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A trigger.
Fuck.
I still called her phone every day and left messages. She had to be listening to them, otherwise her voice mail would be full, so at least I knew she was listening. Which was why I was currently waiting for the nondescript beep to sound.
Beep.
“I know you’re listening to these messages, Kenzi.” I sighed into the phone. “Please come home. You’re my sister. You were my sister the moment I stepped into that horrible house after my mother died and you snuck cookies into my room and held me as I cried. You will always be my sister, no matter what they did to you. Growing up, I tried to save you from everything Elias had done to me, but I didn’t save you at all. You saved me. Every single day. And it breaks my heart that you aren’t here right now. We talked about this day, remember? Made vision boards and laughed about who would be the lucky one. I miss you. Pleas…”
Beep.
Fucking machine cut me off.
With a huff, I threw the phone down. This was the happiest day of my life, and yet the three people I had always imagined sharing it with weren’t here. Libby was dead. I still hadn’t managed to find Maleah, and now Kenzi was in the wind as well.
So much for that.
Still, even with them not being here, I couldn’t help but love that he had done this for me. Given me exactly what I dreamed of and hadn’t told me until precisely six this morning when he dragged me out of bed after eating me out to within an inch of my life. Who needed an alarm clock when you had a husband who couldn’t get enough of you?
At least this one wasn’t a fraud wedding.
Apparently, he even got a real minister.
One who wasn’t bribed this time.
“You look beautiful,” my mother whispered, tears shining in her eyes as she took me in. A vision in ivory. Matthias, the possessive, controlling asshat that he was, had even picked out the dress. It was, begrudgingly, exactly what I had always dreamed of wearing. It was a delicate vintage lace ivory sheath with small, capped sleeves. My red curls hung loosely around my face, which had only the slightest hint of makeup on it. Exactly how I had always planned it.
“So do you,” I whispered softly, my voice hitching slightly. She wore a sage green maxi halter dress that clung to her developing curves. She’d taken on a good amount of weight now that she wasn’t living off bottled nutrition. Her red hair, which had been shorn while she had been in a coma, now came down to just above her shoulders in gentle ginger waves.
A sob threatened to crawl its way up my throat at the sight of her.
I never thought in my wildest dreams that my mother would ever get the chance to walk me down the aisle, and now I not only had her, but my birth father as well.
A loving family.
A dysfunctional, loving family, but a family, nonetheless.
“No crying, now,” she chastised playfully. “You’ll ruin your makeup.”
“Totally worth it.” I sniffed.
She smiled softly at me and held out her hand.
“Come on,” she whispered. “He’s waiting for you.”
“Maybe we should make a run for it?” I smirked. My mother laughed.
“I looked into that option for you,” she admitted. “He has guards on every entrance and exit. Good luck.”
We laughed as she led me from the room and into the large foyer of our new home. That was the other surprise he had laid out for me. The man had gone and purchased a Queen Ann Victorian, that was, admittedly, built in 2008, but it held a perfect old-world charm that blended perfectly with his need for modern structure.
“We’ll move in right after our honeymoon,” he had whispered in my ear. “Our house. Our home.” I had smirked when I took in the three other smaller buildings spread across the vast property he had managed to secure in the middle of Seattle.
Matthias had shrugged and said, “Well, this specific house is ours. The other ones are for the guys. And your mom if she wants it.”
It was perfect.
With a small smile, my mother handed me off to my father, who waited by a set of double doors that led into the large solarium. He was wearing a sharp black suit, his graying hair styled neatly.
