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“Wow,” I whisper. “That’s, like, the best family picture I’ve ever seen.”
I lift it out of the box and hand it to Elise, who starts passing it around the circle so that everyone can get a look.
The second photo, under the tissue paper, takes my breath away.
It looks like something out of a magazine. That’s how perfect it is. The colors, the framing…everything.
But it’s Jameson’s face that makes me so light-headed I almost have to sit down.
I’m on his lap, and the ring box is in his hand, and I’ve already reached out and put my right hand to his neck. He’s already reached for me to rest his hand on my waist.
He’s smiling.
His mouth is slightly open.
Because he’s about to sayI fucking love you.
And in this moment, the one right as the words came out of his mouth and before he realized what he’d done, his whole face glows with it, all lit up, almost incandescent. I’m thrilled with myself about the joke, flushed and laughing, and it honestly looks like I’m reflecting hisI fucking love youback at him.
I look up from the box and past Brigit’s shoulder.
August is watching, his camera in his hand. He shrugs in a clearwhat can I say? I am the best.
“Yeah,” I say out loud. “Yeah.”
I stare at the photo for a few more beats, then make the most free-spirit decision of my entire life.
“Could you—” Persephone puts her hands out like she could read my mind, and I tip the box into them. “I just—I have to pee.”
“Go!” Elise pats my shoulder on my way past.
My hands shake so badly that I can’t twist the lock on the bathroom door. Whatever. I’ll forge ahead without it.
This won’t take long.
I stashed the pregnancy test in my purse after I borrowed it from the guest bathroom at Mason’s penthouse. There was a glass jar with a bunch of tests in there, along with other glass jars with tampons and pads and single servings of Advil. I didn’t question it. Maybe they’re a family who likes to be prepared for anything a guest might want.
It’s one of the fancy kinds that says I’ll have results in words in three minutes.
The one thing I didn’t plan for was a strategy to kill three minutes while I wait.
By the time I’m done washing my hands, there are two out of five boxes blinking at the bottom of the screen.
It seems like an hour later when it ticks over to three.
“Lily?” Elise knocks gently on the door. “Are you okay? We’re still on schedule to get photos of you in your dress, if you’re ready.”
What am I supposed to say?Hang on a sec while I find out if I’m pregnant?I fully believe that each of the women in my bridal party would go through the whole ceremony with a straight face and never reveal what I had said, but that doesn’t feel right.
If anybody should know I’ve taken a pregnancy test, it’s Jameson.
There’s no way to tell him without throwing off the entire day. Anybody would need time to come to terms with that news.
I shove the test into my purse. I can look post-dress. It’ll befine.
“No, I’m good!”
In the main room, I’m swept into a patch of gorgeous light from the window, and everybody except Julien helps lift the dress over my head and tug it down into position. My bridal party takes turns putting my jewelry on. August takes photos all through the process. Elise flutters around, making sure my hair and makeup remain flawless, and then it’s time for bridal portraits.
