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No other word works.
Yes, she’s still thin, baring the signs of her recovery in the shadows of her cheeks and the bones poking through the shoulders of her dress... but she’salive.
She’s up and about, bursting with excitement to be my matron of honor in a lovely silk waterfall dress the color of a blue morpho butterfly’s wings. A perfect match for Ros’ bridesmaid dress.
“Mom,” I whisper.
That choked feeling returns for a different reason now.
Not so long ago, I didn’t think she’d live to see me at the altar.
I didn’t thinkeitherof them would, honestly.
Yet here they are, right by my side, smiling with so much warmth and love in their eyes.
“Now, baby,” my mother chides playfully, tucking a lock of my hair back into the wild tumble of twists and curls my sister made, strewn with flowers in pink and blue and white. “Today wasn’t made for tears. I’ve waited for you and Grant to find each other your entire lives. Go out there and make me the happiest mother alive.”
Ros snorts. “Don’t let Mrs. Faircross hear you say that. She’s already mad she’s not in the ceremony when Mr. Faircross is.”
“Well, someone had to give me away,” I say. “And Jensen Faircross always treated us like family, so...”
There’s a chill moment then.
A silent awareness.
The ugly knowledge of whoshouldbe here to give me away in another life.
But we’re not talking about him on today of all days.
True to form, no one’s seen Montero Arrendell since he gave his brief police statement on Aleksander.
No evidence linking him to high crimes, of course.
There never is.
I tell myself I don’t care.
It shouldn’t matter.
Today, at least, it doesn’t.
All the little questions that still eat at me are just annoying mosquito bites instead of coyote teeth stripping my skin off my bones.
He’s not our father, anyway. Not in any real sense of the word.
He’s just bad history meant to be left behind.
But the moment breaks when Mom smiles, reaching out to clasp hands all around.
“Are we ready?” she asks.
As ready as I’ll ever be for my own little happily ever after.
“Yes. Kinda.” I nod breathlessly as my stomach drops. “Um. I’m not ready... What if he changes his mind, Mom?”
“My love, stop.” My mother’s cool knuckles graze my cheek. “That man loved you every day of his life without seeing you for ten years. He won’t stop now.”
I nod again, taking a slow breath.
