“What on earth…” I muttered, glancing at Levi.
“Come on up here, ladies,” Mia called.
“Go on,” he said, his eyes sparkling, like he was in on a joke.
Confused, I made my way to the fireplace at the same time as Skylar, who looked equally perplexed.
Mia smiled at us before reaching into a box I hadn’t noticed at her feet. She pulled out two small bouquets of winter white flowers and evergreens and handed them to us.
We exchanged a frantic look and immediately searched the crowd for Natalie. She was nowhere to be found. “She wouldn’t,” Skylar said.
“She couldn’t,” I said.
“She did.” Mia grinned.
Skylar and I had another one of those conversations with our eyes.
OMG how dare she?
I know! How could she keep this a secret?
So mad at her.
SO mad. But yay!
Yay! We’ll kill her tomorrow. We’ll be happy right now.
SO happy.
Mia placed us where she wanted us, and a murmur ran through the crowd. Skylar and I, as vain as this sounds, quickly appraised each other’s outfits. When we’d dressed tonight, we’d thought it was just a Christmas party, but now it was our baby sister’s wedding.
Skylar looked amazing, of course—a black strapless cocktail dress, chunky gold necklace, and red patent pumps. I was wearing emerald green, pearls, and strappy black heels. We gave each other the nod of approval.
“OK,” Mia said loudly, addressing the room again. “Can we have Mr. and Mrs. Nixon up front as well?”
My bewildered parents appeared, and Mia placed them right in the front of the crowd. “Perfect.”
They looked at Skylar and me with quizzical faces, and both of us shrugged.
“Now if I could ask everyone to clear a little path here, stand back just a bit, we can do this.” She turned over her shoulder. “Nick?”
The lights dimmed so that the room glowed with the golden warmth of candles, and the dark-haired man Erin had pointed out as their friend Coco’s husband stepped out from the crowd and stood in front of the fireplace, a leather portfolio in his hand. So was he ordained or something? I noticed Sebastian step out as well, standing opposite Skylar and me, hands folded in front of him. I glanced at Skylar, who was giving him a look that said if you knew about this and didn’t tell me, you are dead.
But before she could accost him, the music started again—Frank Sinatra’s “Young at Heart,” which was our parents’ wedding song. My mother was already dabbing at her eyes by the time Natalie and Miles appeared, hand in hand, walking through the path the guests had created. My throat closed, and Skylar and I clutched each other. How did we miss this?
Natalie wore a short, A-line maternity cocktail dress in ivory with a halter neck tied in a bow above her left shoulder. Her hair was up, her skin was radiant, and she had a smile on her face that rivaled all the strings of lights in the room.
Miles looked handsome in his dark suit, but more than that, he looked madly in love with our sister. Suddenly I realized that his family wasn’t here, and I felt sad for him—I knew they weren’t very close, and maybe it didn’t bother him that his parents wouldn’t see him get married. Although, maybe he’d invited them and they hadn’t elected to come.
Miles and Natalie reached the front, and she looked over at Skylar and me, a guilty but gleeful grin on her face. My eyes teared up, and I smiled back. Nick began the ceremony, and I looked for Levi in the crowd—he was so tall, I found him pretty easily, standing a little to one side and pointing things out to Scotty. Poor kid thought he was coming to a party and has to endure a wedding, I thought. I’ll make sure to get him something sweet to eat as soon as it’s over.
I still couldn’t believe he was here, and I blinked a few times to make sure he didn’t disappear from the flickering shadows. But there he was—tall and strong and beautiful, holding his son’s hand and locking eyes with me, telling me without words that from now on we would share one life together, celebrating beautiful times like this and supporting each other when things got tough. Because it wasn’t about being perfect, it wasn’t about having the perfect love story, and it didn’t matter that it might take us a little longer to get where we wanted to go. We’d get there.
With our eyes still on each other’s, he brought one hand to his ear and rubbed it—their little sign for I love you. My breath caught, my eyes filled, and my entire body hummed with assurance that I’d found—we’d found—where we belonged.
• • •
I introduced Levi and Scotty to my parents, who both insisted they come for dinner tomorrow night.
“Thank you,” Levi said. “Scotty is going to spend the night at his grandparents’ house, but when I drive you back after brunch, I might be able to stay for dinner, maybe the night.”
I smiled. “Of course. However it works.”
Scotty and my dad talked baseball stats for a while, and Levi laughed that finally, finally, Scotty had found a kindred spirit, someone who appreciated the history of the game as much as he did.
When Scotty got tired, I walked them to the door, where Levi gave me a kiss good night and pulled me close. “If Scotty is OK at my parents’ house tomorrow night, I’ll come down and spend it with you.”
My heart beat hard against his. “I’d love that. It’s been so long.”
He groaned. “Believe me. I know.”