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“One of Cora’s aliases was Gordon,” Lucy said, filling up her champagne flute, utterly oblivious to the wide-eyed stares everyone gave her.
“What.” Amelia sat up.
Lucy met everyone’s gaze, frowning. “Yeah. It’s in the article. Just click the back button and you can read it. Gordon, Fitz, Rossi… She used all kinds of names.”
Amelia stared at the candlesticks on the screen for another moment, then turned back to the article. “Holy crap,” she breathed. “Cora’s sister was my neighbor. And wait!” She pointed to a grainy CCTV image of a man. “That’s Mrs. Gordon’s grandson! She kept trying to set me up with him!”
“Your neighbor…” Scarlett whistled. “Life in Stirling isn’t so dull after all.”
“Enough about thieving old ladies,” Amelia’s mother said, swatting her hands at the phone. “You need to get your hair and makeup done. We have two hours until my baby gets married, and I won’t have her dreaming up conspiracy theories when she should be celebrating her marriage. Up! Come on. Get in the chair. The makeup artist is just coming up the elevator.”
Laughing, Amelia complied. She gave Lucy her phone back, head still spinning about her grouchy old neighbor. She’d lived in Amelia’s building for years. Had they been using it as a base of operations? She had so many questions!
Meeting her mother’s gaze in the mirror, Amelia grinned. She could ask those questions later. For now, she was going to get married to the man she loved.
Along with the hair and makeup artists, Nadia appeared in the suite’s doorway. She squealed and greeted everyone, hugging Amelia tight. “It’s so perfect! I poked my head into the reception room, and everything looks amazing!”
Amelia laughed along with the other woman’s positivity. Over the last few months, they’d had a number of double dates, and Leo was quickly becoming Fred’s unofficial protégé. Amelia, for her part, enjoyed Nadia’s company. The other woman was utterly without guile. Nadia loved the finer things in life, but she appreciated simplicity too. She was just as likely to gush over a taco bought from a street vendor as she was a Michelin-starred restaurant. She loved her twelve-million-dollar ring, and she proudly displayed the blazer she got on sale for twelve dollars. It was hard not to love her.
“Leo’s spreadsheet must have helped the whole wedding planning process,” Nadia noted. “I was so impressed when he finally sent it through!”
Amelia grinned. “I may have helped with that.”
“Amelia is absolutely feral for a good spreadsheet,” Scarlett noted, popping a tiny hors d’oeuvre into her mouth. She chewed, swallowed, and said, “It’s unnatural.”
“You didn’t seem to mind my spreadsheets when I was helping you put some order into your shop’s accounts,” Amelia nodded.
Scarlett just winked. “I didn’t say being feral was a bad thing. Or being unnatural, for that matter.”
“Amelia, sit still,” her mother barked. “That hair isn’t going to style itself.”
Smiling at her mother’s bossiness, Amelia settled. She was pampered, plucked, and groomed, and finally slipped on her wedding dress. It was an elegant silk dress with long sleeves and a small train, in a subtle off-white ivory color that made her skin look vibrant instead of deathly. Her veil was embroidered with scalloping along the hem to match the sleeves and neckline of her dress. When she slid it into her hair and looked at herself in the mirror, her eyes glazed with tears that would surely mess up her makeup.
Camilla beamed at her in the mirror. “Leo is going to lose his mind.”
And he did.When Leo saw his bride walk down the aisle toward him, he couldn’t help the hand that rose to hide his trembling mouth. His heart hammered, his throat worked to clear its obstruction, and his legs turned to jelly.
She was so gorgeous, and she was all his. When her father handed her over and he finally got to take her hands in his, Leo could hardly see through his tears.
“You look beautiful,” he whispered.
“Not so bad yourself,” she whispered back, squeezing his fingers.
The ceremony was a blur. He said his vows into a microphone and thought they went over well, but the memory was vague. All he remembered from it was the light in Amelia’s silver eyes, and the shimmery pink on her lips as they curved into a blissful smile.
When they shared their first kiss as a married couple, Leo thought he’d died and gone to heaven. It wasn’t possible that a guy like him could’ve been so lucky. It was too good. He’d never deserve this kind of joy.
But all he could do was take it day by day, shed his past identity, and be the man he wanted to become, for himself and for Amelia. His goddess. His love. His wife.
Camilla placedthe top tier of Amelia’s cake on its pedestal and let out a breath. The cake was decadent chocolate with raspberry filling and rich Swiss buttercream icing. She’d spent hours crafting and decorating it to Leo’s and Amelia’s specifications. They wanted a simple enough cake, but Camilla took pride in her work. She arranged fresh flowers on the cake boards at every tier, then took a step back.
Her hands trembled as she curled her fingers into her palms. Wetness gathered in her eyes, and she didn’t even know why she felt like crying. She should be happy for Amelia. Shewashappy for Amelia. It was just… There was a lot going on!
The stress was getting to her, and now that Amelia’s cake was done, she could cross one thing off her list.
“It looks incredible, Camilla,” Leo said behind her.
She turned and smiled. “Only the best for my besties.”
