Chapter 410

Olivia

As I walked away from Nathan, my mind was a whirlwind of emotions despite the festive atmosphere of the festival preparations.

The idea of a courthouse wedding, while practical given our current circumstances, tore at my heart. I had always dreamt of a fairytale wedding, a huge celebration with all our friends and pack members gathered to witness our love.

The courthouse felt like a compromise, like settling for less.

Of course, there was the promise of a real wedding ceremony and reception after the courthouse marriage; but there was no telling exactly how long it could be until that actually happened.

It would likely need to be after the baby was born, and we’d need at least a few months before we could take on a wedding. And then there was potty training the twins, which would happen around that time. Then there would be teething, and preschool, and the twins’ abilities beginning to show…

And before we knew it, we would be having our wedding two, maybe even three years after the fact.

But I knew deep down that Nathan was right. We couldn’t keep postponing our marriage indefinitely.

Our family was growing, and we needed to make our commitment official before the baby arrived. I couldn’t let my desire for a perfect wedding day overshadow the importance of being legally married to the love of my life by the time our baby came into the world.

As I continued to oversee the festival preparations, my eyes occasionally welled up with tears, and I wiped them away discreetly. I didn’t want anyone to see me like this, not when I was supposed to be the strong Luna, capable of handling any challenge that came our way.

At one point, I was struggling in particular with a box of decorations. The string legs kept getting tangled, and it was as if my efforts to untangle them just kept making it worse.

I huffed, tossing the wad of lights back down into the box.

“God dammit,” I hissed under my breath, blinking away the tears that threatened to come. “I give up. Stupid lights.”

“Hey. They’re just lights.”

Nathan’s voice pulled me out of my train of thought, and I looked up to see him approaching with a gentle look in his eyes. He held his hand out and I took it. His palm was warm and soft, and his touch provided both me and my wolf with an instant sense of comfort.

“Sorry,” I muttered. “I’m just a little frustrated right now.”

Nathan sighed and reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. “I know,” he said gently. “You wanna talk about it? I realized I just kinda left you there earlier.”

I nodded, feeling the warmth of his embrace as he pulled me into a comforting hug. “I just feel so… disappointed,” I murmured into his chest. “It’s like the universe just keeps trying to get in between us every step of the way, and all I wanted, after all of the hell we’ve been through, was for us to have our dream wedding and start a new chapter.”

Nathan kissed the top of my head, his lips brushing against my hair. “I understand, Liv,” he murmured. “I really do. But our love isn’t defined by the size of our wedding. It’s about the life we’re building together, the family we’re creating.”

His words resonated with me, and I took a deep breath, trying to look at things on the bright side. “You’re right,” I said quietly as I pulled away, wiping the tears from my eyes. “It’ll just take me a little while to get over it, that’s all.”

Nathan nodded, his blue-green eyes meeting mine. “You don’t need to ‘get over’ it. We’ll have our wedding; just not as soon as we had hoped. But hey, at least all of our kids will get to attend, right?”

I nodded and chuckled slightly. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

Suddenly, just as Nathan was pressing a gentle kiss against my forehead, a voice caught our attention.

“Nathan!” Levi called, waving from across the square. We both looked over to see him holding a bundle of something in his arms—supplies, maybe. “Nathan, can you come here?”

“Sorry,” Nathan said to me, gently pulling away. “Duty calls.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I said as I gave his hand one last squeeze. “We’ll talk more tonight. And, um… Thanks for helping today. I know it wasn’t easy to drop your Alpha duties, but—”

“Hey,” Nathan cut in with a shake of his head. “This is an Alpha duty, too. I just put off some of the other ones. And really, I should have been helping from the beginning.”

Before I could answer, Nathan was shooting me a warm smile and turning on his heel. I watched as he jogged away, nearly bumping shoulders with Angela, who was approaching me. She was fresh off of her nursing shift, still in her scrubs with her jacket on top.

“You’re here,” I said, furrowing my brow as I looked at her. “Angela, you know you don’t have to come and help right after your shifts.”

She shrugged as she plopped her bag down on a nearby picnic table and combed her fingers through her hair. “You know I get bored easily,” she said with a chuckle. “I’m basically never not working.”

“Yeah, and it’ll be the death of you,” I chided with a smirk.

Rolling her eyes, Angela got to work helping me untangle the lights. It was always nice to have my friend by my side, even when her constant need to move made me worried. Between her long nursing shifts, her volunteering around town, and hanging out with me, I fully expected her to pass out from exhaustion one day. But she never did, and that was what amazed me.

“Something’s on your mind,” she said as we finally finished untangling the knot of string lights. “I can tell.”

I sighed. “You’re always too perceptive,” I teased. “But…” I paused, taking a deep breath. “Angela, the wedding has been postponed.”

Angela’s eyes widened with surprise. “What? Why?”

“The venue had a roof cave-in,” I said. “And everything is booked. Between the pregnancy and the twins, I think we’re just gonna have to do a courthouse wedding for now and have an official ceremony later down the road.”

“Oh, Liv, I’m sorry to hear that the original plan didn’t work out,” she said softly. “But you know, an intimate courthouse wedding can be incredibly sweet and meaningful. And we can still celebrate with a small dinner afterward.”

I nodded, still feeling a bit down but bolstered a bit by the idea of having a nice dinner with Levi, Angela, Clint, and everyone else who mattered the most to us.

“I’m trying to look on the bright side,” I said. “It’s not about the flashy wedding. It’s about me and Nathan and celebrating our love.”

Angela gave me an encouraging smile and reached over to squeeze my hand. “Exactly, Liv. Your love story is what matters most, not the venue or the decorations. And I’ll be here to help you with whatever you need. You know that.”

“Thank you, Angie,” I said as tears welled up in my eyes. “Just promise you won’t overdo things and knock yourself out.”

Angela smirked. “No promises, Liv,” she teased. “No promises.”