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“I’ll second that. What the hell took you so long?” Dean asked.
“It’s a long story, gimme a beer and I’ll tell you.”
Chapter 27
“You ready?” Rebelle asked Justine, pulling her veil down over the back of her head, careful not to muss her bun and smoothing it. Taylor finished buttoning the back of Justine’s dress. It had taken a long time, the buttons were tiny and ran down the entire back. Christy was buckling up the thin straps on her orange heeled sandals.
“Very. So freaking ready,” Justine replied.
Rebelle laughed. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
Justine smiled at her. “It’s so good to see you smiling and laughing.”
“Well, a lot of it is down to you so you can thank yourself.” They hugged quickly before Taylor chivvied them along.
The guests had all arrived and Justine’s family could be heard from inside the house. The ceremony was taking place in Christy and Dean’s backyard which was sprawling with citrus fruit trees and wildflowers dotted the grass. It looked like a meadow and even though Justine would have preferred a more traditional church wedding, she just wanted to be married already.
“This is it. See you at the end of the aisle, sweetheart,” Taylor said, giving Justine a kiss on the cheek and then heading outside.
“Love you,” Christy said, squeezing Justine’s hand and then followed Taylor out.
Rebelle turned to Justine, handing her the bouquet of white, peach and deep orange flowers. “Just checking you don’t want to run?”
Justine laughed. “Are you kidding me? You see that man down there? He’s my guy, forever.”
Rebelle could have melted at the cuteness. “I figured, but just wanted to check. He’s a wonderful man, you know he’s special to me too.”
Justine smiled. “I know. I’m glad you have a strong bond.”
Tears welled in Rebelle’s eyes. “Oh God, why am I emotional?” she cried.
“Stop it, you’ll set me off!”
“Okay, I’m going. Bye.” Rebelle took off after the others. Pausing just before she left the house and started the journey down the aisle. She smoothed her hand down the plain peach satin gown that Justine had them all in, for some reason the woman was obsessed with orange.
Rebelle shook her head, her curled hair tickled her jaw with her movements. She took a deep breath and stepped through the gossamer curtain that led to the backyard and when she looked up, she nearly stumbled. Will was down the end of the aisle, smiling at her with that stupid grin of his that she missed so much she nearly sobbed with relief at the sight of it. She could barely focus on moving forward and somehow managed to keep going.
She made her way, without stumbling and took her place next to Christy and Taylor. Taylor nudged her and waggled her eyebrows in Will’s direction and Rebelle rolled her eyes, her cheeks flaming. She avoided Will’s stare, it would be the only way she would get through the ceremony without throwing herself at him.
Justine came down the aisle to murmurs of excitement. Blake clutched his chest when he saw her, and Rebelle nearly burst into tears again. The ceremony was thankfully short and they were whisked away to do photos with Harley who was being looked after by Justine’s beaming mom. Then it was up to them to get everyone to The Rusty Bucket Inn after for the reception. With Justine having such a big family and lots of folks from thetown, there was a lot to do and she barely caught a glimpse of Will.
Once they were settled at the bar and the happy couple had arrived, there were speeches and food and finally everyone was free to do what they wanted.
She spotted Will. It was hard to miss him being so darned tall and broad, and he stood out with all his tattoos and fierce expression. They locked eyes and her breath fled her lungs. She had forgotten what it was like when his beautiful eyes captured hers, ensnaring her.
She started towards him, but a couple intercepted him, and she lost him to the crowd. Taylor and Christy snagged her away to dance and she didn’t see him again. She looked for him but couldn’t see him anywhere.
She went up to Beau. “Has Will left?”
Beau frowned, his mouth pulled tight. “Yeah, he mentioned something about needing to get back, sorry Rebelle.”
She swallowed her disappointment. She had needed to talk to him and thought he wanted to speak to her but maybe not, maybe she’d read this all wrong and he didn’t feel the same after all. Maybe Diane was wrong.
Rebelle should have realized by now that life didn’t always work out but the disappointment ate at her and she wanted to leave. She found Blake, pulling him away from a conversation with Justine’s father.
“I’m gonna head back to the shelter and check on the animals but I just wanted to say congratulations once again,” she said.
Blake surprised her by pulling her into a hug. “I’m so glad you’re here, that you came. That everything’s worked out.”
