Redneck Prince Charming

Chapter Fifteen

The morning of the wedding dawned sunny and bright. Aaden had never felt nerves like this in his entire life. He kept imagining waiting at the altar of that tiny church and seeing Kathleen walk in the door just to have her take off running in the opposite direction when she realized that her family was right and marrying him was a mistake…. He cursed at himself.

He might not be rich or high class but by god he loved that woman more than any other man in the world ever could and she loved him. And today she was going to become his wife. He walked out in the living room to find Pete and Billy passed out on the couch. He chuckled and shook his head when he saw the empty bottle of moonshine. Good thing Kathleen had said she didn't want bridesmaids and groomsmen because his family would have been a bit too hung over to stand at the altar with him.

Just then he heard a car door shut outside. He opened the door and saw Max running up toward him with Tessa walking behind him.

"I'm gonna be a ring bear today." Max said happily. Tessa laughed.

"I tried to explain to him that it's ring bearer but he said he wants to be a bear more." she said. Aaden hugged Max tight.

"Go on inside and see if you can get uncle Pete and uncle Billy to wake up." he said. Max laughed and ran in the house. Tessa crossed her arms and looked up at Aaden.

"Brent would be so happy for you today if he were still alive." she said running a hand through her auburn hair. Aaden smiled at the mention of his brother.

"Yea he always was trying to get me to find a woman." he agreed.

"I'm happy for you too… Even though I still wish sometimes that you could have felt for me the way I do for you." Tessa said with a sad smile. Aaden shook his head as he looked over at her. She was short and slender with bright auburn hair and dark eyes. She looked like a beauty but he knew that inside she was a mean cruel woman who had used her son as a pawn to try to control his brother when he'd been alive.

"You might as well give up on that dream, Tessa. I didn't want you back when Brent was alive, I didn't want you when he died and I don't want you now." he assured her. She nodded.

"I know that. I gave up on you a long time ago. But I want to thank you for being so good to Max and Max really seems to like Kathleen."

"Kathleen likes Max and as far as me being good to Max.. The boy is my nephew. He's all I got left of my big brother. I love that boy." Tessa smiled.

"Well I'll be going and let you get ready for your wedding. Could I have one last hug before you're a married man?" she asked. He shook his head.

"No, I don't think that would be a good idea." he replied. She nodded.

"I didn't think you would." she said. "You know if you ever change your mind I would let you adopt Max. Be a real dad to him." Aaden felt anger at her usual tactic of trying to use her son to get what she wanted..

"Max had a great dad. I'm just fine with being his uncle." he said. Tessa nodded and walked back to her car. She turned and saw that he already had his back to her and was walking into the house. Tessa hoped that Kathleen realized what a great man she was marrying and if she didn't and screwed things up Tessa would be waiting with open arms to comfort the big man.

888

Christy and Craig pulled in a short time later. Craig jumped out of her car and then she drove away toward Aaden's parents house. Aaden raised a brow as Craig walked in.

"You two drove together in her car? Are you staying with her now?" he asked. Craig cursed and grabbed a beer from the refrigerator.

"I just enjoy her company is all." he said. Aaden smiled.