“It really was,” she agreed. In fact, it had been one of the most moving weddings she’d ever been to. Kat had been walked up the aisle by Olivia and Sophia who had handed her off to her two grooms, Lock and Deep, who were waiting by the altar. The vows had been a little complicated—there being three ‘I dos’ instead of two, but Lissa had handed it beautifully. In the end, when Kat had kissed both her men at once, everyone had risen from their seats, cheering—even Kat’s straight-laced grandmother.
The grandmother in question was currently getting tipsy on punch up near the front of the tent where the cake and refreshments had been set. The three-way cake cutting ceremony had been both amusing and memorable. Kat and Deep had shoved cake in each other’s mouths, and then both of them had attacked poor Lock, filling his mouth so full of cake he nearly choked with laughter. Frosting, of course, got everywhere—Deep had even had some in his bushy black eyebrows. Now the three of them were standing together and talking happily while sharing another piece of cake.
Nina was sure that Kat and her two husbands were going to be extremely happy together—she just wished she could be a little more joyful on their behalf. But ever since her mini breakdown when she was talking with Maggie before the ceremony, she couldn’t seem to perk up again.
“Hey,” Lissa said, putting a hand on her arm. “Are you all right, Nina?”
“I’m fine.” She tried to smile at her friend. “Just a little tired, that’s all.”
“Well then, eat your cake.” Olivia gestured to the large slice of wedding cake Nina had in front of her. “Sugar rush—it’ll give you energy for sure.”
Nina smiled. “I’m sure it will—it looks delicious.”
“Sure does.” Liv looked at her own cake with obvious anticipation. “What kind did you get?”
“The same as you and Lissa—white chocolate with apricot,” Nina said.
“Yes, I thought about trying some of the bonding fruit layer, but I know how that would end up, and I’m not ready to get little Daniel a brother or sister yet.” Liv grinned. “Although I’m sure Baird would certainly enjoy trying.”
“I’m staying away from that layer too since I’m, uh single.” Nina sighed. “I’m just going to take a bite of this cake though, I swear. I really need to start watching my carbs again now that I’m going back home.”
“Who are you kidding, girly?” Olivia grinned. “This cake is made by Lauren—you can’t just eat one bite. Come on, try it—you too, Lissa. Let’s all dig in at once.”
Nina and Lissa smiled at each other and picked up their forks.
“All right,” Nina said. “You twisted my arm.”
“On three,” Liv instructed. “One…two…”
“Three,” Nina finished for her. Pulling her plate toward her, she dug into the mound of rich buttercream icing, moist, fluffy cake and sticky sweet filling. “Mmmm,” she murmured, letting the delicious mixture melt on her tongue. It was so good she rolled her eyes up in ecstasy. “You’re right, Liv—I’m eating all of this.” She dug in again, taking an even bigger bite. It might be wrong to drown her sorrows in cake, but damn it, she’d had a hard couple of weeks lately. She needed something sweet to brighten her life. Feeling justified, she ate some more.
“Eating it all and going back for a second piece afterward, right?” Liv grinned and dug into her own cake. “So good…and such an unusual taste for apricot.” She took another bite, frowning. “In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever tasted an apricot like this.”
“That’s because it’s not apricot.” Lauren rushed up to the table with a worried look on her face, Maggie in tow. “Stop everyone! Forks down!” she exclaimed.
“What? Why?” Nina finished another bite and licked the fork. “Did a mouse fall in the batter or something?”
“No, nothing like that, but the signs on the layers got mixed up.”
“It was my fault,” Maggie explained guiltily. “I’m so sorry—I just wanted to help. I never meant to cause any trouble.”
“What kind of trouble?” Nina was beginning to get a very bad feeling about all this.
“The kind where you want nookie so bad you’re crawling out of your skin,” Olivia groaned. She looked at Lauren. “Are you telling me we’ve been stuffing our faces with bonding fruit cake?”
“I’m afraid so.” Lauren twisted her fingers together. “How much have you eaten?”