Old Fashioned Sweetie by Megan Wade
Vaughn
“There are probably four more trips up and down the stairs and we’ll be done,” my cousin, Dylan, says as I help him load a couch into the back of the moving van. All three of my brothers and our four cousins traveled into the city with us to help get Charity and Jade moved to Whisper Valley. It’s a big deal for all of us—Kellen and me, because our soulmates are cementing their lives to ours. Remy and Otis because if this soulwink thing is true, then it means their time is coming next. And my cousins because they’re the most reclusive men in the history of the world. Dylan swears that whenever he gets spotted up in the mountains foraging, a sighting of big foot is reported not long after. So, I genuinely appreciate that they were willing to leave the comfort of their hermit hideouts to lighten the load for family.
“Almost there,” I say, dusting off my hands as I jump out of the back of the van and meet Kellen and Otis carrying a dresser.
“Make that three,” Dylan adds, stepping aside as both Charity and Jade follow with arms full of boxed clothing. With eight guys here willing to do the heavy lifting, we told them both they were welcome to wait at the coffee shop around the corner, but they insisted that their legs and arms were just as capable of moving boxes too. While I didn’t want to agree, I settled for a promise that I could give my girl and long and sensuous massage once we were unpacked and alone in our cabin in Whisper Valley. Charity didn’t take too much convincing on that one. I hear compromise is the cornerstone of a successful relationship. Seems we’re off to a great start.
“You know, I’m kinda going to miss this place once we’re gone,” Charity says as I take the box from her and slide it in the back of the van. “It’s where Jade and I became the best of friends, and it’s where I got to spend two weeks getting to know everything I could about you.” Smiling, she leans into me and I drop a kiss on her ruby-red lips, a soft growl at the memory of all that exploring coming out and making me want to speed this process up so I can get her home and into bed.
Home.
I can’t explain how good it feels to have that with someone. While the bar and Whisper Valley have always been the place I lived, it wasn’t until Charity stood inside my house that I understood that home is a person and not a place. It’s where your heart belongs, and mine belongs with her.
“I’m gonna miss this place too. It’s been real nice bein’ cooped up in that tiny apartment with you this past couple of weeks. But I reckon it’s gonna be even better wakin’ up next to you in our cabin.”
“Ours,” she repeats, smiling before she releases a little sigh. “I like the sound of that.”
“And then you have to start planning your wedding,” Jade puts in, grinning and glowing and just radiating joy ever since she and Kellen returned from their two-week honeymoon. “I can’t tell you how excited I am that I was right about you two. I just knew your souls winked at each other when I saw you together.”
Kellen slides an arm around his wife’s shoulders and pulls her in closer. “Jade knows what she’s talkin’ about,” he says. “I saw it too. There’s a…buzz between you. Saw it at the weddin.”
“You’re not wrong,” I say, grinning down at Charity. “It’s why I proposed that very night.”
“I love that we share an anniversary too,” Jade says. “Our wedding anniversary is the anniversary of when you guys met. I wonder if your wedding will become an anniversary for Otis or Remy.” Her brows waggle with excitement and Otis groans in the background.
“Please tell me you’re not tryin’ to match me up with this magical soulwink thing you’re all obsessing over.”
Jade giggles as her new brother-in-law places the final box in the truck and we all gather on the sidewalk. “Of course we are, Otis. You can naysay it all you want now, but just you wait. You’ll be happier than you’ve ever been when it happens to you.”
“Unlikely,” he grunts, pulling the roller door down and throwing the lever to lock it in place.
“What’s this soulwink thing?” Dylan asks, scraping a hand through his generous beard before folding his arms across his hulking body.
“It’s something Jade came up with,” Charity explains. “She thinks there’s a magic in the air in Whisper Valley, and that it brings couples together.”
Dylan barks out a laugh. “I’d like to see it find me. I live so deep in the mountain, even hikers don’t find me. They don’t even deliver my mail up there.”
Jade laughs and rolls her eyes. “You’re all doubting me now. But one and two are all the proof I need.” She illustrates her words by pointing at Kellen and me.
Kellen chuckles before he slides his fingers through his wife’s hand. “Let them discover it for themselves, baby. We get the privilege of watchin’ and sayin’ I told you so.”
“You’re right,” she says with a huff. “And don’t y’all think I won’t. I’ll be right there for each and every one of you, daring you to tell me I was wrong.”
“OK,” I say, laughing as the single men make a mixture of positive and negative noises. “How about we hit the road? Dinner at the bar as a thank you. All you can eat or drink.” That gets me a cheer as everyone clambers into the waiting vehicles, destination Whisper Valley and the rest of my life.
“Do you think it’ll really happen the way Jade says it will?” Charity asks as she settles into the truck beside me.
I turn to her and take her hand in mine, pressing a kiss to her knuckles right next to her shining engagement ring that I bought her not long after I came to stay in the city with her. “I don’t know if us comin’ together was a happy coincidence, or something as powerful as Jade’s soulwinks. But what I do know, is that I would love for my brothers and cousins to feel even one tenth of what I feel for you.”
My mother always said we Valentines wore our hearts on our sleeves and that all it would take is the right woman to come along and pluck it right off. I don’t know if that’s the soulwink Jade talks about, or just the way the men in our family fall in love, but either way, I’ve never been happier than I am right now. Come hell or high water, Charity and I are going to have an amazing life together. Starting now.
“It’d be pretty special,wouldn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I say, leaning over and giving her one last kiss before I start the engine. “You ready to say goodbye to this place and head home? Mom said she spoke to the city and the job at the library is yours whenever you wanna start.”
“I’m definitely ready,” she says, grinning from ear to ear as we pull out into the busy street and move in a procession of vans, trucks and cars to our own little pocket of small-town paradise, ready to start a new and exciting chapter of our life. Together.
