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Willow pursed her lips in an adorable pout as she watched her mother for a minute, then she turned and looked up at Hal expectantly.
Hal considered Willow for a moment, then he spoke in low and gentle tones to the her. “Listen up, firefly. I’m going to tell you one more time how it’s all gonna go down. You ready, Willow?”
“I’m ready, Hal.” Willow’s eyes were wide and her face was serious.
“Your Grammy Pinky is already in her seat…” Hal began to explain.
Willow frowned. “But how come I don’t see her?”
Hal looked at Willow with a measure of confusion. He could see Pinky just fine. Then with sudden understanding, Hal bent on one knee and looked beyond the entrance to the room ahead. No wonder the poor little kid was so confused. The room looked totally different from the disadvantaged point of about three feet off the ground.
“Well, you’re right, firefly. You can’t see much from here, can you?” Hal picked Willow up so that she had a clear view of the aisle. “Now look straight ahead and you’ll be able to see your Grandma Pinky. Do you see her now? She has that silly red hat on and is sitting in the very first row. Her chair is right in front of that big, mean, ugly dude, Riker. He’s so fat that he’s blocking you from seeing her.” Hal looked at Willow in mock outrage.
“Gram’s hat looks pretty. And Riker is not mean—or fat.” Willow scolded him. Then she added in a whisper, “And it’s not nice to say that, Hal.”
“Hmm.” Hal pretended to give her words some thought. “I guess you’re right, Willow. That hat does look kinda fancy sitting on top of your grandma’s pretty hair. And maybe Riker ain’ttoofat, and I suppose he ain’tthatmean.” Then he whispered back to her, “But he sure isreallyugly.”
When the look of wide-eyed nervousness left the little girl’s face and was replaced by a burst of glee and giggle, Hal felt infinitely rewarded.
“Now, if you look straight ahead, you can see your grandfather. He’s right there near the flowers.” Hal pointed. “See him? He’s standing next to Jules. If you start to get scared walking down that aisle, you just keep your eyes on your grandpa.”
“I’m not gonna get scared, Hal.” Willow reassured him solemnly. But at the mention of her grandfather, the little girl gave the president of the Hells Saints MC a wide smile and a small wave.
Prosper grinned back and winked at his granddaughter.
When Hal heard the clicking of high heels across the marble floor, he gently put Willow back down. Then he straightened up and turned to see Dolly McCabe making her way towards him. He looked behind her, fully expecting to see Glory decked out in a white wedding gown. When he saw that Dolly was alone, Hal glanced at the clock and frowned.
“We still have a few minutes before everyone is seated,” Dolly assured him. “She’ll be down soon. I think she just needs a minute.”
Hal shot Dolly a puzzled look.
He couldn’t imagine what his sister wouldneed a minutefor. Glory had been on cloud nine ever since Jules had gotten down on one knee and drew that damn diamond out of his pocket. There was about two carats worth of ice on that ring, and Hal hadn’t been the only guy in the club who raised an eyebrow when he saw it. Glory later told him that it had been Jules’s grandmother’s ring. With well-meaning interference from Glory, Jules and his estranged mother had reunited the previous summer. Ever since then, Victoria and her husband had become family to his sister and Jules in thatdinner on Sundaykind of way.
So, all things considered, Hal had not only been happy when he heard that Victoria had blessed the marriage with the gift of the ring, he had also been relieved as hell to hear that Jules Bonny had not tossed an armored truck to buy it.
What put the cherry on top of this already sweet deal for Glory, was that Gianni Abruzzi had offered up his fancy as shit banquet hall for the wedding ceremony and celebration. To his credit, Jules was able to let go of any past issues he had with the Italian mob boss and graciously allow a thrilled Glory to accept the generous gesture.
Gianni Abruzzi.
Front Boss to the Bonzini crime family, friend to the Hells Saints MC, business partner andclosefriend of Dolly McCabe, and more importantly, as far as Hal was concerned—father of Valentina Abruzzi.
Hal’s gaze swept the room for Valentina and saw that she was standing next to her father, waiting to be seated. The pale-yellow, silk dress she wore had a high neckline, and a very low back. It hugged her in all the right places and was a perfect mix of classy and sexy—just like Valentina herself.
When Hal leaned back against the wall and treated himself to a leisurely look at the curve of Valentina’s perfectly-shaped ass, she suddenly turned and caught him staring at her. Hal boldly held her eyes for a long moment before she blushed and looked away. Hal allowed himself a small, self-satisfied smirk before he forced his focus away from the dark-haired beauty and turned his attention to the large ballroom.
Automatically Hal’s hypervigilance clicked into place, and he scanned the room again for even the smallest indication of something that could trigger a problem. But the mood among the wedding guests was just as it should be— festive and happy. It was evident that nobody wanted any trouble today, and the inner soldier in Hal began to relax.
The idea that his sisterneeded a minutecontinued to gnaw at him though. It just didn’t make sense to Hal that his sister would be hesitant in the least. As a matter of fact, he had expected her to be doing cartwheels down the aisle. Because, although it had taken Jules and Glory a while to get here, he had never seen his sister happier than in the last few months. And it was no small secret that Jules loved the hell out of Glory.
Besides all of that happily ever after shit, his sister had gone balls to the wall planning the perfect wedding. Hal and the rest of the brothers had watched on in fascinated amusement for months as Glory and the women of the Hells Saints MC spent hours at the lake house, poring over all the bridal shit that made girls drool.
There was a seemingly endless list of wedding related events checked off on the kitchen calendar: Bridal dress shopping and gown fittings, floral arrangements and music options, cake tastings and photography packages, lighting, invitations, which wine for the tables … the list went on and on andon.
For months, the kitchen table had been filled with samples of all the stuff that made life worth living for the bride-to-be, but made it hell for Hal. He also had it on good authority that whatever Glory wanted, Jules was more than happy to put up the cash for. Hal was no expert on that kind of stuff, but he knew enough to know that a lot of time and money went into planning a wedding. And this one was a goddamn extravaganza.
So, the big question in Hal’s mind naturally was—now that the moment was finally here, why the hell would Gloryneed a minute? When Hal reached into his suit jacket pocket to grab a smoke, sudden understanding dawned on him.
Ahhh shit.
