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Hanna would have insisted on organizing a grand, luxurious affair. Totally out of my comfort zone, as opposed to this twenty-three-person wedding. Which also includes Ronan’s parents, who surprised us with their arrival. Althoughsurpriseis not what I would call Ronan and Finnigan’s reactions when they appeared at our door—utter shock was more like it.
“Oooh, my little jellybean, you look incredible!” Mamma suddenly appears and all but runs to me, tears already in her eyes. “Look at you, I just… I can’t believe you’re going to be a wife. And a mother!” She’s fully crying now.
She’s been doing this since her arrival, two days ago. I love her, but my pregnancy hormones are barely contained.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I’m a mess.” She turns and heads to the vanity, pulling a few tissues out of the box and dabbing her eyes. “Thank God for waterproof mascara. Okay. I’m okay.”
Pappa and I look at each other, and a moment later, we burst into laughter. Mamma has this talent of starting a full-blown emotional breakdown and ending it herself within a span of twenty seconds. It’s a whole journey, predictable and unpredictable at the same time. It’s been worse since I told them I’m also pregnant. The knowledge that she’s going to be a grandma has broken through the front she was trying to keep together. I guess it’s better than Ronan’s mother, who simply said,“How lovely. Congratulations to you both.”And that was that.
“I don’t mean to interrupt.” Katya appears in the doorway. “Mr. and Mrs. Backstrom, I believe it’s time.”
She smiles as she looks at me from head to toe.
“Please—Andrea and Alexander. No need for the formalities,” Pappa tells her.
“You heard the woman,” I say, trying to usher them out.
“Just one more thing.” My father stops us, pulling a velvet box the size of his palm, out of his jacket pocket. “Ronan asked me to give you this before you go out—a gift.”
“Oh…” I reach out, catching their knowing looks. Even Katya seems to know what I’m about to see. It’s most definitely jewelry and she probably helped him pick it.
Only the smile fades from my face the moment I pop the lid open. I must have blinked ten times before I could even understand what I was looking at.
“This can’t…”
“I know,” Pappa says, clearly emotional.
“Great-grandma’s locket…” I whisper.
“He found it… I don’t know how. I can’t even imagine the things he must have done in the last three weeks to dig that out.”
I run my hand over the delicate flower reliefs that decorate the locket, then pull the necklace out, as Mamma takes the box away.
“But I thought it disappeared when you cleared granddad’s house.” I latch my nails in the middle seam, and when it pops open, I can’t help but gasp.
There they are… in weathered black and white, my great-grandparents, looking at me with their soft, young features.
“You really do look like her.” Mamma smiles.
“I don’t understand how their photos are still in here.” I’m lost, completely lost. I cannot believe Ronan found this… for me. I can’t even fathom where he started, let alone how he found it.
For me…
Tears fill my eyes, and I don’t even hesitate as I unclasp the expensive diamond necklace that hangs around my neck, replacing it with the locket.
I press it against my skin and, suddenly, I can’t bear to be in this villa anymore. My dad will have to hold me from running down that damn aisle, because I need to go marry Ronan Hennessey.
* * *
It was a miracle I didn’t cry for the entire ceremony. Pregnancy hormones were running wild, and the vision of my hot as hell man in that light blue linen suit, waiting for me under that flower arch, made me all kinds of emotional. The walk down the aisle felt like the longest of my life as the world blurred around me to the point that I saw no one but him. The closer I got, the more vivid the wild gaze in his eyes was. I could tell—he wanted to run toward me just as much as I wanted to run toward him.
But that’s not what got me emotional. It was how his lips parted the moment I stepped into view. He looked at me like I hung the sun and lit up the moon myself. I didn’t miss how he was trying really hard to be tough as he watched me walk to him. In the end, he lost that battle, and I caught him quickly wiping his cheeks the moment I reached him.
I never thought that anyone, let alone Ronan, would have this reaction to me.
There’s a different look in his eyes right now, as he watches me from across the room, neither of us paying attention to the people currently talking to us. He glares at me, the hairs on the back of my neck rising, a shiver running down my spine until it wraps around me and makes me squeeze my thighs together.
The corner of his lips quirks, and I’m not sure how, but he seems to know the effect he’s having on me.
