All Jacked Up(108)
Just wait until the minister pronounced them husband and wife. Keely planned to smear the carefully applied gloss all over Jack’s lips. Then she’d rip off the ridiculous headpiece and stomp on it with the equally ridiculous pointy-toed satin shoes.
Temper temper.
Love aside, why did people go through this rigmarole? No wonder couples eloped. She and Jack could’ve skipped this part and gotten straight to the good stuff: the island honeymoon.
All Jacked Up
She blew out a frustrated breath, twisting away from the array of beauty products, which ensured she didn’t look one bit like herself on the biggest day of her life. Would Jack even recognize her?
A tiny hand tugged on her sequined sleeve. Keely sucked in a surprised breath at the unyielding fit of the wedding gown when she bent at the waist. “Yes, Eliza,” she said, squinting at the beribboned flower girl through the gauzy veil.
“I know where Gib is.”
At least someone was worried about the missing ring bearer. “Where?”
“He threw up in the bathroom ’bout five minutes ago.”
“What?” Panic escalated along with her voice. “Is he sick?”
A sneer wrinkled Eliza’s pert nose. “He’s not sick, he’s stupid. Kyler dared him to drink—” Her eyes widened, she clapped a gloved hand over her mouth and started to back away.
But not fast enough. Keely grabbed her spindly arm. “What did Gib drink?”
“Pickle juice,” Eliza blurted.
“Pickle juice?” Keely repeated. “Where on earth did he find pickle juice?”
Eliza debated, then said in a rush, “There’s empty pickle jars all over Auntie Caro’s kitchen.”
“And he couldn’t find Kool-Aid or something better?”
“No.” Eliza leaned closer and confided, “Know those hot kind with red peppers in the bottom?” Keely nodded warily. “Kyler bet Gib a dollar he wouldn’t take a drink.” A grudging sort of admiration lit Eliza’s blue eyes. “But Gib showed him. He drank the whole jar.”
“No wonder he’s barfing,” she muttered. “Where is he now?”
Eliza shrugged her delicate shoulders, staring with acute fascination at the grass-stained toes of her white Mary Janes. One gloved finger twisted a springy ribbon on her flower basket.
Keely hated to play hardball with Kade and Skylar’s stubborn daughter, but if Gib was lost, then so were the wedding rings. She whispered, “You’d better spill it, Eliza Belle, or I’ll tell your mom about the plate of mints you stashed in your backpack.”
Without hesitation, Eliza rattled off, “He’s hiding in the empty closet at the end of the hallway with Thane, Braxton, Kyler, Hayden and Anton.”
“Better that than knocking back shots of Wild Turkey in the gazebo with the other groomsmen,”
Ramona added with a snort.
“What!”
“Ramona!” Jessie McKay gasped.
“I’m not supposed to tell her that her brothers and male cousins are giving Jack very detailed advice on how to handle her?”
India, Jessie and Domini vehemently shook their heads no.
“I’ll kick Trevor and Edgard’s asses if they’re in on it,” Chassie assured her.
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Lorelei James
“Same goes for Carter,” Macie promised.
Why had Jack needed a stiff drink? He wasn’t stuck wearing a feather duster on his head.
“I’ll find my oldest wayward son,” Channing said, shifting Austin on her hip away from her pregnant belly. “Don’t worry. Pickle juice is nothing. Gib has an iron gut.” She offered Keely no such promise about Jack’s condition. “I hope you and Jack have all girls.” She sighed and kissed Austin’s dark head. “They’ve gotta be easier than McKay boys.”
“You forgetting Keely took hellraising to a whole ’nother level?” her Aunt Kimi prompted. “What goes around comes around. She’s gonna get stuck with a quartet of girls exactly like her, you mark my words.”
“Listen to her, Keely,” Skylar said. “She predicted Kade and I would have twin girls.”
Her family was already discussing when they were going to have kids? She and Jack weren’t even married yet.
Keely froze.
Married. Oh. My. God. She and Jack were really getting married. Today. In front of all these people.
In—she gaped at the clock—eighteen minutes.
Keely’s stomach pitched like a horse trailer caught in a prairie windstorm. The room was too hot.
With too many people. Why did she have so damn many brothers? And cousins? And why had her relatives populated the place with all these noisy kids?