“Good,” she said, striving for bite but falling way short. Her voice trembled, which it never did. “After all he’s put me through…he deserves some floor time.”
“It’s going to be all right, kiddo,” I said to her, taking her trembling hands. “It really is.”
“God, I hope so, Mae.” She flung her arms around me, and we hugged.
A knock at the door pulled us apart, but we locked hands. It was the wedding planner, telling us it was time.
“Mr. Kennedy requested a sunset ceremony,” she said. “We only have a few minutes until that time.”
“Of course he did,” Delaney barely got out. “It was the time we met. He asked me for coffee, and I told him no, I didn’t go out with strangers, especially at night. He told me he’d be back the next day, same time, and we’d meet, until he wasn’t a stranger anymore.”
“How many library dates did that take?” I grinned at the look on Cian’s face when he noticed us holding hands. He seemed a little lost, like he wanted to take my hand from hers.
“You know this.” She laughed, but it was quiet, nervous. “A bunch. I figured when he stopped showing up, at least I would’ve gotten some free coffee out of the deal. He’d always bring me a coffee from my favorite place. He noticed the cup that first time, and he brought me different flavors until I told him that wastheone. It was the one I had when I first met him.”
I did know all of this, but telling their love story was keeping her walking.
“And what did he say?” I asked.
“He said…” She cleared her throat. “You’retheone.”
“You ran away then.”
“I did, or as he says, I dumped him like I do other brands of coffee.”
“But fate had other plans,” I said. “Robert happened to be the owner of the pub across the street from The Belle.”
“Yeah, there was no escaping him.” We stopped at the closed door to the ceremony room. Del hurriedly looked behind her, but there was a sudden wall at her back. My husband. She whirled on me. “Do you know I hate that coffee?”
“What?” I asked, confused.
“The coffee I had that day. Ihatedit. It made my stomach turn so bad.”
A smile I couldn’t stop spread over my face. It was so wide, it hurt. I squeezed her hands. “But you kept drinking it, and it became your favorite, because of Robert.”
She nodded. “Because of Robert.”
“He gave youthefeeling, Del. He’s the one. It’s real. No one would fake love coffee that turns their stomach forfakelove.” I turned to the wedding planner and asked her for the card Robert had designed for their guests.
Delaney read it, and tears came to her eyes. It said, “We’re all authors of our own stories. This is ours…” And it had a picture of them in front of the library, along with the story she’d just told us. He’d written it out and had it printed. He didn’t seem to know about the coffee, though. He’d hired the shop to serve it and even had bags of it for the guests to take home.
“Bas-ted!” she said with a strong Bostonian accent. “Why does he have to be so good at this love stuff?”
“I don’t know,” I said, crying with her. “But I’m thankful they are.” I looked at my own husband and he nodded at me, a stormy look in his eyes, before he nodded ahead.
The wedding planner handed Delaney a simple bouquet of flowers, then opened the door. Cian and I slipped through it.
And then, Robert and Delaney got to the part of their story where life was just beginning for them.
It was a reminder for me.
Life was beginning for us again, too, but this time…with a small thumping heartbeat in my womb.
* * *
Guests loafedaround The Guastavino Room, waiting for a chance to congratulate the happy couple. Delaney was more in her element here, greeting everyone and showing off her new husband, as well the two new rings on her left hand. I was sure she was in the moment and loved swapping vows with Robert, but she seemed so…relieved to just be married and still standing to talk about it.
Her eyes searched the crowd as Robert talked to someone who was probably from his side, and when she found me, she waved. I waved back, then motioned to the room.
