“How’s my co-best man?” he asked.
Chet put on a smile. “He’s hoping he’ll remember his cues tomorrow at the ceremony.”
“You did just fine during the rehearsal.” Jeremiah clinked nonalcoholic beer bottles with his brother. “This is my last night as a free man, so I want you to live it up right along with me. Ready to go yet?”
Chet sent him a look that said, You’re happy to get married, so cut the bull.
Jeremiah laughed at the obvious truth, dropping his arm from around Chet’s shoulders. “Just be ready to leave in about fifteen minutes.”
“You got it.”
Since all Jeremiah and Ally’s most loved friends and relatives were in the area for the wedding, they were both having their bachelor and bacherlorette parties after this dinner. Ally’s old housekeeper, Mrs. McCarter, had already taken baby Caroline back to Florence Ranch, clearing the way for plenty of fun, although Chet knew that neither Jeremiah nor Ally were going to get too wild.
Yup, Jeremiah’s life sure had changed for the better after he’d met his bride.
Once again, Chet’s gaze strayed to Mina, as if every cell in his body was drawn to her.
Was there a chance for him, too, if he could just believe that he wouldn’t go ruining her life with scandals and a lack of trust that didn’t seem to disappear, no matter how hard he tried to banish it?
As if those problems had materialized, the room went a little quieter. Chet guessed the reason before he even saw it.
He’d been waiting all night for Eli Barron to show up.
The older man stood at the fairy-light-lined room entrance, his hat in his hands. Briefly, Chet pictured Eli as the very picture of what he, himself, might resemble in a couple of decades if he kept going down the same road he’d been traveling recently: gray-haired, still stocky but with the slumped shoulders of a beaten man, wrinkle-lined skin, lips in a nervous line as his wary gaze scanned the room.
Always alone, no matter how many people were near him.
Tyler was the first one to go up to his dad, taking the man’s hat, welcoming him and sitting him at a table. A waiter came by and Tyler spoke to the man, obviously ordering food for Eli.
Jeremiah said, “I wasn’t sure if his ride from the rehab center would get him here on time.”
Even so, that was the reason tonight’s drinks had been alcohol free—for Eli’s sake. There’d be time enough for carousing after the dinner, at the parties that Eli’s curfew kept him from attending.
“I’ll bet he busted his ass to make it,” Chet said.
“I just hope he lasts through the weekend.”
“He’s going back Monday, right?”
“Yeah. Tyler said he’d keep a good eye on him, help him to avoid the alcohol that’ll be served at the reception. I offered to keep everything dry, but you know how Dad is—he got red in the face and was mortified at even being thought of as the ‘head case’ who’d put a damper on my big day. I told him it wasn’t a problem, that I’d already made plans to have a dry rehearsal dinner here, but he got huffy about how wedding reception plans were much more involved than just some meal’s. He said being around regular social scenes would be a good test for him, that he wouldn’t be able to ask everyone in the world to stop drinking so he needed to start getting used to being around alcohol now. We’ve already gotten rid of every bit of it in the mansion though, after last night’s cocktail hour.”
“So, aside from that, we’re all supposed to pretend he’s fine? We just go on about our business as if he’s not going through rehab?”
“If it makes him feel more empowered in his struggles.” Jeremiah paused. “His counselors would like to sit us all down together, just to fill us in on how we should be handling Eli’s challenges, too.”
“I’ll make sure it’s a priority.” Up until now, Chet had been reading all the literature he could find on how to handle alcoholism.
Jeremiah added, “They’d also like us to look into Al-Anon.”
Chet nodded. It wasn’t just up to Eli to face his challenges; they’d all have to fight them together.
And, for the first time since the scandal broke, it seemed like everything was falling into place.
Like Jeremiah, Chet put his beer bottle—nonalcoholic of course—on a nearby table.
Eli was still glancing around the room, and when his gaze lit on Chet, it was obvious that he’d been looking for his third son in particular.
A mix of emotions seemed to pass through his eyes: happiness at seeing Chet standing with Jeremiah, embarrassment at having to put his sons through everything they’d endured.