We spotted my parents and were on our way to greet them when Summer and Mason emerged from the crowd.
“Look at you two,” Summer said, her eyes wide. “No wonder people are snapping pictures like they’re paparazzi. You look like Hollywood royalty or something.”
Mason hugged me. “You look gorgeous.” He pointed to Nick and clapped his back. “And you clean up pretty good yourself.”
“Stop flirting with me,” Nick said. “You’re making me blush.”
“You know,” Summer said, still glancing between Nick and me, “you two could make a super-hot porno. You look so good together, people wouldn’t even believe you’re amateurs.”
I shook my head. “How do you come up with these things? And why do they not get filtered out between your brain and your mouth?”
Summer waved her hand in the air. “I might have had a couple of glasses of champagne already and it might be loosening my inhibitions.”
Mason grinned. “Wouldn’t you need to have inhibitions first?”
Summer grinned at him.
I looked around the room. “Have you seen Gabi?”
“Not since we left the bar,” Summer said.
“Cara, Nick!” My mom’s voice floated over the crowd.
“Best behavior,” Nick, Mason, and I told Summer at the same time.
Mom hugged each of us, including Mason, whom she’d only met yesterday. But if he was Nick’s friend, he was her friend, and Dad’s as well, despite my ex’s attempts to paint Nick in a terrible light. The image of the monster he’d tried to conjure had disappeared the day they’d met the real Nick, when we’d shown up at my parents’ house to make Christmas breakfast last year.
“Have you seen Jake?” Dad asked. “He texted he’d be late, but I thought he’d be here by now.”
I glanced at Summer, who raised her eyebrows and shrugged. So, I wasn’t imagining that it was weird that Jake and Gabi were both MIA.
Sue rapped on a glass with a spoon, and when the noise in the lobby quieted to a low hum, she announced that it was time for everyone to move the library for the formal unveiling, I glanced around the crowd one more time and finally spotted Gabi on one side of the room and Jake on the other. It was a valiant effort on their part, but I didn’t believe for a minute they’d come late to the party from different places.
The ceremony was a short but heartfelt one. Buddy introduced me. Then he and Sue did the honors of dropping the curtain that stood in front ofMother Tree, who now rested on a pedestal I’d made for her out of reclaimed metal.
Sue asked me to say a few words, which led me to talk about my mother’s life as the inspiration for the piece. I called Mom up to join me, and we were both crying by the end of the short talk. I wiped away tears and smiled once more for the cameras while the mayor, who was Sue’s cousin, Jerry, handed me the key to the city. It was two feet long and shiny silver, and I was sure it had been minted just for the occasion. Jerry spoke, then introduced the head of a local charity that was benefitting from the proceeds of this reception and the next event at the church.
At the end of the speeches, Sue and Buddy turned everyone’s attention back toMother Tree, and the room erupted in a cheer. A videographer and a photographer from the local news documented every part of the ceremony. I’d hired my own photographer to take shots that would be added to the ones I’d been capturing this week, which I might use in another online photo series. I insisted that my parents, brother, Buddy, and Sue be prominently featured in the photos.
As the crowd dispersed back to the lobby, I had one last photo request. I took Nick’s hand and pulled him toward the front of the room. He hesitated. His concern about maintaining anonymity was a vestigial tail of his second job, the one he’d left a year ago. I’d worried about him missing it, but not for long. His day job still gave him plenty of opportunities to be a hero, and I never missed a chance to remind him he was the man who’d rescued my heart. Mason assured me he'd never seen Nick happier.
“This day never would have happened without you,” I told Nick now. “There’s not a chance in hell I’m leaving you out of the record of it.”
“Okay,” he relented. “For you, a couple of pictures.”
He stood with me besideMother Treeand even smiled for the camera, although his grin had such a devilish bent to it, I’d either have to keep those pictures private or use them as promo for that porno Summer wanted us to make. That might have been intentional, but I didn’t mind. Pictures of him were always going to be for me more than anyone else.
With the photo shoot over, Nick took my elbow and steered me toward the lobby for a well-earned drink. When we stepped into the crowd, he moved his hand down to the small of my back again. I realized it was a protective move as well as the endearment I always took it to be. Once my hero, always my hero.
We snagged glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and clinked them together.
I took a long drag of bubbly joy, then grasped his hand. “Are you ready for the next event?”
He glanced at his watch. “We don’t have to leave for another hour.”
“You know what I mean. You haven’t attended a performance of Handel’sMessiahsince your mom and dad...”
He nodded slowly. “I do. And I’m ready to hear it again. More ready than I ever thought I would be. We both know that’s thanks to you.”
