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Finally, Darryl Adler’s face relaxes. “I need bourbon.”
“Get my father-in-law some bourbon, somebody!” Aiden bellows, then kisses Carly’s lips again. “I want to make a toast. Everyone, grab a glass.” He passes Carly one and takes another for himself before the rest of us grab ours.
Carly’s face goes as pink as the contents of the glass she accepts from my brother, eyes darting briefly to her father. A bottle of bourbon and several tumblers are now beside the tray with the ice bucket and two more bottles of pink champagne.
“To Charlene and Darryl Adler. A toast to you for raising this beautiful, smart, forgiving girl. Thank you from the bottom of my soul.”
Carly’s mother’s chin wobbles and she raises her glass. Darryl’s expression softens. Carly leans over and gives Aiden a kiss.
We all drink.
“Another one,” Aiden adds, lifting his glass again. “To Carly Adler. I mean Carmichael. Carly Carmichael. What a ring that has.” He eyes her from head to toe, shaking his head before he lifts her hand and kisses the rock on her finger. “Like it was meant to be this way. To Carly. A girl that is way too good for the likes of me. I love you, Peaches. I can’t believe you’re mine. I feel like the luckiest asshole on the planet.”
“To Carly Carmichael,” I repeat.
There are echoes from the rest of us and Carly takes a big sip, eyes bright with emotion, and as soon as she swallows, my brother leans in and plants another kiss on her lips.
“To my new husband, and to all of you for coming,” Carly holds her glass up. “And to breaking my most important rule.”
“What rule was that?” Aiden asks.
“To never ever, ever sleep with you.”
Everyone busts up laughing.
“Sorry, Daddy,” Carly mutters to her father.
He downs the rest of what’s in his glass.
I like the guy. I’m sure I’d feel the same watching my niece Lilly get married to some cocky asshole. He seems like a good guy though. He only busts my brothers chops a little.
“I’m glad I get to sleep beside you for the rest of my life,” she adds. “Okay, I very much need to get out of this dress,” Carly sets her champagne glass down.
“Yes. Yes, you do,” my brother drawls.
Despite how she looks right now, wet and a little disheveled, wrapped in a towel with her gown still dripping, she’s a gorgeous bride who looks happy. Prior to my brother taking her into the sea, she was a vision with her curly hair piled up high with little orange roses through it, her off-the-shoulder white gown with the long slit up the front, her bare feet and peach colored pedicure. My brother calls her peaches so that’s the color they went with for bow ties for the men, for the dress for Ally, and my baby niece Lilly’s ballerina tutu-style dress with a big peach bow on her little head.
Carly’s hair is pretty wet, but she’s still got some of the flowers in it. The towel around her shoulders covers her chest so she doesn’t give everyone more of a show than she did in the water, but the rest of the white dress that clings to her is transparent.
“We’ll be back,” she says and then tags Aiden’s hand while holding the towel covering her upper body in place.
He shoots a grin at us over his shoulder. “Thanks everyone for coming. We appreciate having you all here. We’ll be back in two or three hours.” He winks.
“Hey!” Charlene Adler calls. “Thirty minutes. No more. We have dinner being served soon.”
He salutes her. “Right. My new mother-in-law is the one in charge. Gonna have to be a quickie, peaches. Your mom said so.”
Charlene laughs loud and then shouts, “It’s okay if you’re quick, Aiden, as long as you do it right.”
“Somebody kill me now,” Carly pleads at the same time as Darryl grumbles, “Fuck sakes, Char. You don’t gotta be so loud.”
Carly slaps my brother’s shoulder and he immediately scoops her into his arms and heads for their beach house.
“You catch sight of Rog and his daughter?” Dad asks in a low voice from behind me.
“Yeah, I did. Looks like they left though.”
“Mm,” Dad grumbles and then shoots my mother a dirty look while he downs the rest of his champagne, then reaches for the bottle of bourbon Darryl told the server to leave.
Mom looks at him like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth and sips from her glass. A glass of non-alcoholic bubbly was handed to her by a server. Carly made sure her new mother-in-law wouldn’t feel left out.
Roger’s presence explains why my mother was dropped off at the resort this afternoon, too. Adele had been in a frenzy looking for her when the girls were getting their hair and makeup done. It was obvious she didn’t stay here last night, lied to us about it, too, saying she had to go out for something.
