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“Don’t,” he choked out. “Don’t you ever thank me for that, Lu. I don’t want it.”
My lips trembled as I smiled. “No worries. I wasn’t going to,” I assured him. “What I wanted to say was, I love you. My heart is full of love for everyone, but you and Harris have the biggest pieces of it. It belongs to the both of you.”
A few more tears fell from his eyes, and I was helpless to win the battle with my own as they began to fall freely. “But you love me a little bit more than him, right?”
The hopeful note in his voice made me laugh. “Yes, Daddy. Of course I love you more.”
“That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.” He scrubbed at his eyes. “Now, are you ready for me to walk you down the aisle?”
“Definitely.”
Chapter 14
Harris
The minute the music started, my hands began to sweat. All day I’d been totally calm. Dad and his bandmates kept me company in the hotel suite we’d gotten the night before at a hotel all the way across town because Lucy had been too worried about us accidentally running into each other before the wedding.
Spending another night away from her hadn’t held any appeal, but because it was important to her, I’d given in and let Dad and Jace haul my ass away. They hadn’t gotten me drunk, but the buzz from the killer whiskey they kept pouring into my glass had been nice and helped me fall asleep even though I’d been aching to hold Lucy.
With breakfast, the other members of OtherWorld had shown up, and the band had started doling out marital advice.
“Happy wife, happy life,” was all Axton could offer on repeat. Over and over again. I figured it was true, especially for him. After he and Dallas had gotten married, I’d rarely seen Dallas not happy. Which meant I’d rarely seen Axton unhappy.
“Never go to bed angry,” Dad offered as he’d lifted a full glass of his favorite bourbon with a cocky grin. “But if you do, make sure you have makeup sex before dawn.”
I grimaced, not wanting to picture my dad and Nat having makeup sex—or sex in general. Nat might have been less than a decade older than me, but that didn’t mean I could stomach picturing her naked.
The others all gave me their own advice, but it was Liam who said something that was always going to stick with me. “As soon as you give her your last name, the two of you become a team. There’s no more ‘you,’ but ‘us.’ It’s ‘us’ against the rest of the world, and you tell the damn world to go fuck itself. Because it’s gonna want to crush you both, but when you have her beside you, that bullshit isn’t going to matter.”
And it was with those words ringing in my ears that I’d gotten ready, and we’d all climbed into the back of the limo to go to the church. When we got there, people were already arriving. Nik, Drake, and Shane were already helping the twins and Jagger usher people to their seats.
Nat, looking beautiful in her simple purple dress that ended at mid-calf, appeared from out of nowhere and told us it was time. I calmly walked down the aisle with Jace to stand with the minister. A happy, uplifting song was being played by the organist, and then Jagger was walking Nat down the aisle, followed by both twins with Layla. Nat took her place beside Dad, who kissed her like he hadn’t seen her in weeks instead of just the few hours since we’d all eaten dinner together the night before.
The bridesmaids made their entrance, and I felt Jace go completely still beside me when he saw Kin. Somehow, they were still together, but the thread that was holding them was growing thinner with each passing day. He was going to lose her, and he had no one else to blame but himself.
Not wanting to think about that today of all days, I focused on the two flower girls and ring bearer who was stuck between Bliss and Heavenleigh as t
hey walked down the aisle behind my baby sister. Mason was carrying the book-shaped box that held the rings inside like it was a bomb about to explode in his face, while the little girls seemed content just to be able to throw flower petals on the floor—and at random wedding guests.
“Heavenleigh,” Lana hissed at her third oldest daughter when the girl tossed a handful of rose petals at Liam’s son Asher as she passed him, making the kid stick his tongue out at her.
“Hi, Mommy,” she called loudly then blew her father a kiss without a single hesitation.
“That girl,” Lana groaned, making everyone around her chuckle and Asher snicker.
Then the music faded, and Gabriella stood and took her place beside the piano with her violin in hand. The first notes of “Tale as Old as Time” filled the room, Lucy’s favorite song from Beauty and the Beast.
That was the moment my hands became clammy. I waited impatiently for Lucy and her dad to appear at the back of the church, my heart racing as I begged her to hurry up so I could set eyes on her again. I wasn’t ever spending another night away from her. My body couldn’t take it. Neither could my heart. She belonged with me. We were supposed to be beside each other every night, and I’d be damned if that wasn’t what happened from here on out.
I wasn’t prepared for it when they took their places at the end of the aisle. I knew she would look beautiful—she was beautiful every day of the week without even trying. But in her wedding dress, with half her hair up while the other half fell over her left shoulder in soft ringlets that must have taken her hairstylist forever to perfect, her eyes sparkling with tears, and that perfect smile trembling on her lips, she took my breath away.
My knees went weak, and she began to blur before my eyes as they filled with tears. A strong hand clasped my shoulder, and I was thankful for Jace grounding me because I’d been seconds away from going to meet her. I locked my knees and held my breath as she slowly made her way toward me on the arm of her dad.
With each step she took, my hands shook a little more, the tears flowing faster. She gave up the hold she had on her own, and she let them flow like twin rivers down her beautiful face.
“I love you,” I mouthed, and she gave me a smile that broke my heart with how much it trembled.
What was only a few short minutes felt like an entirety before Jesse was stopping before me and taking my hand. He shook it firmly, his fingers shaking just as a badly as my own, and it was only then that I was able to take my eyes off Lucy, and I saw he wasn’t even trying to hide the fact he was close to sobbing like a baby. His throat worked furiously as he tried to swallow, his tears falling unashamedly. Then he was sliding Lucy’s hand into mine, and everything felt right in the world once again. I could breathe again, my legs feeling stronger than they ever had, and my heart was finally at peace
