Run, Girl (If You Can)

Once the wedding ceremony itself ended, everyone sort of sat around talking and eating the same kind of cake Keeley had loved from Jennica's wedding rather than participating in any traditional reception activities. There weren't enough people.

As a joke, Keeley purposely handed her bouquet to Valentina, the only unmarried/unengaged female present.

Her eyes twinkled gleefully. "This means I'll get married soon, right? It worked for you!"

"That's true, I totally forgot you caught the bouquet at my wedding," Jennica said.

Lydia looked at her in disbelief. "She caught yours too? No wonder she got married so quickly! Double bouquet-catching power was at work!"

Keeley rolled her eyes but Aaron—not a superstitious person at all—wondered if maybe there was actually something to it. It was at least as plausible as rebirth. Back in April when Lydia got married she still hated him. Yet here they were.

He couldn't believe his luck. After so many years of dreaming about it Keeley was once again his wife.

Granted, it wasn't the way he had hoped things would happen but he couldn't care too much about that. What mattered was that she was here, right now, in a wedding dress smiling at her friends.

Aaron still felt guilty how things went down. He had wanted to marry her but he had wanted her to want it as well. He would spend the rest of their lives making sure she didn't regret her choice.

"Congrats, my dude," Aiden said as he appeared at Aaron's side and clapped a hand on his shoulder. "I'm happy for you."

Out of everyone here, Aiden probably understood his anguish over his fruitless pursuit of Keeley over the years best. He had been by Aaron's side the longest in this life, beating out Cameron by a few good months.

"Thanks," he said with a wistful smile.

None of this would have been possible without the kid. He was the main reason Aaron even felt comfortable enough to pursue Keeley again after their time apart. Without Aiden's expertise, he wouldn't have felt safe doing so.

"You should go dance with your wife." He tilted his head in her direction as she laughed at something Keisha was saying.

"There isn't any music."

Aiden held up his phone and shook it slightly. "I've got the entire internet at my fingertips right here. Make a request."

Music had never been Aaron's forte. He couldn't even think of the names of any songs. Hang on though…there was that one that Keeley sang the other day.

"Um…do you know a song that goes 'you are my sunshine, my only sunshine'?" he asked, a bit embarrassed.

"Everyone knows that song, man! Kind of an odd choice but whatever. I've got your back; go get her."

Aiden shot him a thumbs up as he walked over to Keeley a bit nervously. "Do you want to dance?"

She raised an eyebrow. "To what?"

The music began playing a second later, answering her question. Her lips quirked into a smile as she took his hand. Rather than waltzing, Keeley placed her arms around his neck so he wrapped his around her back and they sort of swayed in a circle.

A female singer sang the song slowly and sadly to guitar and piano accompaniment. The lyrics hit Aaron even harder than they had the first time. No one could take his sunshine away from him now.

"This is kind of a random song choice," she whispered with a smile.

"It's exactly how I feel about you though."

Surprise lit her eyes and Keeley teased him a bit. "Why Aaron Hale, I do believe that's the most romantic thing you've ever said to me."

Was it really? He needed to step up his game, as Aiden would say. Romance had never been his forte but she deserved that from him to make up for the lack of it before.

They continued rotating in their little circle until the song ended and everybody clapped, which was a bit embarrassing. The couple separated and spent the rest of the ride back to the marina chatting with various guests.

When they made it to shore, everybody threw confetti at them as they climbed into Aaron's car. They went straight home because Keeley was obviously exhausted. He didn't mind. They had a belated honeymoon/graduation trip planned in January once her PhD was finished.

She would only be five months along at that point so flying on a plane wouldn't be a problem. They were going to go to England and France to check out a bunch of really popular tourist spots that would be difficult to see with a baby or young child while they still had the chance.

Keeley had expressed excitement about it, which made him feel relieved. He wanted her to be excited about things. He wanted her to enjoy her second chance at life to the fullest.

Back at their apartment building, Aaron scooped her up into his arms to do the traditional bridal carry.

"Is this really necessary?" she squeaked, covering her face with her hands in embarrassment. "People can see us!"

"Yes, they can see how beautiful my bride is and how lucky I am."

She grumbled about it. "You're ridiculous."

"Ridiculously in love with you," he said lightly as they made it into the elevator. He refused to set her down until they had made it into their apartment.

Keeley headed up to her bedroom, slightly huffy, to get changed. He followed after her, knowing she would need help before she even asked. She emerged a moment later, blushing, because she couldn't get the zipper on the back of her dress by herself.

As he predicted. There were many times throughout their first marriage where Keeley needed help with zippers on dresses.

"You don't need to be embarrassed, I'm not going to do anything," Aaron reassured her.

He had read up on this—it wasn't a good idea to continue having sex too early in the pregnancy. Not that he thought she would be interested even if she wasn't pregnant.

She relaxed fractionally. Had she really been worried about that? He wasn't an animal. Hadn't he respected her boundaries about this engagement and subsequent marriage so far?