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Well, shit. Audra Carmichael isn’t made of complete stone after all.
She’s holding that sob in her throat and doing it badly, so this sets my sister Adele off. Adele bursts into an audible sob that morphs as she tries to hide it with a loud wolf whistle. Adele then laughs loud and wraps her arms around our mother as Aiden and Carly’s mouths fuse together.
I hear the shutter clicks as the photographer captures it from beside me. The videographer is on the other side of Ally, doing his thing, too.
The backdrop of St. Kitts is wild, because we’re on the beach outside a resort where Aiden and Carly have themselves a private beach house. The rest of us are inside the luxury hotel.
My brother and Carly just tied the knot in the sand with the backdrop of pinks and oranges flowing through grey clouds. It’s like the sky has a split personality right now and can’t decide if it wants to show us the sun setting or erupt into a nasty storm.
The pinks and oranges are above Aiden and Carly who have their feet in the water and a local minister with them, his suit pants rolled to his calves and water shoes on his feet. Ally, Braeden, and I stand back a little and the rest of the guests sit on chairs on a raised deck.
Aiden lifts her off her feet by her butt and her legs wrap around him. He walks off toward their beach house and she says something, looking back at all of us. Her eyes go soft as she kisses him again, weaving her fingers into his hair. My brother changes his mind, turns, and runs toward the water with Carly in his arms.
She screams, “Noooo Aiden! My dress!” but it’s too late, he’s running full speed through the water until the depth gets to his knees and slows him down. He keeps moving, though slower, and then he kisses her again before things drop off and they’re in up to his shoulders. They then go under, as if getting baptized and come up with mouths attached. There’s continuous shutter clicking beside me and laughing all around.
My nephew Braeden throws the ring pillow toward Adele and runs toward the water in his little tux. Adele passes her husband Dirk the pillow and follows, lifting the length of her dress up on one side and catching Braeden’s hand with her free hand.
Dirk stands back with baby Lilly in his arms, a big smile on his face and then I hear, don’t you dare from my mother who is pointing at my dad. Dad has a mischievous grin and he’s got bent knees, reaching and obviously about to lift my mother up.
I spot two things then that send the blood in my veins to ice.
I see Sienna Greer, Aiden’s ex, standing off in the distance about two hundred feet away near a group of people packing up their beach gear.
How fitting that Aiden and Carly are in the water kissing and laughing under a pink and orange streaked sky and Sienna stands off under a dark grey cloud.
She has sunglasses on, and her arms crossed as she watches them. I straighten, ready to go over there and make sure she doesn’t approach. I’ll sprint and tackle that bitch to the sand if need be.
A group with volleyball gear moves and I spot Sienna’s father Roger rushing up behind her. He says something to her, putting a hand on her shoulder, also seeing me watching them. Sienna twists and walks off.
This whole thing pisses me off, but I’m not shocked. At least I don’t have to draw attention to them now that they’re leaving. It wouldn’t just upset the bride and groom, it’d get my father riled, too. The last thing we need is a big smackdown happening here between my father and Roger.
Our mother and father split and Roger, Dad’s former best friend is the reason. Well, one of the many reasons. My mother wasn’t just having an affair with Dad’s best friend, the husband of her own best friend, Mom was cheating on both Roger and my father with anyone who’d give her the time of day, with a penchant especially for men under the age of forty.
A case of a fifty-something former beauty queen fighting the clock while drowning her sorrows in a bottle, she’s also just recently out of rehab and her and my father lasted all of about five minutes after she moved home before Roger declared that they needed to be adult about all this and not only would Audra and he be starting their life together, but the rest of the family would need to be on board. That was not taken well by my father. Nor Roger’s wife, Suzette. Or Sienna, Roger’s daughter and Aiden’s ex. Mom moved into her own house and I heard that a week ago, Roger moved in, making all sorts of declarations, and altering his life plans to put my mother first.
