“Waiting for you.”
She’d spoken the comment teasingly, but he suspected that he really had been waiting all his life for her. Something rare and important was taking shape in their relationship, which made him feel like the luckiest man here tonight.
Natasha and Wyatt, Genevieve and Sam, Sebastian and Leah occupied the remaining chairs at their table.
“Your wedding will be here before we know it,” Leah said to Genevieve.
“It’s just a month away!” Genevieve replied.
“Are you ready?” Sebastian asked Sam.
“I can’t wait,” he said sincerely in his Aussie accent. “Had I known she’d want so many months between our engagement and our wedding, I’d have thrown her in the back of my truck and taken her straightaway to the justice of the peace.”
“And deprive me of my moment?” Genevieve countered. “You owe me a big white dress and flowers and a wedding in a church.”
“Is that all?” Sam asked wryly.
“No. You also owe me the sight of you waiting at the altar. And ‘you may now kiss the bride’ and everyone applauding as we walk back down the aisle together. And dancing. And everything else that comes with the reception.”
“You don’t care about all that fanfare?” Akira asked Sam.
“I just want to marry her.”
“Marry me you shall,” Genevieve told him. “And soon.”
“Not soon enough.”
Genevieve’s long hair swung as she leaned over to kiss her fiancé.
“Where are you going on your honeymoon?” Leah asked.
“Australia,” Genevieve answered. “We’ll spend a week resting on the beach and snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef. Then we’ll head to the part of the country where Sam grew up.”
“We’ll have another ceremony—small and casual—” he gave Genevieve side-eye—“for my Aussie family and friends.”
“I’m excited to see all the places he’s told me about.”
“You’ll fit right in on the cattle station,” Sam said.
“I expect to. I’ve already been assembling outfits that will hit just the right note of outback chic.”
Ben chuckled. Genevieve was not a cattle station kind of person. But she loved Sam. She’d told Ben how much it meant to her to have the chance to experience the places that had shaped him, to spend time with the people who’d raised him.
“As I recall, you also have a big day coming up,” Natasha said to Leah. “Your brother’s graduating, right?”
“Right.” Leah tucked her blond hair behind her ears. “There were days when I despaired that we’d ever get to this point. But here we are. He’s looking forward to going to college in the fall to study art. In large part because he’ll no longer have me peering over his shoulder.”
“Then Leah will begin her PhD coursework,” Sebastian said.
“Good for you,” Akira told her.
“Thanks. I’m going to keep working full-time, so it’ll be a lot.”
“But worth the effort,” Sebastian stated. “Soon we’ll be attending Leah’s graduation and calling her Doctor.”
“A pair of doctors.” Natasha regarded the couple with approval.
Sebastian glanced down his shoulder at Leah and grinned. “Yeah. Two doctors.”
