Bonus Scene: Wedding Ceremony

City Hall, Billings, Montana

Aubrey

The civil servant guy we’ve been waiting on—a guy of thirty or so—walks out of the waiting room with another couple in tow, on his way to marrying them in the next room. Which means Caleb and I are next. 

Realizing our proximity to The Promised Land, Caleb squeezes my hand and whispers, “We’re so close now.”

“Every minute feels like an hour,” I whisper back.

It’s a pleasant Sunday afternoon at Billings City Hall—the perfect day to marry the love of my life. Although, in reality, there could be a blizzard outside right now—or it could be raining frogs and toads, spikes and spears, elephants and zebras—and it’d still be the perfect day to marry Caleb Hayes Baumgarten. 

We’re surrounded by a small group of people, with Raine sitting on my mother’s lap, and everyone but Raine, who doesn’t understand what’s going on, keeps exchanging looks of excitement about what we’re about to do.

Caleb and I both feel like we’re going to explode if we have to wait a second longer than necessary to call each other “husband” and “wife.” That’s why we’re here today, after all, waiting on a civil servant to marry us in front of a small group of our family and friends, less than forty-eight hours after Caleb proposed to me at the summer festival: because Caleb and I both decided we wanted to call each other “husband” and “wife,” as soon as humanly possible, far more than we care about waiting for a fancy venue and custom dresses for Raine and me in order to do that. Plus, since Claudia won’t here to be my maid of honor, whether we tie the knot today or months from now, I feel like it’ll break my heart a little less to do it now, in a whirlwind, than to spend a year planning and anticipating, all without Claudia by my side. 

True, the downside of our spontaneous decision to throw together a quickie wedding is that some important people in Caleb’s orbit aren’t here to witness our nuptials today. Caleb’s three bandmates, for instance, who are like brothers to him. Especially Dean. But we’ve already decided to throw a huge wedding reception in LA in the coming months—one that will include everyone who missed today’s small affair and will also include fancy dresses for Raine, me, and my mother, a live band and amazing food, flowers, and all the usual bells and whistles of a wedding celebration. So, that’s good enough for me, and all the more reason for me to feel zero doubt about my decision to become Mrs. Baumgarten today.

I’m not pregnant, by the way. I’ve already fielded that question from my mother and Miranda. I might as well be, though. That’s how urgently I want to marry Caleb. Now that he’s legally changed Raine’s last name to Baumgarten to match his, I’m dying to join the club and make us The Baumgarten Family, Party of Three.

The civil servant returns, and Caleb and I—also, everyone in the waiting room—exchanges excited glances as he makes his way toward his computer at the counter. 

After several minutes of doing who-knows-what back there, he finally calls out, “Marriage for Baumgarten-Capshaw? Ready?”

Caleb jolts out of his seat and bellows. “Ready!” 

I’m the one who got the forms from this man and brought them to Caleb in the waiting room earlier, so this is the first time he’s seeing Caleb—the “Baumgarten” portion of the “Baumgarten-Capshaw” wedding on his list. And man, it’s abundantly clear he’s instantly recognized the groom standing before him as C-Bomb, the world-renowned rummer from Red Card Riot. I’ve come to recognize the tell-tale signs: slackening jaw; widening eyes; barely audible gasp or exhale.

“Okay, great,” the guy stammers. “Hey, are you . . . a musician, by any chance?”

“I am.”

“In Red Card Riot?”

“I am.”

“Oh my god. Welcome, C-Bomb!”

“Thank you. This is my bride, Aubrey.”

“Hello. Congratulations. Let’s get you two married.”

“Sounds great to me. We’ve got a small group here.”

“Everyone follow me.”

Caleb takes me hand and we follow the man into a nearby room, with our friends and family trailing behind. As everyone filters into the room, butterflies flood my belly and my heart beats at an irregular rhythm. Mere months ago, I didn’t even know this man, let alone love him. And now, just this fast, he’s the center of my universe. My family. My home, like Caleb said when he proposed to me. Saying yes to marrying him was the easiest decision I’ve ever made in my life. 

“Welcome to the wedding of Caleb and Aubrey,” our officiant says. He says a few opening remarks about the joyous occasion. But his remarks are brief, since this isn’t the luxury model of this sort of thing. “And now for the vows,” he continues. “You indicated you’d like to exchange personal, customized vows. Yes?”

When I brought the form over to Caleb in the waiting room earlier, we had to check a box to pick our preference on vows: either we could do a traditional call and response about the typical stuff—for better and worse, through sickness and health, etcetera—or we could opt to exchange heartfelt sentiments unique to us. I figured Caleb would want to do the call and response, given that he just poured his heart out to me a few days ago when proposing, but to my glee, he didn’t’ hesitate to suggest we exchange our own, customized vows.

“That’s right,” Caleb says to the officiant guy. “We’ll do our own thing.”

“Take it away.” The man motions to Caleb, giving him the floor, and Caleb takes both of my hands, turns to me, and looks deeply into my eyes. 

“Aubrey, I never thought I’d get to feel the kind of love I feel with you. I didn’t think it was in the cards for me during my lifetime. Didn’t think I was capable or worthy of this kind of love.” He stops, choking up, and my eyes prick with tears. 

Nearby, mother whimpers softly again. She’s with my father, holding Raine’s tiny hand in hers, and the poor woman’s been sniffling and whimpering since we entered this government building a half-hour ago.

Caleb shoots a smile at my mother, which prompts Raine to shout, “Hi Dadda!” 

“Hi, Rainey. We love you.” 

“I luh you!”

Everyone laughs, including Caleb and me.

“See my dress? See how it goes out?” Raine breaks free of my mother’s grasp and twirls in the cute little dress we bought her yesterday, and everyone claps, laughs, and cheers.

“That’s so pretty, baby,” Caleb says, as I say something similar. But finally, Caleb says, “I have to finish talking to Aubrey now, so she can become my wife, forever and ever, okay?”

“Okay!” Surely, Raine has no idea what he’s talking about, or what’s truly going on here; but she definitely loves wearing that frilly dress, and spinning in it, and she’s also awfully excited about the white-frosted cupcakes we bought to enjoy after this ceremony. 

Caleb returns his gaze to mine. His Adam’s apple bobs in his throat, and then, he continues. “I owe my life to you, Aubrey, along with every drop of happiness I’ll ever experience, from this moment forward. Thank you for teaching me how to love and be loved. How to be a father. You’re my north star and my rock. Without you, I’d be nothing but the shell of a man. Today, I promise to spend the rest of my days trying to prove I’m worthy of you. I promise to love you forever. To take care of and protect you and Raine. From this day forward, I’ll worship the ground you walk on, Aubrey Capshaw. I’ll be your loving and faithful husband, forever. One who’s worthy of your love and trust. I promise.”

“I love you, Caleb,” I murmur softly, before pulling him to me for a kiss.

After our brief kiss, we press our foreheads together and smile, and a moment later, a sniffle rises up in the crowd—one that matches my own happy sniffle. But it’s not only my mother who’s crying this time. It’s everyone watching this moment—my father, Miranda, and the small group of Caleb’s friends who journeyed to Montana to witness his proposal two days ago. 

“Your turn, Aubrey,” the officiant prompts. “Let’s hear your vows.”

Wiping my eyes, I murmur, “He’s going to be a tough act to follow, but I’ll do my best.” I take Caleb’s hands and breathe deeply while gathering my thoughts. When I’m ready, I look into my soon-to-be-husband’s green eyes and choke out, “Caleb, you’re my best friend, protector, and rock, in addition to being my lover. The world knows you’re larger than life as a musician. But what I’ve come to discover is you’re even bigger than that as a man and father. I’m in awe of you, Caleb—of your many talents, yes. But even more so, of your big heart. Your deep soul. I love how you spring into action, without a second thought, whenever someone you care about is in need. I promise to spend the rest of my life proving you made the right choice in picking me. I promise to always be there for you, in all ways, big and small. I’ll always love you and Raine, completely and unconditionally, with everything I am.”

“Me?” Raine asks. Clearly, she’s surprised to hear her name mentioned.

“Yes, you, silly,” I say. “We’re a family.”

Raine giggles and twirls in her pretty dress again. 

When I return to Caleb, he’s got tears in his eyes, so I touch his bearded cheek. “I love you, and I promise to be your loving and faithful wife, forever.”

Caleb leans in and kisses me gently. And when we break apart from our clinch, the officiant prompts us to exchange the simple rings Caleb got at a jewelry store down the street. When he showed me the simple bands, he told me he’d buy me something much more extravagant later, but I told him not to bother, that my engagement ring is all the extravagance I could ever want. He playfully told me not to tell him what to do, which I think means I’ll be getting a sparkling diamond band at some point. But I meant what I said. Only two days ago, I got an engagement ring worth more than my parents’ house. What more could I want, beyond that? 

Our rings in place, the civil servant guy prompts us to repeat after him about the rings, which we do. And a moment later, he pronounces, “By the authority of the State of Montana, I now pronounce you married. I hereby present to you all, Mr. and Mrs. Baumgarten, husband and wife!”

As our small crowd whoops in celebration, Caleb kisses me again. This time, far more passionately than the gentle, sweet kisses that have come before. And when he finally releases me, Raine is standing at our feet, hopping around gleefully, and our small crowd of loved ones has converged on us to hug and congratulate us. 

With a whoop, Caleb scoops up Raine and we fall into a happy, three-way family hug, before we move along to hugging my parents and our other well-wishers. 

“Sorry to bother you, C-Bomb,” the officiant says. “But can I get a quick autograph from you before you head out? I play guitar in a bar band on weekends and RCR has always been my all-time favorite band and inspiration.” 

I’m thinking Caleb will be annoyed, given the timing. But he’s all smiles. “I’ll do one better than an autograph,” he says. “You gave me my wife; the least I can do is jam with you and your band sometime.”

“What?” the guy shouts, his eyes bugging out. “Seriously?”

“You have my number from the form, right? Give me a couple weeks to settle into married life, and then hit me up.”

As the guy freaks out, Caleb returns to me, smiling. “Hi, Mrs. Baumgarten.”

“Hey there, husband.” 

“Husband and daddy. The best two words in the English language.” 

He leans in and kisses me again, and my heart feels like it’s bursting in my chest. My parents said they’d watch Raine, if we want to take a honeymoon, just me and Caleb. But we both decided we didn’t want to be anywhere, except home on the lake, for the foreseeable future. Perhaps we’ll travel somewhere, at some point, as our honeymoon, once we’ve settled into our new life. But even then, I’m guessing we’ll want to take Raine with us.

“Um, sorry,” the officiant says sheepishly, “I need to clear out this room for the next wedding.” 

We’ve booked a restaurant down the street for our little wedding reception, so Caleb grabs my hand and Raine’s, and we head through the door with our small group in tow. 

I can’t believe this is my life. My happily ever after. I’m officially Mrs. Baumgarten. Caleb’s wife. Raine’s Aubbey. And I can’t wait to see what happens next.