He shouldn’t have brought her here. “Come on.” He pushed his chair back. “Let’s go.”
“But—”
“But nothing.” He was getting her out of here, away from the reminders of what they didn’t have, away from the happy family that should have been them. Jumping to his feet, he reached down for Lucy’s hand when his sister’s voice rose above the crowd, delaying their escape. He’d have to get Lucy out of here discreetly. Causing a scene would only make it worse for her.
“I want to thank everyone for coming today to share this with us. We are so unbelievably excited to be meeting Baby Girl Walshverysoon.” Hope gave her husband another lingering kiss.
Gabe cupped the back of her neck to keep her locked in, and someone in the crowd, probably Sean, let out a loud whistle.
Taking the distraction as an opportunity, Joel tried again,clasping his hand around Lucy’s but she shook her head marginally.
We can’t, she mouthed.
He furrowed his brow in confusion. Of course, the fuck, they could. This had been his fear, he didn’t want to subject Lucy to this.
Hope’s laughter filled the garden as she pushed playfully at her husband’s chest. “Okay, clearly we have a lot of celebrating left to do, but first, I wanted to hand the floor over to my big brother, Joel, because we are celebrating more than just our little baby girl today. Joel, why don’t you come up here and tell everyone your news?”
What the fuuuuck?
Swiveling his head, Joel leveled his sister with a glare, and her answering sugar-sweet smile screamed,This is what you get for not telling me first.
He shot a look at Ivy, who shrugged innocently while Sean sat beside her, shaking his head warily.
“Oh shit,” Lucy whispered below him where she still sat.
He glanced at her, his hand still tightly clenched in hers. Her eyes were wide, tear stained, and anxious. He couldn’t blame her, but he wasn’t letting her down again, either.
He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze before lifting his champagne glass and seeking his parents in the crowd. His mother watched him, with a curious smile. His father appeared confused.
Joel cleared his throat. He was going to have to break the news of his fake engagement in front of everyone at a fucking gender-reveal garden party.
“Thank you for that, Hope,” he said through the smile he saved for his boardroom. “Let me start by asking you to join me in raising our glasses and toasting my beautiful sister, her husband, and my perfect little niece Ruby. Youdeserve every happiness, and I’m so glad that you are building on perfection by adding another little future CEO into the mix for me to dote on and spoil. Cheers to all four of you.” He raised his glass and a sea of hands followed.
Hope’s eyes got misty as she took a sip of her sparkling apple juice, and Joel knew he was forgiven for not telling her about Lucy first.
When everyone had had a sip from their glasses, he turned to Lucy. Her hand was still tightly clasped in his, mostly because he couldn’t let go. He’d forgotten how much strength he drew from her.
“As most of you know, I have spent the better half of this last year in Portland working on expanding Morgan Construction out of state. During that time, I have spent what free time I had with Hope, Gabe, and Ruby. Seeing them together has made me realize what I’ve been missing in my life.”
Someone in the group sniffled, but he didn’t check to see who it was.
“I have my work, and it’s brought me great success, but other than that, I realized that I lacked any real purpose.” Spending a night at the office was not uncommon for him. “I wanted a reason to come home every night. A reason to take a vacation. A reason to walk around grinning like my brother-in-law over there.” He tipped his drink toward Gabe, and his audience chuckled.
Lucy stared at him blankly, with her gorgeous mouth open a crack, like she didn’t know what to make of the speech he was giving.
“What most of you don’t know is that this woman right here, Lucy Barone, she’s been my friend since we met as kids at one of my father’s Christmas parties. After that, we used to chase each other around construction sites while ourfathers talked shop, which”—he waggled his finger at his sister and Gabe—“was completely illegal and not a pro-tip on parenting, but hell, it was the 90s.”
Another chuckle rippled through the guests.
“I’ve been chasing Lucy ever since, and somewhere along the way, she became my reason.”
A chorus of “awwws” wrapped around them, but he couldn’t have moved his eyes away from hers if the whole world was burning down. He was trying to gauge her reaction, every flicker in her pupils, every quiver of her lip, the way her hand went boneless in his. He needed to know that she was absorbing what he was saying, because even though she’d hurt him more than any living person ever had, she had been his reason, dammit. All along, she’d been his reason.
And even if this wasn’t exactly as he wanted it to be between them, he needed her to know that one truth. “So, I asked her to marry me, and by some miracle, she said yes.”
He forced himself to look away from her and at the crowd. His mother was crying. His father’s jaw was on the floor.
“So I want to offer a toast to my new fiancée, Lucy. For making me the happiest man on earth.” He lifted his glass, and a roar of cheers erupted.
