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It surprises me just how much I enjoy the kids and the family. Something about knowing that everyone there genuinely liked each other sets my mind at ease. The Cargills are tighter than most families, except for Parker. It wasn’t that he doesn’t like his family—more like he has always had his own thing going on.
But everyone elsechoseto spend their time with each other. Not out of obligation. There was none of that energy anywhere. Not like most of my family, where people were guilted into spending time together.
After dinner, Willow and I take a quick stroll outside to look at the venue of the wedding. The backyard is lush with flowers and beautiful tall trees. An open space sits amid the English garden, not too manicured, not too mangy. Perfect.
She rambles excitedly, “…he wants a string quartet for the ceremony, but it feels toodone, you know what I mean?”
But I think of the quartet on the yacht Rowan had taken me out on that first night. “I don’t know. It’s classic for a reason.”
“Hmm, true.” She huffs, staring at the open space. “That is a good point. And I want the wedding to have a classic feel to it, too.”
“I don’t mean to change your mind, Willow. I was just pointing out—
“No, no. You’re right. Sawyer really knows his stuff with all this.”
“So does Windsor Harold,” I tell her. “How did you get him? He is always booked up for years in advance.”
“Beverly knows his mother.”
“Ah. That tracks.”
The kitchen door opens, and Sawyer strolls out onto the cobblestone path next to us. “There’s my best girl.” He kisses Willow politely, since I’m around. “And Autumn. How are you? It’s been a long time.”
“Indeed. I don’t know if I’ve said it before, but congratulations.”
He laughs. “I’m a lucky bastard. Don’t know how I—
She firmly says, “You are the best man I have ever known. I’d be a fool not to marry you.”
“Aw, she has to say that,” he says facetiously.
“And then, there’s that ring,” I note. The thing dwarfs Willow’s petite hand.
She laughs, and he says, “It is nothing compared to how I feel about her.”
I had never seen Sawyer so effusive, or Willow so happy. Sawyer had a reputation for stoicism and snark. Not the role of the gushing groom. And Willow had been perfectly nice and polite, before Sawyer came into her life. The pair seem to bring out the best in each other. “I am extremely delighted for you both.”
“Thank you, Autumn,” Willow says. She gives my hand a squeeze, then an apologetic glance. “How are you doing? In general?”
“What do you mean?”
“With…everything Mark-related—
“You mean the divorce?”
Her lips smooth into an uncomfortable flat line as she nods.
“Fine. It’s over. I’m over it.”
“It must be hard being a wedding photographer and going through something like that.”
I shrug. “It is what it is. Time heals all things, right?”
She breathes a sigh of relief. “You’re going to find someone who deserves you. I just know it,” she adds giving me a squeeze of the hand.
“Thank you. I really appreciate that.”
Rowan comes over later, halfway through dinner and we don’t stay long after that. Even though there’s plenty of room for Rowan and the kids to sleep over in his childhood home, he wants them to wake up in their own beds tomorrow. I help him put the kids in the car and am about to drive home when he asks if I mind helping him put them to bed. There’s a little bit of a glint in his eyes and I know that what he’s really asking me to do is to stay over.
