Lost In Love (vol. 1)

The Wedding (pt. 3) - "I'll Be Your Hero, Baby"

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 Hope you all enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it :) I love these boys!

(Stay tuned for the EPILOGUE: The Cabin Revisited - yes, we are actually finally there :)

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"Your eyes, they shine like stars above

This is the night that I've been dreaming of

It's your favorite song

...Can we hold on in this dance of love

Something comes over me when you are near

So close and yet so far

I could die here in your arms

As we hold on in this dance of love

The music plays, you're all I see

I feel you breathing so close to me

Take my hand, tonight I'll be your man

In this dance of love."

- Dance Of Love, DAN HILL

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 "I know it's tradition for the best man to make the toast to the newlyweds." Nate stood, a glass of wine in hand. "But I think we can all agree that this is hardly a traditional wedding." He smiled and looked at Kyle, winking softly. The guy leaned back in his chair, a light smirk playing on his lips. Now that the pressure of the ceremony was off, he appeared much more relaxed. Nate's heart went crazy in his chest, but he struggled to calm it as he tried to speak with an even tone. "So I want to make a toast." His eyes shifted from the love of his life – to the woman who had been the only real mother he had ever known. "To my new mother-in-law. Janice Haney."

Mild shock brightened the woman's eyes, and she smiled. Nate hadn't told her, or anyone – even Kyle – what he planned to say here today. Kyle looked up at him with as much surprise as his mom.

"Janice...mom." Nate smiled and raised an eyebrow. "I can call you mom now, right?"

Janice looked at him with a smirky smile that gave evidence to where Kyle inherited his own. "Haven't you always?"

"Well, yeah, I guess I have." Nate chuckled, then sobered a bit. "I never told you this in so many words, but...from the first day Kyle dragged me to your house...I wished for you to be my mom." His eyes glossed and he cleared his throat as it began to tighten. "You know what my home life was like. What...my parents were like." Janice gazed at him, tears glistening. She and Jim knew enough about Nate's parents to know his house...wasn't a home. "I didn't even know families like yours existed outside of tv...until I met Kyle, all of you."

His throat knotting, he glanced at Kyle. The guy's eyes had their own sheen. He reached out and touched Nate's leg affectionately. Nate smiled at him as he worked up his next words.

"I remember the day I met Kyle." his smile widened as he gazed at the boy he now realized he had loved nearly all his life. "I was in third grade and had just moved to town. I didn't know anyone at school. I remember sitting outside at one of the picnic tables they had at the edge of the playground. I had a sack lunch I'd made myself, so it wasn't too exotic, just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich." He licked his lips. Kyle smiled as Nate recounted the story. "I was minding my own business when Kenny Parsons, the school bully, comes over and starts messing with me. Mostly because I was the new kid, I think. He was a fifth grader who looked like he had been held back a year or two."