“I love you, Oliver, but not today, okay?” I said.
Oliver blew out a frustrated breath, and for a moment, I thought he’d push the issue, and I’d be forced to fight with him, but he nodded.
“All right, but you can change your mind at any time. A minute, an hour, a day, years. Say the word, and I’ll be there,” he said.
God, this knot was killing me. Strangling my heart till it ached.
“I love you,” I said.
And maybe I didn’t say it enough to them. Maybe I should have been a better sister to all of them, but I was undoubtedly lucky to have them all.
“Are you ready?” Ruby asked.
So I was.
My father waited outside the door, cheeks red and eyes hazy. When he saw me, his lips parted, and he took in a shaky breath before covering his eyes with his hand. I went to him, lowering his hand and finding a gathering of tears there.
“It’s all right, Papa,” I said. “It’s just me.”
His lower lip quivered while he pressed his hand to my cheek.
“I could have sworn I was just rocking you to sleep, only a few days old, and I was the only man you needed,” he said.
Too much emotion flowed and ebbed through me. It was drowning me, but I had a pirate to marry.
“I love you, Papa,” I whispered.
He nodded and pressed a kiss to my forehead, sniffing as he pulled away.
“I love you, Rosamund. I am so proud of you.”
It was the first kink in the chain. I didn’t doubt that he was proud of me, but he also didn’t know all that I was. He didn’t know about the ink on my chest or the pledge in my heart. If all of us were lucky, he never would.
We made our way to the front of the church, where two large wooden doors climbed to a peak against stone that was placed there over a hundred years earlier. In front of them, Ruby and Roberta stood, the latter wearing a scowl. They both wore beautiful baby blue dresses that matched perfectly.
“It’s about time,” she said, shoving a bouquet of white lilies at me.
“Roberta.” Ruby and Papa said as one.
Forever in a bad mood and forever disapproving of me, I wouldn’t have expected today to be any different.
“All right,” I said, taking in a large gulp of air. “I’m ready.”
Ruby nodded and tapped on the wooden doors twice. They opened, and without a word or a smile, Roberta began her walk down the aisle, her own smaller bouquet clutched between her hands. After a few moments and my heart threatening to leap out of my chest, Ruby blew me a kiss and followed after her.
No one else to hide behind, nowhere else to go.
“Having a daughter is one of the scariest things a man can do.” My father said, holding my hand where it rested on his arm. “You believe there’s no one out there who can love her the way you do. I’ve dreaded this day for all your life, but I should have known better. My Rose would never settle for anything less than she deserves. That boy in there loves you fiercely, and I believe he’s a good person. I’ll always be here for you, Rosie.”
His voice broke on the last, and there was no helping the tears that rolled down his puffy cheeks. He was a lost cause, but I still had something to salvage, and so I said nothing because if I did, I wouldn't make it the rest of the way.
Understanding, we stepped together as one, and when the first scratch of the violin hit my ears, I stepped foot into the church. Fresh flowers layered the pews, and the crowd stood as one. More people than I knew, but then again, London loved a good scandal, and a rushed marriage of a Bailey was a sight worth seeing firsthand.
Swallowing hard, I gripped my father’s arm and forced my feet down the infinite aisle. Only two feet in, a whispered 'pst' drew my attention, and there, in a church in the middle of London, stood my second family.
Dilly, red curls as untameable as ever in a yellow dress that didn’t suit her in the least, grinned up at me. Beside her, Inu pressed her lips together and fiddled with the bodice of her grey dress, and I could practically hear her swearing in her mind. Emille stood beside her in a sharp suit, and it was easy to see how he fit into this world more than the other. His wide smile slowed the frantic beating of my heart. It was the woman next to him who reminded me who I was more than the others.
Val, scar down her eye, mouthed three words that felt like home, “I knew it.”
