Once Upon A Half-Time 2(83)

Bryce swore. “Goddamn it, Lindsey. I thought I lost that damn ring.”

Lindsey clutched it to her chest. “No. I stole it after our first anniversary. Sorry, babe.”

Bryce grabbed it from her hands, shoving it on his finger with a grumble.

“Something new.” Mandy gave an apologetic shrug as she handed her sister a red air freshener for a car rearview mirror. “I was…kinda in a hurry at the gas station.”

Lindsey tucked it into her bouquet. “It’s okay.”

Mandy offered her the picture of our sonogram. “Something borrowed. I want that back.”

“Oh…” Now she sobbed. “This is amazing.”

“And something blue.” Mandy smirked handing her a folded card. “Or…something indigo.”

The sample wedding invitation looked as hideous now as it did then, but Lindsey actually smiled.

Mandy shrugged. “I couldn’t let you get married without some luck.”

“And I couldn’t get married without my little sister.” Lindsey pulled her into a hug. “I’m sorry I yelled and banished you from my wedding.”

“I’m sorry I let you think you could banish people.”

Sandra broke up the girls, flittering between the two of them before lamenting that Mandy’s hair would have to stay down while they walked the aisle. She clapped her hands.

“We’re officially behind. Let’s move it! My baby has to get married!”

She hustled from the staging room, leading the bridal party. Damn it. I reached for Mandy, but Rick already took her arm.

Mandy didn’t look at me, and Rick’s nose still bled. She gently touched his swollen brow, repeatedly apologizing for my behavior.

Fuck. She was going to hate me.

I had to talk to her, but the music strummed from above. The church’s string quartet group began their set. We took the stairs and waited for our cues to head into the sanctuary.

My eyes never left Mandy.

I searched for her between the ruffles of teal and half-busted bouquets. She waited for her cue in silence, and she walked arm-in-arm with Rick as Maid of Honor and Best Man.

He was responsible. He was kind and caring. He might have taken excellent care of her.

But I wasn’t losing Mandy to him. I couldn’t.

She took her place beside the altar, and her eyes averted from me. My pulse beat out-of-sync to the music.

How could I have been so stupid?

The instant she’d told me about the baby, my heart split in two and grew double in size, beating for her and my unborn child. I should have stayed. She deserved better than my shock, and she deserved more than a proposal of convenience.

I never planned to settle down before, but now I couldn’t imagine a life without Mandy.

I blew my first chance, but I wouldn’t ruin the second.

If she’d take me back.

The bridal procession filled the church. The pews packed with family and friends. They stood as the wedding march strummed.

Lindsey was a hellcat, a raging bitch, and the craziest damn woman I knew, but she did look beautiful. She held her father’s arm and trembled while she walked down the aisle. Conrad hugged her before giving her arm to Bryce. She held on and whispered something in his ear.

No harsh words. No fighting.

And once Mandy pulled the ribbon with Condolences scrawled in beautiful calligraphy from Lindsey’s bouquet, we were good to go.

I hadn’t listened to one of the father’s sermons in years. Hell, I’d ducked out of the church on Easter and Christmas when Mom wasn’t watching.

I never once believed a word out of my father’s mouth…

Except when he delivered surprisingly good advice.

The last thing I wanted was to trap Mandy in a marriage because we had a child. The only thing that might have made it worse was marrying her to save face in the community. I left home specifically to avoid those types of obligations. My father had demanded I live a life of respectful piety and perfection, and he tortured me with that fate for eighteen years.

Mandy worried she’d be caught in a loveless life. I avoided the opposite. A life of fear.

My child would never feel trapped like that. Not as long as I lived.

“Dearly beloved…”

My father extended his hands over Lindsey and Bryce.

“I am honored to stand before you today, witnessing the marriage of Lindsey Prescott and Bryce Washington. I’ve had the privilege of watching this lovely couple grow from children into the beautiful adults they are today, and I am so happy they are beginning their lives together.”

I didn’t buy my father’s fake sincerity, especially when I knew what he’d say if it were me and Mandy at the altar instead.

Mandy stared at her sister, clutching both of their bouquets in trembling hands. She actually listened to Dad’s sermon on love, life, and commitment.