The band Daire slipped over my knuckle was a surprise, studded with diamonds, a promise of eternity.
For a man not given to material things, the ring he settled on sparkled more than the stars in the sky.
We danced the night away and ate far too much cake.
Max caught my garter, holding it in the air like a trophy.Anita’s niece Taryn, who was new in town, caught the bouquet.
Daire and I were the first to leave.
Daire had moved into my place as soon as we returned from Greece, and immediately began searching for the perfect house for us.
Which we moved into two months after the wedding.
Six months after that, Cami burst into the world with the wise eyes of her father, a big mouth like her mother, and a perfectly respectable sized head on her tiny frame, no sign of the big-headed Bennett baby gene.
The Grand Central Station scene of the wedding didn’t hold a candle to the three-ring circus that was Cami’s birth.
If Daire was the high-on-life, seemingly inebriated conductor, Noelle was the lion tamer.And yes, that made Hawkley the lion, the perfect counterpoint to my dad’s dancing bear and Max’s clown.
Finally, the nurse kicked everybody out.
Daire, completely beside himself, followed them out until I called him back.
“Wife!Where are you?”
I shook my head but could not help but smile.You would think we invented marriage, and I was the first wife to ever exist, for all his love of the word.
“In the bedroom,” I called back, thankful Cami wasn’t sleeping.
“How are my girls?”he asked softly as he rounded the corner into our bedroom.
My heart skipped a beat then pitter-pattered gently along at the sight of his handsome face.
“We’re good,” I assured him.“Was it ready?”
“It is,” he replied softly.
“How does it look?”
All my bits and pieces?I dropped them off to Rachel at Artitude.She told me to trust her to come up with something I’d love.
“It’s breathtaking, Harley.She made a light-catcher mobile for Cami’s window.”
“Oh,” I exclaimed, a tiny sob hitching my breath.How perfect.
He paused by my side of the bed and dipped to kiss me.“It’s perfect, little spitfire.You’ll love it.”
Reaching out one long finger, he tucked it into Cami’s tiny fist and lay down on her other side.Laying his head on his pillow, he looked at me over top of her head and smiled.
“Hey little one.”
I smiled.“Hey yourself.”
“How are my boobies?”
I scowled.“Sore.”
“I brought you some ointment.”
