Anthony’s face reddened. His eyes clouded. He must have sensed the change in Justin’s thoughts. Anger Anthony could endure, but sympathy? That was like kryptonite to a Travati.
“When’s the wedding?” Devon asked, changing the subject.
“Two months. Rockwater Farms.”
“Oh man,” Devon said, his hand starting to scratch his arm. “Those wide-open spaces. Jeez. You couldn’t have said New York?”
The three brothers laughed. Justin glanced toward his office door just in time to see Anthony retreat. His younger brother would go lick his wounds, pretend not to feel, and then sometime before the wedding return to apologize to Justin. Eventually Anthony would be the most devoted of uncles to Max, Justin knew it. Anthony just needed to adjust to the idea of letting another person into his heart, because aside from his three brothers, whenever Anthony started to love, that person seemed to disappear from his life.
*
The day was bright. The morning had held a crisp chill in the air, but the early-autumn sun had breathed warmth into the day. Little bits of summer lingered in late September, but red was beginning to tinge the leaves on the trees in the timber. The wedding was small. Max was the best man and Nina the maid of honor. Scout and Dad gave Aubrey away.
She stood before an intimate group in the orchard at Rockwater Farms, her dress white and tea length with a small jacket made of lace. Her heart raced. Before her was the man who had danced through her dreams since she was in her early twenties.
How had she gotten here from there? She looked into Justin’s eyes. She never wanted to be without him again. This man. The father of her son. Her husband. And the father of their unborn child.
She wasn’t showing yet. A miracle really. That’s what the doctor said, and they hadn’t told anyone but Max … and Nina … well, and Justin’s three brothers … and of course Dad knew, but no one else. Only family and Cassidy, who was like family.
“I do,” Justin said. The words slid from his lips.
She’d heard so little of what they’d said. She’d been swimming in Justin’s gaze. The word kiss passed from the minister’s lips, and Justin pulled her toward him and his lips were on hers.
Heat rushed through her. Joy. Love. Her entire body tingled with a knowledge that this moment would forever be one of the best moments of her life, a memory that she would fall back into over and over and over again.
A cheer erupted from the small group of guests and a cheer in her heart that they were now officially a family. Justin pulled his lips from hers. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” she said.
“And I love you both,” Max threw an arm around each of them, and together the family of three walked down the aisle.
The End