with you for all eternity. I love you.”

“Can we please have the rings.” The minister asked Kurt. I’d gotten Cooper a platinum band from Tiffany & Co. engraved with
the very clique
‘I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine’.
Kurt handed him the bands.

“
There is a
legend of the wedding band. In a fair and far off country many centuries ago, a kind young King was married to a princess he loved so. Together they lived happily until one day their nation’s worst enemy would force the kind to travel far away. One night before he left, as he walked throughout the palace grounds, he tossed some pebbles into a moonlit pool. As the lovely ripples widened where the little pebbles fell the King stood thinking quietly of the wife he loved so well and remembering the next day the surface he had seen he had a gold ring fit for the Queen. “There is no ending or beginning to the circle on this band.” The King said to his wife as he slipped it on her hand. “And that’s why I’ve chosen this golden ring. To be a pledge to you that my love will last through all eternity.” And so since then a gold ring has been the symbol of beauty, devotion and the endlessness of love. May all the love and happiness you two have found together be like the circle of the wedding band and go on and on forever.”

“Cooper
,
please recite your ring vows.”

“
I give you this ring as I reminder that I will live, honor and cherish you, in all ways, all places
(he winked)
and in all ways, always. You were my yesterday, you are my today, you will be my tomorrow. All I am I give to you.” He placed a beautiful diamond infinity band on my left hand.

“Fiona
,
please recite your ring vows.”

“With this ring, I give you my promise from  this day forward that you shall not walk alone
.
May my heart be your shelter and my arms be your home. May we walk together through all things. May you feel deeply loved, for you are indeed. May you always see the innocence in my eyes. May we feel this joy forever.
Always.
”

“Without furthers ado I now pronounce Mr. and Mrs. Cooper Kinley. You may kiss your bride.”

Cooper leaned in and kissed me slowly and passionately. I was looking forward to tonight it would be our first time being intimate since I’d had Mason and I was very much looking forward to it.
We got the go ahead from the doctor over six weeks ago but Cooper decided that it would be nice to wait and for the honeymoon and I agreed but it wasn’t an easy feat.

My mom and Kurt were keeping Mason overnight tonight
that’s if we can
both last the night without him, it was doubtful but not impossible.

We walked down the aisle as husband and wife, greeting some of our family and friends.

We had some pictures taken before we made our way to the tents that were set up on the north side of
the house by the apple orchard. Each
tent
had hundreds of tea lights scattered around throughout. The center of each table was adorned with roses and calla lilies my favorites.
There were open bars at each corner of the tent.
We had a buffet set up serving all of our favorite foods or as I liked to call them comfort foods. Fried chicken, chicken quesadillas, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, we had a carving station set up serving prime rib and spiral ham along with a bread and cheese table that my dad insisted we need. We had two chocolate fountains that had bowls of fruit, pretzels and marshmallows, a dessert table and a wedding cake it was more than enough food to feed an army let alone a hundred people.
The middle of the main tent had been set up with a dance floor. Our couple dance was to Jason Mraz’s ‘I won’t give up’.
Our song.
My dad and I opted for Thurston Harris’ ‘Itty Bitty Pretty One’, which was one of my favorites when I was a little girl plus it was more up beat
. My mom chose her and Cooper’s song. She chose The Band Perry’s ‘If I Die Young’, which seemed fitting since she was filling in for his mom.
She cried the entire time.

After the dances Kurt stood up to give his best man speech.
He nervously cleared his throat.

“Good afternoon everyone. For those of you that don’t know me
I’m Cooper’s dad
,
Kurt and for those of you that do…well I apologize.” The room filled with laughter. “
In my extensive research to find out how to deliver a great best man speech I learned that I am expected to sing praises of the groom and tell you what a wonderful guy Cooper is. Unfortunately, I’m awful at both.” He looked at Cooper and I and winked. “
I’m
also told that the best speech
makers follow three simple rules. Stand up. Speak up. Then very quickly, shut up. I’ll try to stick to that advice.
First,
I’d like to thank Levi and Gabby for putting an awesome reception together. It’s
amazing how many people will come out of the woods for free food and booze.
Second you need to set guidelines
in your marriage
, you need to establish who’s boss, then do everything
she
says.
Fiona you’re a beautiful, smart, funny, and loving young woman. You really deserve a great husband, Cooper thank god she married you before she found one. I want you to know that I couldn’t have hand picked a better daughter in law. But a
ll kidding aside I love both of you so much and I am so proud of both of you. Cooper I’ll never forget the first time I saw you when you came into this world you’ve grown into an amazing young man and I am so proud to call you my son
, I wish more than anything that your mom could have been here today but we know she’s watching over us
. Everyone please raise you’re glasses and join me in toasting Cooper and Fiona.”

The crowd lifted and clinked glasses. Everyone was laughing. I loved his speech
it had Kurt all over it
. We spent the night dancing and eating until everyone had left. Cooper and I had gone in and kissed Mason one more time before leaving to go to the bed and breakfast he arranged. We spent the night into the wee hours of the morning consummating our marriage.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Epilogue

Ten Years Later…

Cooper was
looking sexy as hell
flipping steaks and chicken on the grill drinking a beer with Luke. My mom, now
a
Mrs. Kinley to
o
was sitting with Kurt. Her and
Kurt had been married for just about
five years
now. They were
sitting with my dad and his new wife Rosemary at
one of
the picnic table
s out back watching their grandkids play
. I was putting the macaroni and potato salad
s
on the buffet table trying to make room
for them
along with chips, corn on the cob, baked potatoes.

Rosemary’s sixteen-year old son Jacob and his girlfriend Vanessa were playing
ring around the rosy
with our brood. Our ten-year old Mason Lucas, our eight-year old Savannah Holly and our four-year old Zachary Levi and Luke and Alexis’ nine-year old Natalie Grace and five-year old Brandon Cooper (yep the middle name became a tradition).
Five in total, so far
…

Our family had expanded yet it was perfect. Cooper’s bike shop was doing great he opened two more
in neighboring towns and Luke was tossing around some branding ideas but the company was doing really well
.
We were celebrating
my graduating from
nursing
school and
the recent addition we’d added to the house along with a complete overhaul of the backyard. We’d had a custom made swing set installed, we had a trampoline and an above ground pool which was completely fenced in with no ladder attached thanks to my nervous nelly of a husband.
Once I had everything arranged on the table I tried getting Cooper’s attention but apparently steak is very interesting.

“Hey Luke can you take over grill duties for a couple minutes I need help inside.”
Luke made some oohhh sounds as
Cooper handed
him
the tongs over and ran over to me. I grabbed his hand and pulled him into the bathroom off the kitchen.

“Ooohh an afternoon quickie. I like.”

“Don’t be a pervert.” I joked placing something in his hand.
“You would think you
would be familiar
with these
by now.
”

“Is this what I think it is?” He asked grinning like the Cheshire cat.

“Yes baby daddy it is looks like number four will be here in the spring.” He picked me up and wrapped my legs around his back while kissing me and carrying me back outside.
Jeez I wonder why I keep having babies
..
.
He opened the door without breaking the kiss and placed me down on top of the table. He held the pregnancy test in the air like it was a magic wand.

“Little Cooper and I would like to announce that number four will be here in the spring.” I playfully slapped his chest.

“You stole my thunder you bastard.” Luke joked jabbing him with the tongs.
I loved that my two favorite men had become best friends over the past ten years. They were more like brothers now.

“What are you talking about?” Cooper
laughed
confused
.

“I was going to wait until dinner but we’re pregnant again too.”
He looked adoringly at Alexis
who smiled shyly
.

“Oh boy two more Presco
tt-Kinley’s.” My mom was bouncing
up and down clapping her hands like a crazy lady in he
r seat. She loved her grandkids. H
er and Kurt kept all the kids overnight once a month so that Cooper and I could go out on a double date with Luke and Alexis. She was happy to have a use for all the spare rooms at the house.

Kurt gave Luke and Alexis his house when he moved in with my mom
almost right after we had Mason. I
t had to be a little awkward for him but she couldn’t part with
the
house and
just
like Cooper he couldn’t deny my mom anything that made her happy.
The kids loved their Nona and Pop-pop. My dad was Gramps just like his dad was. He also adored being a grandpa. We had gotten our relationship back to where it was before Gigi came into the picture and there were no hard feelings. I really liked Rosemary and Jacob too. She taught English at the high school they had moved here six years ago from Memphis to care for her father. She’d been a single mom with Jacob before she met my dad and he was a great kid.

Jacob and Vanessa walked up to sit at the table looking exhausted.
They grabbed some waters from the cooler.

“Please don’t tell me you’re expecting too.” Rosemary joked with Jacob.

“No mom I have to say that those kids are great birth control. I’m exhausted, I’ll be lucky if I can move tomorrow.” He laughed. Vanessa was blushing.

“Well thank heavens for that because I am not ready to be a grandma yet. No offense.” She looked at me and laughed.

“None taken.”

“Cooper can you teach me how to spar like Mason that kids a maniac.
”

“I’ll show you a few tricks sometime.”