by Leddy Harper
Everything seemed fine up until we made it to the chapel. That’s when all hell broke loose. The wrong flowers had been delivered, and the streamers they brought to decorate the aisle were nowhere close to the color she’d picked out. To top it off, another wedding party was still there when we arrived to get ready in the choir room. It was bad enough I had to drive us to the chapel because there had been some problem with the limo she’d ordered and they hadn’t found a replacement in time. It quickly became easier to list the things that had gone right.
But once we had her in her dress and every last button had been fastened, everything became surreal. Not a word was uttered as she stood in the center of the room, all eyes upon her. The only sounds to be heard were our gasps of awe and the shutter on the photographer’s camera as it clicked rapidly, capturing the perfect moment.
Never had I seen a more beautiful bride in all my life.
Luckily, we didn’t have any issues with the makeup or hair crew. Otherwise, Bree might’ve decided to cancel the wedding and elope with Axel. And after spending years listening to her talk about him, and then witnessing them find each other again, there was no way in hell I’d miss their wedding.
And, of course, the ceremony didn’t start on time. Our dad came into the back where we were, and to keep from crying, he joked around about the hold up being that nobody could find Axel. It was a good thing they were already running behind, because it took us a while to calm her down after that one. But she eventually cooled off, shared a few private moments with her dad, and then we were instructed to line up.
Being the maid of honor, I had the best seat in the house to watch Bree walk down the aisle on her proud father’s arm. But the best part was the look on Axel’s face and the tears he never bothered to hold back as she walked to him. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. Their love was felt all around, and no one deserved happiness as much as those two did.
Even their tender vows earned a few sobs from the pews.
But nothing hit me harder than the words Axel said to his bride. “Bree, fate has a way of testing us, challenging our resolve. When we first met, I had everything going for me, and you had everything against you. But regardless of the different places we were in life, we managed to fall in love. That was our first test, and we passed. The second test came when you practically fell into my lap. That time, you had everything going for you, and I was the one with my back against the wall. But despite the changes in our lives, our love was still there, and just as strong as ever. We proved society wrong. We defied circumstance. And in the end, fate won out. I will never question my love for you, or your love for me. I will never doubt the future that lies ahead of us, because I know we have fate on our side.”
Even through the sniffles, Bree still managed to say, “Lay.”
Axel tilted his head, confusion showing in his pinched brow.
“The future that lay ahead of us.” She kept her voice low, but it was loud enough for a few people around her to hear, all of which snickered as Axel rolled his eyes. “Sorry,” she whispered and glanced around, smiling at those of us who’d heard it.
Even though there were a few people laughing around me, everyone distracted by the interruption, I stood frozen in place, not even a hint of a smile on my lips. I replayed his words in my head, his talk of fate. And it instantly brought my thoughts to the man who was supposed to be my guest at the wedding.
I glanced around at the faces in the pews. I knew he wouldn’t be there, but it didn’t stop me from holding my breath, hoping I’d see him out there waiting for me. That fate might have brought him back to me. But I didn’t see him. And for the first time in weeks, I felt so alone. I stood in front of a roomful of people, next to my sister as she took her vows, yet I’d never felt more alone in my life. It didn’t make sense, considering I’d been more isolated before meeting Bentley than I had since walking away from him. But I think it had more to do with witnessing the love between Axel and Bree than it did the amount of people currently in my life.
Having Bentley on my mind made it slightly difficult to engage with everyone properly. After the wedding, we all stood in a line at the front of the church and greeted the guests as they walked out. I made sure to keep a smile on my face and speak to everyone as they passed, but it didn’t brighten my mood or lighten my heart. Even while we posed for pictures I couldn’t seem to get it together. The last thing I wanted to do was ruin their wedding photos, so I smiled as best as I could and tried to push thoughts of Bentley from my mind.
The guests were already at the reception by the time we arrived, mingling and drinking as they waited. The DJ announced our small wedding party by name, and then we all stood around the makeshift dance floor while Bree and Axel took their first dance together. As I watched them lovingly stare into each other’s eyes with raw hunger while swaying back and forth to the music, I grew lost in the hopes of one day having this same thing. A love this strong. And it did nothing but leave me mystified.
When I’d told Bentley that I never wanted to fall in love, it hadn’t been a lie. At that time, I truly had no interest in putting myself in the position to be hurt again. The thought of loving someone, only to be abandoned and left behind scared the shit out of me. I thought I could be content all alone. But then meeting Bentley had taken me by surprise. My love for him wasn’t one of those slow-moving kinds, the kind of love that builds over time. Neither was it insta-love. It was the kind that starts off like a pot of boiling water, heating up below the surface without any indication of something happening. You don’t pay attention to it, calling it what it is—a pot of water—and move on with what you were doing. Small bubbles form on the bottom, you see it, but it doesn’t mean anything to you. Just bubbles. Nothing serious. But when you aren’t looking, those small bubbles grow bigger, the water turns hotter, and the next thing you know, it’s boiling over. That’s how my love for Bentley was. Unnoticed. Unpredictable. Completely out of nowhere.
And it left me with third-degree burns.
We all die at some point, so my rationalization over never loving again seemed rather extreme. And it was. But at that point in my life, I needed that impetuosity to hold onto. I needed it because I hadn’t reached the stage of acceptance yet. And while trying to find my way there, I ended up falling for Bentley, using his presence in my life as my own personal drug. My love for him became a mask—it hid the pain and depression that lingered beneath the surface. When that mask had been ripped away, everything hidden behind it came back again. But it also gave me the opportunity to see my love for him in a different light. It allowed me to analyze it, pick it apart, until I could see for myself how real it’d been. My illusion of happiness may have been just that…but my love for him was a certainty.
Watching the way my sister gazed into her husband’s eyes, the way he held her like the most valuable jewel on earth, forced me to come to terms with everything. I wanted that. I no longer feared what would happen when it ended, because like Bentley had once pointed out, it’s not about that. Love is about the journey you take, it’s about the lesson, no matter how long or short it lasts. It’s about the bond you share with another person, the support and strength you offer each other. And for a very short amount of time, I had that with Bentley. He’d given me his strength when I needed it and offered his support even when I didn’t ask for it. I had exactly what I saw in Bree and Axel. I had that kind of love.
And I’d have it again.
I made up my mind right then and there that once they came back from their honeymoon and picked up Ayla, I’d go after Bentley. I figured it wouldn’t be easy and I’d have to fight hard to win him back, but that’s what he’d done for me at the beginning. I had pushed him away so many times, yet he never left. Now that I was stronger, there was no way in hell I’d let him push me away.
A gentle hand came to rest on my shoulder, breaking me out of the deep thoughts that had engulfed me. When I spun around, I found my dad standing there, a smile on his face, re
d rims lining his eyes from tears that had since dried on his cheeks.
“Are you okay, Dad?”
He quickly nodded, easing the worry before it had the time to hit me. “Yeah, Sarah Bear. I’m good. Really good, actually. I know your mom is watching this right now. I feel her all around me, and it’s a good feeling.”
I wrapped my arms around his waist and pressed my cheek to his chest, soaking up the comforting scent of my dad. “I know she is. Bree had ordered calla lilies for the wedding, but they delivered hydrangeas. And she’d picked out this yellow-colored ribbon for the pews, but they brought lavender.” I pulled away and laughed softly to myself. “Leave it to Mom to help Bree plan her wedding from Heaven, and pick out all of her favorites.”
“I thought Bree picked those herself?”
“No. She threw a fit about it before the ceremony because the entire order had been messed up. As soon as I heard what they brought instead, I knew it was Mom. Had it only been the flowers, then I could chock it up to coincidence, but then the ribbon they brought was Mom’s favorite color. I wouldn’t be surprised if they cut into the cake and find strawberry instead of chocolate.”
My dad’s eyes misted over again, his smiling lips quivering. I knew the emotion running through him, because it mirrored my own. It wasn’t sadness, quite the opposite. It was this sort of contentment that started as heated tingles in your chest, spreading out until your entire body is alit with soft flutters. It was comforting. It was calming. And above all else, it was the epitome of unconditional love. With or without my mom’s physical presence, I still felt her love living inside me.
When the song ended, Bree came over to us and gave her dad a hug. Then he excused himself, leaving me alone with my sister for a moment. I knew we wouldn’t have many opportunities to ourselves, considering she was the bride and the center of everyone’s attention.
“You seem sad. Is everything okay?” It was her wedding day, yet here she was, checking up on me again.
“I’m not sad. Actually, I’m really happy.”
“You’ve seemed down since the church. You’ve had me worried.”
I waved her off with a smile. “I think I just got caught up in it all. You know how emotional weddings are. But I’m not sad, I promise. I mean, I wish my mom was here to see you in your dress, but I know now that she doesn’t have to be sitting here in the flesh to see us all. She’s in a good place where migraines don’t exist. She never has to suffer again, and for that, I’m happy.”
She pulled me into her and hugged me tight. “I’m so happy to hear that, Sarah. You have no idea.” When she released her hold on me, she backed up and gazed at me with her soft, bright eyes. “I’ve waited a long time to have my sister back.”
“I know, and I’m sorry for everything I’ve put you through. You’ve been so good to me. Everyone has. I wouldn’t have been able to make it through everything without all of you.”
“You just needed a push.” Her eyes glistened, and I worried she was about to cry. I knew how emotional she was when she was pregnant with Ayla, and if this pregnancy was anywhere close to that one, it wouldn’t take much for the waterworks to start.
I wagged my eyebrows and changed the subject before the bride began to ugly cry. “So…? Have you told Axel about the baby yet?”
The glow on her cheeks brightened, turning a deep shade of red. “Yes. I told him last night as he was leaving the house to go stay at Joel and Clarissa’s.”
I grabbed her hand and began to bounce on the balls of my feet. “Tell me! I’ve waited weeks for this!”
Her bare shoulders shook as she giggled and glanced around the room. “He was leaving, so Ayla and I walked him to the door to say goodbye. He gave Ayla a kiss first, and then me. When he was about to grab his bag and turn away, Ayla told him not to forget to tell the baby goodbye, too. I hadn’t expected his reaction, though. I mean, he already knew about it, so I wasn’t expecting anything dramatic. But he teared up and hugged me for like fifteen minutes. I had to push him out the door.”
Before I could say anything else, Axel came up behind Bree and wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his hands against her stomach. “Has she told you yet?”
I didn’t need to ask what he meant by that, and even if I hadn’t already known, the smile on his face would’ve given it away. “Yes. She just told me, actually. Congratulations.”
“Yeah…it’s going to be our last one, so we expect some good gifts this time,” he said, unable to hold back his laughter as it ran through him, causing his shoulders to bounce up and down.
“Last one? Says who?” Bree pulled out of his embrace and spun to face him.
“It’s become our tradition for me to knock you up before marriage. Now we’re married. No need to break this stellar record we’ve got going for us.”
“Only you would make light of our sins.”
“When have we ever done things the right way, Bree? Why start now?”
As humorous as their exchange was to watch, I suddenly felt like a third wheel. So I moved along, allowing them to share in this moment together. I found Clari on the other side of the room and went over to talk to her, noticing she appeared to be a little under the weather. I worried it had to do with Mom and wanted to offer her some comfort.
“He’s here,” she whispered before I could even get a word out.
“Who’s here?”
She nodded once and moved her line of sight over my shoulder. I turned around to see who she was talking about, and found Luke sitting at one of the round tables in the center of the room, alone.
“Why is he here?” Adrenaline flooded my system and brought with it a heavy sensation that settled in the pit of my stomach. Nervous didn’t even begin to describe how I felt as I stood there, my hands tingling by my sides. His presence meant something different to me than it did to Clari. To me, it was a living, breathing reminder of Bentley. I had no idea what it meant to her.
“He came as a plus one to one of the guests.”
I turned back to Clari, catching her wide, glistening eyes. “Has he said anything to you?”
“No. But I’m worried.”
“Why? What could he possibly do to you?”
Her eyes burned with panic, wide and intense. “Joel doesn’t know that I called him before the wedding. I don’t want Luke to say anything to him about it. If he really wants to get back at me, all he has to do is tell Joel.” Tears formed above her lower lids, and then fell past her painted lashes, taking with it soft streaks of black. “He can’t find out, Sarah. He wouldn’t understand, and he would never forgive me.”
I gave her a tight smile and rested my hand on her shoulder to offer her some comfort and strength, knowing how badly she needed it. “He won’t say anything. Don’t worry.”
I left her standing there and made my way to Luke, my heart lodging itself in my throat and pulsing in my neck with every click of my heels. He sat in the cushioned chair covered in white linen with his ankle propped up over his knee, sipping amber liquid from a crystal tumbler as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Meanwhile, my sister stood nearly fifty feet away about to have a nervous breakdown in the middle of a wedding reception. When I took the seat next to him, he finally turned his attention to me, his eyes wide as if he hadn’t expected to see me there.
“I really hope you didn’t come here to ruin another wedding. Any other rings and houses I should know about? And if there are, I’ll admit that it stings a little, Luke. I mean, there are three of us, and if you’ve bought diamonds and lake houses for the other two, I’ll take that personal.” I made a joke of things to keep him from becoming defensive, but in reality, the massively twisted knots in my stomach made it hard to keep my composure.
He smiled and relaxed further into his chair. “You have nothing to worry about, Sarah. I’m not here to convince Bree to leave with me. It was only ever Clare. And if I really wanted to ruin her wedding, I would’ve barged in on the ceremony instead of meeting her in the b
ack of the church before she even had her dress on. So I would appreciate it if you guys would stop accusing me of trying to ruin her wedding.”
“It doesn’t matter how or when you did it, Luke; it doesn’t take away the fact that you fucked her up that day. You can’t show up on your ex’s wedding day, beg her to leave with you, and not expect to cause some sort of damage.”
“And what would you do if Bentley was getting married? What would you do if he called you crying, telling you how much he loved you, telling you he thinks he made a mistake by leaving you? Wouldn’t you do anything you could to get him back, even if that meant going to him hours before he took his vows? I didn’t do it to fuck with her or ruin her day. I did it so I couldn’t look back and wonder what might’ve happened if I’d just done or said something different. It was my last chance. I wasn’t about to pass that up and spend the rest of my life with what ifs.”
His questions clenched my insides until taking a full breath became impossible. Things seemed a little different after viewing the details through his eyes. But even though I understood his reasons, it didn’t make it any better. It didn’t mean I suddenly sympathized with him. No matter why he did it, I still had a sister on the other side of the room practically hyperventilating with fear that Luke hadn’t let things go. “Why are you really here?”
“Because I was invited.”
“By whom?”
“My date.”
His attitude was clear, and so was his desire for me to leave him alone. I nodded and pressed my hand against the tablecloth, ready to get out of my seat, but the nagging question in my head grew too loud to ignore, ringing in my ears until I gave in and asked it. “How is he?”
His gaze narrowed and the creases between his eyebrows became deep valleys of anger—and possibly pain. “How do you think he’s doing, Sarah? You left him high and dry. The man fell in love with you, and then you just walked away. I don’t know what it is with you Campbell girls and your need to fuck with my family, but I’m over it.”
