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“Remind me, what are their names?” Arabella asked.
“Mittens and Stripes,” Chloe said.
Not the most original cat names, but Chloe was only four, so it was to be expected.
We ate chicken slathered with Caspian’s savory sauce, coleslaw, potato salad, and fat dinner rolls, all washed down with wine, lemonade, or cold beers. There were toasts and happy tears that night as the sky turned a midnight blue, and stars appeared in all their glory. A nearly full moon, with just a sliver cut out of its orb, rose to hover above us, casting magical silvery light.
After cake, Atticus turned up the music on the outdoor speakers, and the bride and groom had their first dance. Soon, we all joined them on the dance floor under the stars.
Chloe, who was up way past her bedtime, danced the hardest of all, her small body radiating joy. This was all I’d ever wanted for her.
When a ballad came on, Thad took me in his arms and held me closely as we swayed to the music. He’d taken off his jacket and tie and rolled up his shirtsleeves. I laid my cheek against his chest, the crisp white shirt cool against my skin. I had long since discarded my high-heeled sandals and changed into flip-flops to be more comfortable. The other women had done the same so that we could enjoy ourselves without worry of spraining an ankle on the stone patio.
“Did you imagine all of this when you first came here?” Thad asked into my ear.
“I couldn’t have come up with this in a million years. Your family. This place. Chloe so happy and surrounded by love. And you? Best of all you. No, I couldn’t have imagined it.”
“There are many, many more happy days to come.”
“Until we’re sitting on the front porch in our rockers?” I asked.
“We’ll be lucky to have that many years together, and I’ll still want more.”
“Me too.” I nestled closer, enjoying his spicy cologne. The scent of Thad. Nothing soothed me quite like it.
“When do you want to get married?” Thad asked.
“Tomorrow?”
He chuckled, kissing the top of my head. “I’m serious. We haven’t really talked about what you’d like to do. What’s your dream wedding? You should have whatever you want.”
“Since I’ve already been married once, it doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Unless that’s what you’d like?”
“I wouldn’t mind eloping, but my mother would never forgive me.”
“Nor would Chloe.”
“Yeah, and there’s something special about getting married in front of all the people you love most in the world.”
“As a person who only had my dad, I agree.”
“You miss him a lot, don’t you?”
“More than I can say. But he’s here with me. I can feel him. Especially now that I’m safe. I can feel his relief that I’ve found you and your family.”
“I wish I could have known him,” Thad said.
“He would have loved you.” Thad reminded me of my gentle, kind father in so many ways.
I had a sudden thought. “Let’s get married next month on my father’s birthday. It’s the nineteenth. He’d have liked that. It’ll be a way to honor him.”
“Can we put something together in that amount of time?” I asked.
“If it’s simple, then yes.”
Chloe ran up to us, tugging on Thad’s leg. “Daddy, I want to dance too.” She’d started calling him Daddy out of the blue one day about two weeks after John’s death. At the time, Thad and I had exchanged a look but didn’t say anything, simply grateful. Like a lot of the ways my life had fallen into place, I didn’t question or analyze it too much. Life had been hard for a long time. I’d assumed it would always be that way. I’d been wrong. So very wrong.
“We can do simple,” I said. “Like Caspian and Elliot.”
