“Never forget that,” he added. “Remembering the times He blessed you in the darkness is what will make the next trial easier.”
As they reached the arch again and walked to the boardwalk, she was very quiet. Then, she looked up at him, an undeniable mist in her eyes. “You know what’s the saddest thing? I wouldloveyou to be my stepfather.”
His own tears sprang and he tried to blink them away. “Nothing would make me happier,” he admitted in a gruff voice.
“Then fight for her.” She swallowed and lifted his mug. “I’ll take this up for you. And you…read Vivien’s diary.”
He watched Emma jog up the boardwalk and make her way past the festive décor and busy people creating the perfect atmosphere for a happy wedding.
With a sigh, he glanced down at the diary and let it open to the same page.
Kate is the smartest, kindest, most real person I know, and she would love Eli Lawson with her whole soul if he’d let her.
If he’d let her.
He closed the diary and looked up at the sky—cloudless, infinite, the particular blue that only existed in Florida in late summer. Somewhere above it, beyond it, was the God he’d given his life to. The God who’d carried him through grief and loss and trials too numerous to name.
“How?” he whispered. “How do you prove yourself to a scientist who needs rock-solid evidence?”
He didn’t hear the answer…but that didn’t mean there wasn’t one.
Golden hour turnedthe beach into something sacred.
The sun had just dropped below the horizon, leaving the sky streaked in coral and amber, and the Gulf reflected every color like poured glass. The ceremony had been perfect—Tessa in white satin, barefoot in the sand, with Dusty’s voice cracking when he said his vows. Olive stole the show by scattering rose petals with wild enthusiasm.
The reception was in full swing on the temporary wood deck. Round tables draped in white, hurricane lanterns flickering, the trio playing something warm and acoustic from their small stage near the dunes.
Thirty-eight guests. Not a large gathering, but every seat held someone who mattered.
Eli sat beside Vivien and Peter, taking in the scene with bittersweet awareness, watching everyone he loved celebrate something beautiful while his own heart was quietly breaking.
Jonah was at the next table, Atlas in his lap, sitting beside Pepper, a spirited young woman with a personality as spicy as her name. With her came the astounding news that she’d taken the job as Atlas’s part-time nanny. It was clear she’d already won Atlas’s heart—the baby lit up at the sight of her. And by the way Jonah was looking at her, she may have another heart coming her way.
At the far end of the deck, Meredith and Connor sat close enough that their shoulders touched. As Eli watched, Connor’s hand found Meredith’s under the table, and she didn’t pull away. She glanced at him with a smile so private and unguarded that Eli had to look away, not because it bothered him—it didn’t—but because the tenderness of it was almost too much tonight.
Crista and Anthony sat with Nolie, who was wearing a fluffy pink dress that made her look very mature as a junior bridesmaid. Lacey and Roman were beside them, his niece’s happy laugh carrying over the music every few minutes. Today’s wedding date had been selected for the Jags’ weekend with no game, and no one in attendance would ever forget the sweetness of Roman walking his birth mother down the aisle.
Tessa and Dusty moved between tables like the hosts they were—Tessa radiant, Dusty solid, both holding Olive’s hands as they guided her into their lives and the hearts of friends and family.
And then there was Kate.
She was at her mother’s table in a pale pink gown that skimmed her frame and caught the lantern light. Her hair was up, her glasses on, and she listened to something Jo Ellen wassaying with a soft smile that Eli recognized as the one she wore when she was trying very hard not to cry.
She was beautiful. She was leaving in two days. And she was sitting thirty feet away, which might as well have been thirty miles.
Jo Ellen stood, and the deck went quiet. Dinner was over, and the “official” toasts had been made. But with a group this small, no one was surprised there might be more.
Jo Ellen held a champagne flute in hands that trembled slightly—maybe age but probably emotion—and looked out at the gathering with eyes that held a lifetime of history.
“I want to say something,” she began, her voice steadier than her hands. “Artie and I brought our girls to Destin for the first time in the summer of 1989, when Kate and Tessa were twelve. Along with my best pal and former sorority sister”—she smiled at Maggie—“we Wylies joined the Lawsons, and one McCarthy, for seven consecutive summers. Here, on this stretch of sand, our kids grew up together. They fell in love with the ocean, with each other, and formed the kind of friendships that only happens when you’re young enough to believe they will last forever.”
Eli felt Vivien’s hand find his arm.
“Then life happened, as life does. We lost those summers. We lost each other. For thirty years, Maggie and I weren’t allowed to speak, and the children we’d raised side by side became strangers.” Jo Ellen’s voice wavered but held. “But here’s what I’ve learned. The things that are meant to be together don’t stay broken. They heal. They find their way back. Sometimes it takes three decades and a house built by a remarkable young man.” She raised her glass toward Eli. “And here we are.”
Eli blinked hard and felt Vivien squeeze his arm. His gaze landed on Kate, but she was looking down, wiping a tear.
“Tessa, my darling girl.” Jo Ellen turned to the bride. “Your father would have given anything to be here today. He loved you so fiercely. And he would have loved Dusty, because Dusty is the kind of man Artie always hoped you’d find—patient, kind, and strong enough to love all of you. Even the parts that don’t sit still.”
