Total pages in book: 174
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 172061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 574(@300wpm)
I choked off, wishing for the right words to express how they made me feel.
As if I belonged. As if I were something more than the shell that I’d been formed into.
Not because of the dress I wore or the makeup that had been applied.
But because they had taken their time.
Raven reached out and looped her pinky with mine. “Besties, remember?”
“I…” I couldn’t even get the words out around the ball in my throat.
Emery did the same on the other side, and Piper looped her arm around my waist from behind and set her chin on my shoulder, while Charleigh grabbed another small bag.
A jewelry store bag.
“We thought you might need this.”
Hands trembling, I pulled out a jewelry box. I opened it to a man’s ring. It was a matte black metal. Rugged and unpretentious like the man.
Emotion rushed.
Coming up on all sides.
So thick and heavy I wasn’t sure that I could breathe.
“Don’t cry,” Raven murmured with a soggy laugh as she reached out and dabbed at the very edge of my eye. “It took me a full hour to get that eyeliner right. You don’t want me to have to start over, do you?”
“Never,” I choked.
“Though you know I would be happy to.”
“Thank you. All of you. So much.” I hugged the ring to my chest as if I could imprint it on my soul.
The significance of it.
What it meant to me even if it didn’t mean that to anyone else.
“It’s such an honor to get to do this. To be here,” Charleigh said. “Just like I know you’ll be right there for mine and River’s wedding at the end of the summer.”
She touched the back of my hand to show me she believed I would still be a part of their lives then.
“Can you believe Charleigh will be the last one of us to get married, when she was lucky enough to snag my brother first?” Raven winked at her.
Charleigh hiked a sweet shoulder. “You know I’m a firm believer that everything happens exactly when it’s supposed to.”
“Yeah,” Emery murmured with a soft touch to a lock of my hair. “And that’s why Daisy is standing right here in the place, right now, at this purposed time.”
I blinked away the tears, trying to keep it together. Not sure that I could stand under all their support when this was only temporary.
When it wasn’t real.
I didn’t have time to refute the fact because Charleigh took the ring and placed it back into the box. She tucked it into a little crystal-encrusted clutch. “Here. This is mine, and I thought it would go perfect with your dress.”
Raven moved to another bag and pulled out a gorgeous fresh bouquet. “From Moonflower, my floral shop. Now you have a little of each of us for your day.”
My nod was reticent and awed, and I accepted the bouquet.
“It’s time,” Raven said, gesturing for me to lead the way.
“I just need to do something really quick first.”
They must have realized I needed some privacy, because they piled out while I grabbed my phone and tapped out a message to my sister.
Me
It’s happening. I’m marrying Cash today.
I wished she could be there.
That she could share this moment with me.
I wanted so desperately to unite in a complete way.
For this family to come together wholly.
She responded almost immediately.
Hadley
Wait. Are you serious? You’re actually marrying him? Isn’t it fast?
Me
It needs to be. Because no matter what happens, I know that my children will be safe.
And that was the only thing that mattered.
FORTY-FOUR
CASH
Never in my life had I been more anxious than right then. In this moment. Standing at the front of the courtroom with my crew, waiting for Daisy to come through the door.
I was dressed up in some bullshit that Raven had insisted I wear. Fitted beige pants that were entirely too fucking tight and a white button-down shirt. I had the sleeves rolled up my forearms and the first two buttons of the collar undone so something tragic didn’t happen on my wedding day like me suffocating to death.
Daisy’s children were piled on a bench with the rest of my family’s kids, all of them dressed up, too.
Kicking their little feet off the edge as they grinned and waved and fucking scored themselves a little deeper onto my soul. Theo sat with the lot of the kids like the sappy motherfucker he’d become, dude all too eager to volunteer to watch over them while the girls helped Daisy get ready.
Minus Little Luna, who was currently cuddled up asleep in Otto’s arms.
I shifted on my feet and swiped my hand across my brow to wipe away the beads of sweat that gathered at my hairline, wondering if it was possible that Daisy was actually gonna show after the way shit went down last night.
She’d be better off staying far the fuck away. Yet there was something that curdled my insides at the thought of her doing it.