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“Gwennie?” The voice of a woman rang through the air. I thought maybe I’d imagined it, but then it came again. “Gwennie?”
Gwendolyn froze and pulled away from the kiss. “Did you hear that?”
How could I not hear it? I opened my mouth to answer, but it came again, this time much closer. She bolted up to a seated position, looking around.
“Where are my clothes?” she asked. “I have to get dressed. I can’t let my mother find me naked.”
Those words made me feel a little better. I’d expect Gwendolyn to be worried about being caught with me. But instead, she just didn’t want to be found with no clothes on. I could relate. I wouldn’t want her family to find me naked, either.
I snatched on my underwear and jeans while she rushed to grab her dress and slip into it. As I helped her with her zipper, the sounds grew closer.
A woman in a long-sleeved beige gown came into view. That was the exact moment I realized Gwendolyn’s underwear was still on the ground. She began walking toward the woman, who I assumed was her mom, while I stuffed the bra into my back pocket. I didn’t see the panties on a quick scan, so I hoped her mom wouldn’t either.
“We’ve been looking everywhere for you,” the woman said. “What are you doing way back here? We were about to call the police. Don’t you have your phone?”
“You made me leave it in my room, remember?” Gwendolyn asked.
I wanted to step up and stand beside her, forming a united front, but I wouldn’t do that unless I had her permission. This was her family drama, not mine.
“Your sister had to cut the cake without her maid of honor,” her mom said.
I turned and looked back at the water. I was doing whatever I could to give the two of them their privacy.
“Who is this?”
Gwendolyn’s mother’s question flipped me back around again. I saw they both were staring at me.
“This is Julian,” Gwendolyn said. “We’re dating now.”
Dating? I kept my expression neutral, but I liked the sound of that.
“You’re dating this man?” her mother said. “A man you just met?”
“Yes.” Gwendolyn looked at me, and something in her expression told me she needed me by her side.
So that was exactly what I did. I threw my arm around her for good measure, and she snuggled up against me. The two of us could tackle any challenge as long as we had each other. She was the other half of my soul I’d been searching for all my life.
“We’ll just have to discuss that later,” the woman said.
She narrowed her eyes at me like that would somehow threaten me into submission. I held my ground, making it clear she couldn’t scare me away.
“Right now, we need to get inside and support your sister.” Gwendolyn’s mother reached out her hand. “Come on.”
Gwendolyn didn’t budge. Of course, if she wanted to go back to the wedding, I wouldn’t stop her. She could do whatever she wanted. This meant nothing if being with me wasn’t what she chose.
“Julian is coming with me,” she said. “He’s my date.”
Her mother’s jaw dropped and her hand fell back to her side. She looked from her daughter to me and back again, as though trying to figure out how she could fight this.
“I’ll run home real quick and shower,” I said, looking over at my new girlfriend. “I might be a half hour or so, but I’ll show up clean and dressed for the occasion.”
She smiled at me. “Sounds like a plan,” she said, but then she looked back at her mother and the smile vanished. “I’ll meet you in there. I need to run to the room and get freshened up.”
Her mother clearly didn’t want to go. The wheels in her mind seemed to be turning as she tried to find a way to exert control over the situation.
It wasn’t going to happen. The two of us were going to dance the night away at that reception, and there was not a thing her parents could do about it.
5
